Football X's and O's: Ohio will look to use aerial attack against Eastern Michigan

Coach Frank Solich loves consistency.

Solich was probably even happier to see that same consistency shown in his opponents.

Eastern Michigan, as I described yesterday, is solid but not great all across the board. The Eagles rank 48th with 142.5 rushing yards allowed, 98th with 264.2 passing yards allowed and 81st with 29.7 points allowed.

That's not outrageously bad, but make no mistake –– it's not good.

The Eagles will also bring some of the same schemes that the Bobcats have seen in weeks past.

Breakdown

Eastern Michigan's defense runs a 4-2-5 defense, the defense it used when Wyoming lined up in the spread in this YouTube video. Ohio runs the spread offense.

At 1:01:02, Wyoming lined up in a formation similar to what the Bobcats run.

The corner on the left side of the offense is in tight on the short side of the field. But to the wide side, the Eagles have a linebacker/safety hybrid splitting the difference in the middle between the line and the slot receiver. The Bobcats have seen this the past two weeks from Miami and Bowling Green.

The formation is designed to give the defense more flexibility in the pass game, while still keeping somewhat of a presence in the front seven. All three teams that the Bobcats faced so far that run this were struggling in the secondary.

That flex player is No. 3 Jason Beck, a 6-foot-1, 201 pound defensive back. Listed as a defensive back, his size helps him contribute to the run game almost like a safety.

Wyoming uses a motion play with its tight end to set a lead block for the counter play, which gains two yards. The Bobcats typically like to keep the ball on the ground, but for this particular weekend, it'd be in the best interest for the team to see just how many times Greg Windham can throw the ball.