Last season might have ended with a 45-14 thrashing of Louisiana-Monroe in the Advocare V100 Independence Bowl, but the conclusion of the Bobcats’ Mid-American Conference slate wasn’t nearly as inspiring.
After starting off last season with seven consecutive wins and the program’s first-ever appearance in the Bowl Championship Series rankings, the Bobcats tailed off down the stretch.
Starting with a crushing 23-20 loss on the road at Miami, Ohio lost four of its last five regular-season games and fell short of winning a second consecutive MAC East divisional crown and coach Frank Solich’s first conference championship. Last season’s motto of “Unfinished Business” was all well when things were going well to begin the season, but toward the end, the motto left more questions than answers.
Redshirt senior cornerback Travis Carrie sat out last season with a shoulder injury suffered in training camp, but he thought the early season success and increased recognition crept into the heads of his teammates and that it showed on the practice field.
“When you start to get on that high note when you’re 7-0 and you’re ranked and things like that, sometimes practices can seem more lackadaisical,” Carrie said.
“They can seem more relaxing, seem as if you don’t have to do as much. ... We kind of let ourselves down with going into practice, not taking every rep or going 110 percent.”
But redshirt senior quarterback Tyler Tettleton saw a different version of how the team’s fall from grace in conference took place, beginning with the loss to Miami.
“Me personally, I didn’t feel (distracted),” Tettleton said. “We knew eventually it was going to happen, that we would be ranked. If you just look at the Penn State game, that didn’t faze us at all going into the New Mexico State game the next week. ... We just didn’t play the way we knew we were capable of.”
The second-year team captain also cited injuries for the team’s struggles; the defensive secondary appeared to be more of an intensive care unit. Current redshirt senior cornerback Jamil Shaw joined Carrie on the sidelines after suffering a season-ending injury in the Bobcats’ season-opener.
That, along with the loss of current redshirt senior running back Ryan Boykin and numerous linemen on the offensive and defensive sides missing time, played a large role in the late-season collapse.
Although those injuries plagued the Bobcats down the stretch last season, Tettleton views it as a positive for this season.
“You never want (injuries) to happen, especially going down the stretch when we’re playing those really good teams in conference,” he said. “It’s going to be good to have depth and to know that guys have got a chance to play and have gotten reps in games.”
Carrie sees that experience gained among the young players, along with the return of Shaw and himself, making the secondary an elite unit.
“We had a lot of young players step up and show their skills,” Carrie said. “So coming back, bringing the veterans back with them, makes us as a defense and us as a secondary stronger than ever.”
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