Home at last
Ohio returns to Athens after month away
By Nick Piotrowicz, Staff Writer
October 28, 2008 | 6 a.m.
It’s been said that home cures all ills. The Ohio Bobcats hope that rings true, because they have plenty of areas that could use attention.
After a three-game, month-long conference road trip that covered three states, the Bobcats have finally returned home to Athens for three consecutive games at Peden Stadium. Ohio finished their road trip 1-2, capped off with yet another late-game collapse.
The road trip opened with a 41-20 loss against Mid-American Conference West opponent Western Michigan, in which the Bronco’s quarterback lit up the Ohio defense for 347 yards and four touchdowns. From there the Bobcats traveled to Kent State, where they picked up their lone Division I-FCS win this season. Paced by rushing touchdowns from Boo Jackson and Chris Garrett, as well as a perfect four of four field goals from Barrett Way, the Bobcats left Kent with a 26-19 victory.
Not all was positive with the win, however. Running back Donte Harden was lost for the season, adding to the growing number of injured ‘Cats. Ohio finished up their three-game crusade with a Tuesday night match-up with fellow MAC East opponent Temple. The Bobcats played a nearly flawless first half on a national stage (the game was televised on ESPN2), holding Temple to zero points on 66 yards and turning in a 92-yard, nearly 8-minute touchdown drive in the second quarter. An even better performance was turned in by the Bobcat defense in the third quarter, stifling Temple for -21 yards, making the opponents' total offensive output after the third quarter 45 yards.
Ohio’s 10-0 halftime lead held only until midway through the fourth quarter when the Owls capitalized on good field position with a Kee-ayre Griffin 1-yard touchdown run. After Temple kicker Anthony Perlozzo missed a potential game-tying 25-yard field goal with 4:50 left, the tide appeared to be turning for the Green and White. The very next play, however, a botched handoff between Jackson and Garrett led to a Temple fumble recovery.
“It’s tough to put the blame on any one guy,” Coach Frank Solich said. “We ran that play a number of times in the game, we’ve run it all season long, and we have not had a problem with it up until that one time. That was huge.”
Temple quarterback Adam DiMichele made the Bobcats pay for their costly error with a 5-yard touchdown pass from which Ohio would never recover.
“I’ll give them credit. When they were given the opportunity, they took it and made it work in the fourth quarter to win,” Solich said. “We were given opportunities, we didn’t make it work.”
The Bobcats return home to take on Buffalo in another Tuesday night game. Buffalo beat Ohio last year, but they have yet to win a road game this year. The Bulls sport a high-powered offense, led by 4-year starting quarterback Drew Willy. Already this season, Willy has amassed 1,735 yards passing.
“He has a chance to go on and play at the next level. He’ll get an opportunity somehow,” Solich said. “He’ll match up with anybody in the conference.”
The ‘Cats remain positive despite a series of close losses. The MAC East is still not out of reach despite their 1-3 conference record. A victory would move Ohio within a half game behind Akron, the East division leader.
“In some cases [close losses] can be challenging,” Solich said. “It can become discouraging and you can start to feed off that, but I don’t think that’s what this football team or this program is all about. We’ll get ready to play, and we’ll play a good football game.”
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