Toledo Head Coach Jason Candle Talks Crucial Week 9 Matchup Against Washington State

The Toledo Rockets have clawed their way to a 4-3 record, bouncing between a win and a loss across their last five games. They now head to Washington State for a 3:30 PM EST matchup on Saturday.

Rockets head coach Jason Candle is looking to elevate the team's performance in the second half of his 10th season with the program, and WSU offers a legitimate test.

Before the team's afternoon contest against the Cougars, he spoke to the media about the upcoming contest.

Toledo HC Jason Candle on facing Washington State after last week

"Turning our page and focusing on Washington State here. Really well-coached football team, a very physical team, a team that stresses you in all three phases to be disciplined. This will be our detail versus their detail. You know, how we approach the game and, you know, the effort and the consistency we play with. I mean, they force you to earn everything you get. And then, you know, offensively, they do a great job of trying to stay ahead of the sticks and running the ball and staying in balance to keep your defense off balance. They're really sound in the kicking game."

"So, we've got to handle the trip. You know, this is not an ideal thing. Fly across the country on a Friday afternoon, get up and play, you know, early Saturday morning, but it is what it is. We'll get ready to go play, and our team will be excited to get on the road and, you know, try to get our first road victory."

Toledo HC Jason Candle on his goals for the Washington State matchup

"I think that throughout the season, there's a lot of tests that, you know, that are put in front of you as when the schedule gets announced. And, you know, we knew this a long time ago that this was going to be a difficult thing to to go handle from a logistic standpoint of it. But, we have not played great football on the road. We've got to find a way to do that. And if we're going to get to where we want to go on the next part of the schedule when it pertains to league games, we got to do this one right first."

"It's the next opportunity to for us to continue to climb and to get better. So in conference, out of conference, that doesn't matter to us. It's the next next challenge, next opponent, next thing up on what stares us in the face. Still trying to figure out how to continuously capture really good weeks and put that on tape on Saturday in all three phases and play complimentary football. So you know, no matter where you play or who you play, those are the those are the things in front of you. You got to do a great job of handling them."

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Toledo HC Jason Candle on his preparation for Washington State after the Cougars' recent tough losses

"I think that you're talking about 18 to 22 year old people and competitive endurance, consistent focus, being who you said you were going to be, the things that are consistent challenges over the course of the year. There's not a better time in the calendar than mid October. You know, everybody wants to win meaningful football games in November."

"Everybody wants to get off to a great start, but the middle stretch of October where you set yourself up to have meaningful games in November. I don't think enough attention gets put into that book. I mean, how many teams in the Top 25 lost this weekend? You know, a third of them damn near. So, I think that, you know, this is a really critical time in the journey of which you're continuing to build your team and what you know, what we've worked really hard since January for."

Toledo HC Jason Candle on being ready for Washington State and improving their execution

"Yeah, I mean, I think that it's a challenge. I mean, you know you have to figure it out. You don't have anybody, you don't have the external things. You don't have the comfort and the knowing of being in your home stadium. And there is something to that. We've put a lot of time and energy and effort into making home environments what they are to, you know, to make it hard on the opposing team."

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