Any chance of erasing a disappointing end to the 2013 regular season lies on Tropicana Field’s turf in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Ohio (7-5) will square off against East Carolina on Monday in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, which is the Bobcats’ fifth consecutive bowl appearance.
The Pirates (9-3), a Conference USA team, not only played well in their conference games, but also fared well in their challenging non-conference schedule with a win against in-state foe North Carolina and a close loss to Virginia Tech.
If the Bobcats have any dreams of winning a third consecutive bowl game, they will have to contain one of the most potent offenses in the country. East Carolina’s offense is ranked 11th in the NCAA, averaging 40.4 points per game, while the aerial attack ranks 10th with an average of 312 yards per contest.
However, Monday will pit a pair high-potent offenses against each other, as the Bobcats have the 58th-most passing yardage in the country with 2,862 yards.
East Carolina coach Ruffin McNeill said though the Bobcats boast a similar offense, the Pirates have faced stark challenges.
“I think offensively, they play an up-beat, ‘NASCAR’ offense like we do, so defensively, we’ve faced that before,” McNeill said. “They have a quarterback with a lot of snaps under his belt, so we have to be ready to change looks.”
Pirates junior quarterback, Shane Carden, has thrown for 3,866 yards and 32 touchdowns this season, including at least three touchdowns in seven games this season. He also has the sixth most passing yards in the NCAA.
“They'll also spread people out which enables them to get the ball to their receivers, guys that are playmakers,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “When you spread people out, you can generally piece together a pretty good running game. Just looking at them, they have talent. They're big and physical on both sides of the ball."
Ohio redshirt cornerback Travis Carrie said the defense is going to try to fluster him by making him scramble with blitzes and other schemes to make him feel uncomfortable.
“I feel like when you have great quarterbacks like (Carden) you can’t contain him,” Carrie said. “All you can do is try to stop some of what they do, so he’s definitely going to get his throws and he’s going to have a completion rate, but our main objective is to limit the amount he gets.”
He added that there is no weak link in their offense, which is a match-up he and his fellow defenders are looking forward to.
“I think you always look forward to those type of challenges,” Carrie said. “It shows that you can hang with those top-tier teams and those top-tier offenses.”
Although the Bobcats are focused on taking care of business this year, redshirt junior wide receiver Chase Cochran said the program's success in past bowl appearances speaks for itself.
“It definitely feels good to have a shot to win a third straight bowl game,” Cochran said. “That speaks volumes on our coaches and the players that they’ve brought here and the ability to produce in big games. It is a big game and this is a big team but I think we’ll come to play.”
mk277809@ohiou.edu
@Brandon_Kors
