Caleb Troop

-  On the “Bobcat Insider” pre-game show on Power 105 Saturday morning I listed three keys for Ohio to beat Temple: #1 Win the turnover margin, and the Green and White were +3 there.  #2 Ohio needed to stay out of third and long situations, which it did.  The ‘Cats were just 2-9 on third downs, but the fact that in 59 offensive plays the ‘Cats were faced with just five plays that were classified as third-and-long attempts is encouraging.  #3 The ‘Cats needed to play with an early lead because Temple was not used to fighting back, and did not have a quick-strike offense capable of making up double-digits deficits.  We sure saw that Friday, didn’t we?

-  Here is an example of Ohio’s depth this season:  When starting LG A.J. Strum went down in the first half, his backup, true freshman James Davis stepped in.  OK, no big deal.  Then Davis gets rolled up under, hurts his ankle and is taken out.  At that point the ‘Cats were down to their third string left guard for that day, which was Vince Carlotta—who had started against Cal Poly and Tennessee after the season-ending injury to Dustin Laudermilch.  So on Friday, Ohio’s third string left guard was a player who had started a game already this year at that position.  How many FBS teams can say that about a particular position on its football team?

-  A career-best six catches for 65 yards and a touchdown for Steven Goulet has to make Bobcat fans a bit more comfortable if LaVon Brazill cannot go against CMU.

-  Speaking of Brazill, no official update on his status.  We will know more Monday afternoon.

-  Loved this quote from Frank Solich:  “I’m as proud of these guys as I’ve ever been of any team that I’ve been associated with,” the former Nebraska coach said.  “I don’t know that I’ve been with a team that has had to battle, had to make more plays on the line than what this group of athletes had to make as we went through our season.”

-  I’ve asked it time and time again to anyone willing to listen: Where is this team if Kenny Jackson does not intercept a third-quarter pass at North Texas and return it 69 yards for a touchdown?

-  My partner Brian Boesch said it best Friday night on the airwaves: Temple could have played its best game of the year against Ohio, but the Owls still would not have won the game.  That has happened only one other time this year—Cal Poly.

-  Cornerbacks Thad Turner and Idris Lawrence played almost the entire game Friday.

-  The Green and White has had fewer penalty yards than its opponents in each of the last seven games.

-  For just the second time this year, Ohio did not attempt a fourth down conversion (BG).

-  It should be worth noting that punter Matt Schulte did not have normal long snapper Kyle Robbins—who was only on emergency duty with a knee sprain.  Jeremy LaVoie, who handles the long snapping for PATs and FGs, was slow to get the pigskin back to Schulte Friday, which certainly did not help the punt unit.

-  Defensive tackle Marcellis Williamson has to be a walking ice pack.  You talk about playing hurt, Williamson is banged up with the best of them, but playing his rear end off.

-  Anyone else not comfortable if Ryan Clark—not Brazill—is returning punts against CMU?  Would Ohio coaches be willing to put Garrett back there, or try Gary Fortune again?

-  Ohio football has won 498 games in its history.  Could numbers 499 and 500 be MAC championship and bowl winners?

-  WR Taylor Price needs one reception and one touchdown catch to become the all-time leader in school history in both catches and TD catches.  Price needs 79 yards for the most receiving yards in a single season by a Bobcat, too.

-  Is there any other linebacker in the Mid-American Conference you would rather see spying CMU quarterback Dan LeFevour than Noah Keller?

-  Do yourself and Bobcat fans a favor:  shoot a word of thanks off to Marching 110 band director Dr. Richard Suk for their tremendous performance amidst the snow flurries Friday.  suk@ohio.edu

-  I chatted with Suk for about 15 minutes on Saturday.  More on the 110 in the next few days.

-  For a defense as controlling as Ohio’s was Friday, it’s odd to note the ‘Cats forced just one three-and-out.

-  Vaughn Charlton and Chester Stewart just do not sound like good quarterback names.  Those names make you want to turn on the Golf Channel for another lob wedge tip from David Ledbetter.

-  Temple’s two starting defensive ends—Adrian Robinson and Morris Blueford—each had one tackle.  Robinson entered the game with a league-best 11 sacks.

-  Ohio linebacker Errik Ejike started but did not record a single defensive statistic.  He got banged up in the first half with an ankle injury on top of the still-aching knee problem.

-  That was a career-high 15 tackles courtesy of Mr. Lee Renfro on Senior Day.

-  Junior linebacker Noah Keller will celebrate his 21st birthday against Central Michigan this coming Friday.

-  Cincinnati (5), Pittsburgh (8) and Ohio State (9) are all ranked in the Top 10 AP Poll and have a combined 30-4 record.  It’s not easy to recruit players to come to Athens when all three of those schools are within the region, but the ‘Cats are winning anyway.

-  Frank Solich has coached against 56 programs over his nearly 11 years of coaching.  There are just four teams that he has faced at least twice but has never beaten—Toledo (0-2), Virginia Tech (0-2), Wyoming (0-2) and—you guessed it—Central Michigan (0-3).

-  Only two teams—Kansas State and Texas—have beaten Frank Solich more than three times.

-  From 1995-2000 Jim Grobe went 33-33-1 in sixth seasons.  Solich is now 32-29 in year number five.

-  Check out this video from Ohio Athletics photographer Joel Hawksley, which includes “The Prez” breaking it down at the 4:38 mark.

-  Now that the MAC regular season is complete, here were my pre-season predictions in the East and West:

East
1.  Buffalo
2.  Temple (CORRECT)
3.  Ohio
4.  Akron
5.  Bowling Green
6.  Kent State
7.  Miami (CORRECT)

West
1.  Central Michigan (CORRECT)
2.  Western Michigan
3.  Eastern Michigan
4.  Northern Illinois
5.  Ball State (CORRECT)
6. Toledo

-  A couple of basketball quick-hitters:

-  Dear MAC basketball, Why are you so bad?

- Evansville hoops player Colt Ryan, a kid Ohio looked at under the Tim O’Shea era, is averaging 16 ppg through the first three games for the Purple Aces.

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