On a wet and rainy day at Peden Stadium, the Bobcat offense was anything but under the weather, as Ohio rolled past Austin Peay. 38-0.
Ohio (3-1) recorded its first shutout since 2004, when they defeated Buffalo 34-0.
The Bobcats struck first 11:13, when redshirt senior quarterback Tyler Tettleton found fellow redshirt senior Matt Waters in the back of the end zone for his first touchdown in his Bobcat career.
With less than three minutes left in the first quarter Tettleton connected with Ohio redshirt senior wide receiver Donte Foster for a 53-yard touchdown pass.
Tettleton found Waters again in the second quarter for a 23-yard touchdown pass to pad the lead to 21-0. Tettleton was 13-15 in the contest for 213 yards and three touchdowns.
Waters said he has become more comfortable on offense by implementing what he has learned every week. He finished the game with four catches for 55 yards.
“I have a routine and I kind of just stick to it,” Waters said. “I also take what (receivers coach Dwayne) Dixon says to heart. Every time, every little tidbit, I take that to heart and implement it into my game, whether it’s just some little thing about the way I position my hands or anything like that.”
The Bobcat defense held steady, as Austin Peay failed to record a first down until 12 minutes into the second quarter.
The Governors gained 298 yards of total offense the entire contest.
Redshirt senior defensive end Ty Branz said holding Austin Peay scoreless was a big accomplishment for the defense.
“(The shutout) was huge for us,” Branz said. “Everybody on defense, that’s what we were pushing for and aiming for and it was our goal. … They made a couple of big plays and pushed us back. But the big thing is bend but don’t break on defense.”
One glaring weakness for the Bobcats in the contest was the ability to capitalize drives as redshirt sophomore kicker Matt Green missed a 48-yard field goal in the second quarter.
The Bobcats turned to redshirt sophomore Josiah Yazdani for kicking duties in the fourth quarter as he booted a 47-yard field goal. Ohio coach Frank Solich said the Bobcats kicking situation is still not solidified.
“It’s up for grabs,” Solich said regarding the kicking situation. “Obviously it was good to see (Yazdani) make that field goal and I think it’s been a close race all the way through fall camp. So the race is not necessarily over.”
With 6:40 left in the third quarter, Ohio sophomore running back Daz Patterson broke open for a 32 yard run, which was capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by redshirt senior running back Ryan Boykin.
Ohio then put the icing on the cake in the fourth quarter, scoring ten points and Ohio sophomore running back Daz Patterson put the icing on the cake with a 13-yard touchdown run with five minutes remaining in the contest.
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