Penn State deserves some of Ohio’s gratitude after last weekend.
As long as the Nittany Lions are winning games on their conference slate, it will make the Bobcats’ week-one win against them appear more impressive in college football polls.
Ohio received 79 votes in the latest Associated Press poll, which was released Sunday, putting them just three votes shy of the Top 25.
The Bobcats are on the cusp of being in the national spotlight and continue to gain recognition with football heavyweights like Texas Christian and Nebraska falling from college football’s Mount Olympus with losses last weekend.
At this point in the season, that’s the perfect spot in the rankings for Ohio. Ohio coach Frank Solich has said many times that from the opening kickoff until the final seconds tick off the game clock, his team continually gives him plenty to dissect and correct when he breaks down film in the days leading up to game day.
Ohio’s defense prides itself on being able to stymie the opposition’s rushing attack, but last week Buffalo running back Devin Campbell and quarterback Alex Zordich led an offense that carved up the Bobcats for 313 yards on the ground — the most surrendered by Ohio this season.
The Bobcats did force four fumbles and convert quickly on the offensive side of the ball, showing — once again — that after settling in, they have been able to absorb the other team’s haymaker.
Still, we have not seen all Ohio has to offer.
With redshirt junior quarterback Tyler Tettleton still avoiding contact, the offense has been forced to shy away from an important dimension of its rushing game.
Additionally, the Bobcats have lost redshirt senior tight end Jordan Thompson to a season-ending knee injury sustained against Buffalo. He joins redshirt senior Travis Carrie as the second Ohio captain to be confined to the sidelines this season.
The defense in particular has been riddled with injuries and has forced many players listed lower on the depth chart into larger roles.
The revolving door of players filling positions has led to inconsistencies with the defense and that has caused college football voters and Solich to remain skeptical.
Solich continues to be level-headed about receiving national recognition and discourages anything that deters from the players’ focus on game day.
“Guys are not going to talk like that around me anyway,” Solich said. “We understand what it’s going to take to continue to be successful. We don’t want to be a flash in the pan. We want to be able to do things consistently and in order to do that you can’t look that far down the road.”
The Bobcats need to brave their Homecoming bout with Akron, progress during the bye week and capitalize on an opportunity to get back to a clean bill of health. Reviving injured players won’t remedy all the of Bobcats’ needs, though, as they’ll travel to Oxford to face Miami’s explosive offense led by Zac Dysert the following week.
Ohio must continue to take care of its own business, because the world tends to be generous to those that help themselves.
Nick Robbe is a senior studying journalism and the Sports Editor for The Post. Want to talk Bobcats with him? Write him an email at nr225008@ohio.edu.
