On fourth down with 47 seconds left, defensive linemen Dak Notestine and Neal Huyhn stormed the Louisiana backfield and forced quarterback Brad McGuire out of the pocket.
Defensive end Stafford Gatling stripped the ball from the quarterback as two Ragin' Cajun linemen fell on the ball. The stop effectively sealed a frustrating win that was much harder than expected.
Ohio beat Louisiana-Lafayette 38-31 in a roller coaster contest. The Bobcats trailed 14-10 at halftime and stormed to a 38-24 lead before letting Louisiana back into the game.
We let them off the hook the whole game
said coach Frank Solich. It was an extremely frustrating game for me one of more that I've been associated with.
After running back Ryan Boykin thundered his way to a touchdown to make the score 38-24, McGuire led a touchdown drive to bring the game within a score.
The Ragin' Cajuns recovered the ensuing onside kick after it bounced over the Bobcats. Louisiana's Orkeys Auriene snuck past the Bobcats and secured the ball for the Cajuns.
(Louisiana kicker Brett Baer) kicked it perfectly Solich said. It took the hop that every team hopes that it will take. That definitely doesn't happen all the time.
Before the drive stalled, McGuire brought the Cajuns to the Bobcat 43-yard-line following a Donovan Fletcher pass interference call. The quarterback constantly wiggled through the Bobcat pressure as he calmly hit his receivers.
We knew that had momentum after the onside kick
Gatling said. We knew we had to stop them. We had a few calls go against us
but we didn't turn our backs. We went hard until the last play.
The Bobcats charged back offensively in the second half after a morbid start to the game. Quarterback Boo Jackson threw four interceptions
but regained his usual composure to lead four touchdown drives.
His three second-half touchdown passes gave Ohio much-needed breathing room. Jackson found •Jordan Thompson open for a three-yard touchdown to give the quarterback his 30th career touchdown
an Ohio record.
Jackson calmed himself down at halftime after forcing throws at the beginning of the game. Quarterback coach Gerry Gdowski talked with Jackson and told him that all quarterbacks struggle at times.
He said that even the best have bad days, Jackson said. It can happen to Drew Brees, it happened to Brett Favre last week. The greatest can bounce back, and that's what I thought I did.
While Jackson regained his composure
McGuire continually hit open Cajun receivers to keep Louisiana in the game.
All facets of the defense struggled
from the secondary to the defensive line
Gatling said.
We had a couple of plays where we completely didn't guard our man, Gatling said. They got big plays from that. We knew we couldn't be making mistakes like that if we wanted to be (Mid-American Conference) East champs.
McGuire threw for 384 yards and two touchdowns. Gatling ended the day with three of the defense's six sacks.
With Buffalo coming to Athens on Thursday
the Bobcats have only five days to recover from the wild contest.
We've faced (a short week) before, Solich said. ..I think we pride ourselves in being able to respond to something that's no the norm.
We kind of feed off that a little bit. It's a matter of accepting a challenge, and our guys have been good at that.
,",2,Sports,Will Frasure,",",Jackson recovers from four first-halftime interceptions to lead charge,",",","
32874,2010-10-30 13:54:00,LIVE BLOG: Ohio vs. Louisiana-Lafayette,,,",2,Sports,Will Frasure,",",",",",","
32873,2010-10-30 04:51:00,Nelsonville-York takes TVC-
