18 Oct
10-18 Bobcat Football Notes
- The Daily Eastern News reports Ohio University will pay Eastern Illinois $325,000 for a non-conference football matchup at Peden Stadium set for Sept. 27, 2014.
- Some quick hits after Ohio’s 28-7 win over Miami (Ohio):
- Several former Bobcats took in the game from the sidelines Saturday, including Andrew Mooney, Josh Abrams, and Kalvin McRae.
- Remember these pre-season predictions about the MAC from ESPN.com? Numbers 10, 9, 7, 4, and 1 are not too off base right now.
- How good has Terrence McRae been this season? The 6-4, 200-pound wide out is just a mismatch waiting to happen on every play. He has three touchdowns his last two games, including two great catches in the end zone Saturday versus Miami.
- On the injury front (and we’ll know more come Monday afternoon), it sounds like RB Chris Garrett (ankle sprain) will be able to play next week. We’ll learn about RB Vince Davidson’s health tomorrow, too.
- WR Riley Dunlop (shoulder) and DE Kris Luchsinger (knee) are done for the year. Dunlop will have surgery a week from Tuesday to repair pretty much the same injury as QB Boo Jackson—Dunlop’s roommate.
- Free safety Steven Jackson is done for the season and Ohio will try to earn a redshirt for him.
- Right guard Eric Herman sprained an ankle during the Miami game and did not play most of the second half. It does not appear to be serious—we’ll see about the Kent State game. Both John Flowers and Kadre Pinder subbed in when Herman went down.
- One concern is the cornerbacks depth. CB Kenny Jackson still has not played with an ankle and foot injury, and CB Billy Santos-Gonzalez (unknown) was on crutches Saturday.
- Ohio University is 5-2. Ohio State University is 5-2.
- Punter Matt Schulte was ruled ineligible Sunday. We’ll learn more about his status for the future Monday afternoon. If he is not allowed to play versus KSU, Paul Hershey would punt again. I liken Hershey to baseball’s Adam Dunn—it’s either a home run or a strike out. Hershey can boot the heck out of it, but he can also shank it—he did both Saturday.
- Speaking of Hershey, very cool fake punt for a first down versus the Redhawks. Don’t know if we need to see a back up punter leaping over would-be tacklers any more, though.
- Miami was 0-9 on third down conversions over the last three quarters.
- The Athens Messenger reporter Jason Arkley summed up Ohio’s 5-2 record pretty well in this article today.
- Nose guard Marcellis Williamson has 20 tackles in seven games, 10 of which have come the last two weeks. He has been so solid for the ‘Cats, primarily on first and second downs.
- The four best teams in the MAC thus far have been Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Temple and Ohio. They rank 1-4 respectively in scoring defense.
- Kent State leads the MAC with 17 sacks on defense.
- The Golden Flashes and Bobcats both rank in the league’s bottom third in penalty yards per game.
- KSU has been just terrible scoring points inside the red zone (11-19, last in MAC).
- For the third week in a row the ‘Cats will face a freshman quarterback. After Akron’s Patrick Nicely stepped in for most of the game and Miami redshirt-freshman Zac Dysert threw two picks versus the ‘Cats, it will be the mobile Spencer Keith under center for KSU. The Green and White travels to Ball State on Halloween where, you guessed it, freshman gunslinger Kelly Page will probably start for the Cardinals.
- It has rained before and/or during four of Ohio’s seven games this season.
- The two loudest ovations inside Peden Stadium Saturday? The announcement of Ohio State’s loss to Purdue and the Marching 110 performance during halftime.
- Thoughts and prayers go out to the UConn football family, who is morning the loss of CB Jasper Howard.
- Four total tackles, including one for a loss, for Lions DT and former Bobcat Landon Cohen in a 26-0 loss to Green Bay today.
- More to come.