but tomorrow
it's a brand new day he said. It's a new day to come to work.
I know that we're going to make sure that the change happens, to make sure we leave this game here and leave it behind and we progress to get better for the next game.
But it's hard to understand how the Bobcats could forget their first conference loss so easily.
Ohio was outplayed in all three phases of the game. The Golden Flashes gained 372 yards offensively and held the ball nine minutes longer than the Bobcats. Kent State also out-gained the Bobcats by 2.1 yards per play with the Golden Flashes gaining 4.9 yards and Ohio gaining 2.8 yards.,Patrick Tafua didn't downplay the significance of Saturday's loss
but the senior safety made it clear that come Sunday morning it needed to be forgotten.
It's going to hurt tonight, but tomorrow, it's a brand new day, he said. It's a new day to come to work.
I know that we're going to make sure that the change happens
to make sure we leave this game here and leave it behind and we progress to get better for the next game.
But it's hard to understand how the Bobcats could forget their first conference loss so easily.
Ohio was outplayed in all three phases of the game. The Golden Flashes gained 372 yards offensively and held the ball nine minutes longer than the Bobcats. Kent State also out-gained the Bobcats by 2.1 yards per play, with the Golden Flashes gaining 4.9 yards and Ohio gaining 2.8 yards.
The Bobcat offense only tallied 164 yards, with 9 yards rushing. Quarterbacks Theo Scott and Tyler Tettleton, who came in because Scott was ill, combined to throw three interceptions.
In a game where both players and coaches said the team was off
Frank Solich said this loss set back the progress the Bobcats made so far this season.
Not to be able to come up with some answers to make things work and to get things done is tough
he said. It looked like a fairly complete breakdown in terms of all phases of the game.
Despite the loss, the Bobcats are still optimistic about how the rest of the season will play out.
We had one off night
wide receiver Taylor Price said. We're still a very talented team
and we're not going to let this sidetrack us. We still have a lot of goals ahead of us that we can accomplish.
Many of those goals hinge on winning the Mid-American Conference East Division, and the Bobcats may still control their own destiny in that regard.
Ohio is now tied for second in the division, but the team in first, Temple, makes a trip to Athens in the last week of the season. Kent State and Temple play each other Nov. 21. If Kent State wins out, it wins the MAC East. If Temple defeats Kent State, and then Ohio defeats Temple, the three teams would all be tied in first place, assuming each won the remaining games.
This would force the second tiebreaker to come into effect. The second tiebreaker is the division records of the tied teams, ranked from highest to lowest.
Field Position
Solich praised the Kent State punters, especially for their work early in the game.
In the first half, the Bobcats averaged a starting field position of their own 26-yard line. Four of the seven offensive drives started inside the Ohio 20-yard line, and two of these drives started inside Ohio's 5-yard line.
The Golden Flashes averaged 44.8 yards per punt in the first half, including an average of 51 yards per punt in the first quarter. Kent State finished with an average of 40.5 yards per punt.
We were in the hole a lot in the first quarter
Solich said. Their punter hit some punts that pinned us deep and took away field position. That was huge early on because we just never seemed to get out of the hole.
No Big Plays
The loss to Kent State was the first time this season the Bobcat offense didn't have a game-changing play.
Price said the Kent State defense was a reason the Bobcats struggled offensively. The Bobcats couldn't figure out the passing coverage and where the pressure would come from, Price said.
The timing was off just a little bit
he said. They were bumping our receivers a little bit
