Caleb Troop

-  Not pretty, not attractive, but neither is the MAC this year, right?  As mentioned over and over the last few weeks, Ohio just has the intangibles that help lead the Green and White to wins.  Hard to explain, but great to have.

-  After the contest, head coach Frank Solich made note of not only Matt Weller’s abilities in the field goal department, but also for shutting down the kick returns unit of Buffalo.  U at B had six returns for a total of just 97 yards.

-  Folks, don’t forget that Weller’s game-winning field was not only 47 yards.  It was left hash, wind-in-the-face 47 yards.

-  Some numbers on Weller:  He is 8-for-11 in kicks 40 yards and beyond.  In league play, Weller has made good on 10 of 11 field goal tries.  Ridiculous.

-  Since that ugly performance against Cal Poly where Weller misfired on three relatively easy field goal tries (26, 43, 40), number 49 has missed just two field goals.

-  Russ mentioned this on the radio broadcast Tuesday night:  a win against Northern Illinois would be number 497 in Ohio football history.  498 could be a Temple ‘W’.  499 a MAC title game victory.  Win number 500 could be a bowl victory for the ‘Cats.

-  A forgettable day for cornerback Julian Posey, who was burned twice by Bulls wide out Naaman Roosevelt Tuesday night.  Kenny Jackson saw a few more reps along with starters Idris Lawrence and Thad Turner.

-  Looks like the ‘Cats escaped some potentially damaging injuries.  DE Dak Notestine returned in the second half after hurting his knee in the second quarter.  Safety Patrick Tafua came back after re-tweaking his wrist, and DT Marcellis Williamson appears to be OK despite a cheap shot that led to an ejection of starting Buffalo offensive tackle Andrew West late in the ball game.

-  Best game of the year, by far, for Matt Schulte:  four punts for an average of 43 yards, zero Bulls return yards.

-  Ohio’s defense has 15 interceptions, and on Tuesday Thad Turner became the 10th different ‘Cat with a pick.

-  With the win over Buffalo, Solich earned $5,000 in a bonus by reaching seven wins in a season.

-  Kudos to my radio partner on the “Bobcat Insider” pre-game show on Power 105, Brian Boesch, who accurately predicted a 27-24 Ohio win.

-  A fourth-and-one at Buffalo’s 38 yard line on that game-winning draft late in the contest, and what does Ohio call?  Yes, that’s Frank Solich and company with an option play for 10 yards off the right side by tailback Chris Garrett.  Somewhere Eric Crouch and Nebraska nation had to have been smiling.

-  Classy move by the ‘Cats to have DT Jeff King carry out an American flag when the team took the field at Buffalo.  On the flip side, Bulls game day operations kind of missed the boat by not lowering the end zone American flag to half mast to honor those who lost their lives in the Fort Hood shooting.  Plus it was the eve of Veteran’s Day.

-  Three NFL representatives were expected to be in attendance Tuesday night, including the Saints and Bills.

-  Which was the bigger hit: Lee Renfro’s mid-field drilling of Roosevelt or the special teams smack laid out by walk-on Issa Braithwaite?

-  A quick basketball note or two before the ‘Cats open the regular season with Ohio Valley on Friday night inside The Convo:

-  I was disturbed by this post-game quote from John Groce after Ohio’s turnover-filled 63-53 exhibition win over Ashland.  Ohio had 29 turnovers, many of which were caused from a full court press put on by Ashland.  “I didn’t do a whole lot to help our guys out either, because we have not worked a whole lot against presses through 25 practices,” Groce said.  “I felt like the things we drew up through the game, our guys did a pretty good job of trying to execute those.  So it’s certainly not all their responsibility at all.  We were just more focused on defense through the first 25 practices, and you get what you focus on.”

-  Not enough time to work on breaking the full court press?  Even with a pair of first year point guards in D.J. Cooper and David McKinley?  Seems like learning to break a press would be pretty important, and a skill that could be squeezed in to a practice or two among the first 25.

-  In case you missed it, there are highlights of the ‘Cats ‘W’ over Ashland on the Men’s Basketball page on OhioBobcats.com.

-  On the “Jim Schaus Show” tomorrow we’ll talk to a Bobcat football player and Jason Arkley from The Athens Messenger.  Plenty of gridiron coverage tomorrow.

-  More to come.

Filed under: 2009 Bobcat Blog, November 2009 Blog Notes |