It was about pride Saturday for Ohio's defense.
After allowing VMI to gain 436 yards last season, Noah Keller said the defense wanted to shut down Cal Poly, another triple option team.
Ohio did just it as they defeated Cal Poly 28-10. The Mustang rushed for 239 yards, but couldn't convert when it mattered. Ohio held Cal Poly to four of 15 on third down conversions, forced three turnovers and returned an interception for a touchdown.
Our coaches got us in the right spot
said Keller, who had 16 tackles. They changed up a lot...compared to what we did to VMI. I think Cal Poly wasn't ready to see what we had.
Keller said against this year's version of the option, the defensive line helped a lot more and kept the offensive line off the linebackers.
Ohio's defense only allowed three points and Cal Poly rarely could finish drives as they often ended with a punt or a turnover.
Cal Poly quarterback Tony Smith had an abysmal night through the air. He threw more interceptions, two, than completions, one. While an option team is expected to run most of the time, Ohio was prepared for a stronger air attack.
We were expecting to go in there and shut down everything they had Keller said. The coaches game planned everything so well.
As the defense shut down the Mustangs, the offense picked them apart.
Theo Scott found his roommate, Taylor Price, in critical situation after critical situation. Price caught nine of Scott's 14 completions and was responsible for 135 of Scott's 236 passing yards.
He's my go to guy Scott said.
Scott threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions finding Price, LaVon Brazill and Terrence McCrae for scores.
When he's playing like he played tonight
he can get things done for you offensively
coach Frank Solich said.
With the score 14-3, Scott showed his playmaking ability when he scrambled out of the pocket and hit Price for a 42-yard touchdown.
That wasn't even Scott's longest touchdown toss of the day. In the fourth quarter, McCrae went up and made a catch over the cornerback, turned around and sprinted to the end zone for a 62-yard touchdown.
I say he's a secret weapon
Scott said of McCrae.
His first touchdown strike was a 5-yard strike to Brazill and capped off an eight play, 88-yard drive.
Most of those yards were courtesy of freshman Gary Fortune.
Fortune electrified Peden Stadium when he handled a sloppy pitch, and sprinted down the left side of the field on a reverse. He shuffled and juked his way all the way across the field making a handful of Mustangs miss en route to a 52-yard gain that set up the Scott-to-Brazill score.
Fortune wasn't the only Bobcat who ran the ball effectively. After struggling to get anything going the first two games of the season, Chris Garrett rushed the ball for 95 yards, including a string of three-straight 15-yard runs.
Possibly the only disappointing aspect of the game for Ohio was that Matt Weller, who'd been perfect thus far this season, missed three field goals. At one point he missed two in a span of about ten seconds.
But aside from that and a few missed opportunities, Ohio dominated from the beginning.
Linebacker Errik Ejike took his first career interception and dashed into the end zone for his first career touchdown. The snag-and-score gave the Bobcats a 7-0 lead with 7:08 remaining in the first quarter.
We did make plays at times
Solich said. On both sides of the ball
and on special teams.
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