MOBILE, Ala. — Jason Candle threw a seasonal compliment toward Appalachian State on Friday.
The Toledo football coach guided his team to an 11-2 record, the program’s first Middle Atlantic Conference title since 2004 and a bid to take on App State in the Dollar General Bowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Saturday.
Instead of focusing on that, Candle pointed toward Coach Scott Satterfield of App State, who coached at Toledo with Candle in 2009, and the Mountaineers' success.
“I said this the other day,” Candle said. “There’s two things that are consistent in December: Santa Claus is coming, and App State is going to be good at football and playing for something meaningful.”
The Dollar General Bowl is one of only three bowls to feature two conference champions. The Mountaineers (8-4) shared the Sun Belt Conference title for the second straight season, and the Rockets won the MAC title game in convincing fashion against Akron.
On Friday, the two coaches heaved praise on each other’s programs while making cases for the quality of their own starting quarterbacks. The two seniors, App State’s Taylor Lamb and Toledo’s Logan Woodside, carved out stellar careers at their respective schools.
Woodside was named the MAC’s Player of the Year for his 3,758 yards passing and 28 touchdowns. He set the school’s records for career passing yards (10,390), career passing touchdowns (93) and most 300-yard passing games (17). Former NFL quarterback and current Toledo color commentator Bruce Gradkowski previously owned all those records.
Candle said Woodside belongs at top of the list when it comes to ranking the school's best quarterbacks.
“If you look at what the quarterback is expected to do in today’s football, it's to make read decisions, be very accurate with (the football) and ultimately make the other 10 players around you on the field better at all time,” Candle said. “... Logan has certainly been able to do that throughout his career here.
“But there’s been a lot of great ones who’ve played at Toledo, and it’s probably not fair for me to say he’s the best over some guys I haven’t had the chance to coach, but obviously I hold him in a very high regard.”
Lamb, on the other hand, thrown 27 touchdown passes and had 2,606 passing yards this year. He’s started 48 consecutive games, owns App State’s record for career passing touchdowns (90) and is a big performance away from two major milestones. Lamb is 345 yards shy of 10,000 yards passing and 37 yards shy of 2,000 yards rushing.
Even more important, Satterfield said, is Lamb’s ability to stabilize the offense and make things happen.
“He’s just a winner,” Satterfield said. “He’s a coach on the field. He has tremendous poise.
“Not a strong arm, not a strong runner, but able to get it done every single time. He’s a very, very smart player. ... He makes our offense go, and he’s going to be an outstanding coach one day.”
Former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, in attendance as the bowl’s keynote speaker for a luncheon following the press conference, noticed Group of Five football’s rise to prominence during his career. He joked that he never liked to see programs like App State and Toledo on his old schedules.
Stoops expects the App State-Toledo matchup to show off the strength of the two programs.
“They’re great teams,” Stoops said. “Coached well. I love watching them when I can because you see that.
“You see how well coached they all are, how hard they play, the execution. It’s good football.”