We've played some pretty good football teams
and I think every time we have played our kids have enjoyed it and looked forward to it.-Former Ohio football coach Jim Grobe in 1999.
The Ohio football team has taken the field, over the course of the last quarter-century, opposite a team ranked in the top 25 of either the Associated Press or ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll 12 times.
They've lost every game.
Granted, the Bobcats have battled, kept a few games close and have even been in a position to notch an upset victory or two. But no wins. Not one. They're still 0-12 against ranked opponents. Let's just call it the dirty dozen.
By early Saturday evening, though, about three hours after the 34-point underdog Bobcats kick off against No. 4 Virginia Tech, that streak could finally be snapped. Or, in the wake of a game where the atmosphere and intensity will likely differ drastically from either of the team's first two games, it could just be a baker's dozen.
When you take on a top-five team coach Frank Solich said, that's a whole new ball game.
It is, at least, for the Bobcats, who haven't played any team ranked in the top 10, let alone the top five, at any point during the last 25 seasons. They haven't played a ranked team on the road since Oct. 6, 2003, when then-No. 16 Northern Illinois edged the Bobcats, 30-23, in overtime at Huskie Stadium.
How much has changed in less than two years? Brian Knorr was still the Bobcats' coach during that meeting against a Huskies team that later dropped out of the top 25, Solich was still at Nebraska and linebacker Matt Muncy, then a redshirt freshman, was still getting his feet wet in the college game.
We came out there
we played a real good ball game
we played them tough and we should have won the game
Muncy said. That was pretty heart-breaking.
The Bobcats lost six more games that season, including a 49-31 home loss to then-No. 18 Miami, which rolled into Athens and rolled over Ohio on its way to a No. 10 national ranking.
And since then, the Bobcats haven't tangled with another ranked opponent. That's probably a good thing, too, for during their 12-game losing streak, they've been outscored 465-171, an average of more than 24 points per game. Toss out their two home losses to ranked teams, during which they've scored 72 points, and their average offensive efforts drop to 9.9 points per game.
No matter which way the numbers are spun, they aren't pretty.
The task will get no easier Saturday.
We know how athletic Virginia Tech is and how many preseason awards and accolades they got
quarterback Austen Everson said, But I think we can compete and keep it close in the fourth quarter.
Added Solich: There's not much special you can do for it. You try to win some individual battles and
hopefully
you win enough to make some things work for you and to play good enough football to be in the game.
Anything to avoid that baker's dozen.
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