The End Zone: UT 09-16

9/15/2010

A wise man once told me never to get too high or too low. You're never as good as you think you are, and you're also never as bad. The truth always lies somewhere in the middle.

Toledo coach Tim Beckman admitted his team had problems with that last season. After a win, the Rockets would lose focus and come crashing down in their next game. After a loss, they would lose hope and let it affect their performance in the next contest. And during games, players would be trying to figure out how not to lose instead of continuing to fight for a victory.

This season, despite having a younger team, Beckman said the Rockets are more mature and know how to handle winning and losing. The first piece of evidence supporting that claim is how UT rebounded from a miserable season-opening loss to Arizona and came back the next week to knock off defending MAC East champ Ohio on the road.

The Rockets now must show they can handle success when they face another test at Western Michigan on Saturday. If UT prevails, it'll give them a 2-0 conference record with four of their final six MAC games at the Glass Bowl – a very nice start on the way to the ultimate goal of winning a MAC championship.

“It's about learning how to win, learning how to respond after a win, learning why you won,” Beckman said. “I think that this group, while we're still very young, I think they're starting to understand that.”