Last year's game between Ohio and Eastern Michigan was decided by the passing game.
The team's combined for 638 yards in the air in a 27-20 Eastern Michigan win at Peden Stadium. Ohio used two quarterbacks in a loss, but still relied on the arial attack throughout the afternoon.
This year, however, the game could very well be decided in the center of the offensive line.
Eastern Michigan's defensive tackles, Dion Dawson and Oddie Granger, are 6-feet, 320 pounds and 6-foot-3, 315 pounds, respectively.
Ohio's offensive line will have some power to move out of the way for its running backs. The game could very well fall on the shoulders of Ohio's two guards and center: Joe Anderson, Hagan Meservy and Jake Pruehs.
Breakdown
It didn't take long for the Eagles defensive unit to make their presence known in their last game at Rutgers. It's something that coach Frank Solich also made note of, too.
"Same thing with them on defense, they're very big inside, 320 and 325," Solich said. "That's a lot of weight to try and move around. Their rush ends have really good size, good heights and good weight. They're not an easy team to displace and move around. So a lot of times we will slow down the running game."
The front seven for Eastern Michigan shows its power from the first drive of the game — and just the second play, which can be seen at 8:13 of this YouTube video.
Rutgers lines up in the traditional pistol offense and Eastern Michigan counters with a 4-2-5 look.
At the snap, Rutgers runs a traditional zone running play to the right. The Eagles don't blitz anyone on this play, and they don't even need to.
Pruehs said that their defense is coached very well and has excellent technique. But more importantly, they disguise everything, meaning they won't show a blitz or stunt before a play starts. That can make the defense, especially the defensive line, especially dangerous.
As the running back takes the handoff, he has to bounce the run out wide — Dawson has blown the offensive guard straight into the backfield. About two yards back, the right guard has to flip his hips to force Dawson back inside.
That, in turn, opens up a hole for the Scarlet Knights running back to head through. But defensive end Maxx Crosby broke off his tackle and slows down the running back enough so his teammates could come make the tackle.
The Bobcats will have to stay on their blocks if they want to open up holes in the big Eagles defense.
Judgement
Penetration like that can kill any run play, so Ohio will have to be as tight as ever in the middle of the line in Ypsilanti on Saturday.
If the Bobcats are able to handle that, A.J. Ouellette, Dorian Brown and Julian Ross could run wild, Nathan Rourke could have time to pass and the Bobcats could find themselves on the winning end of the scoreboard this year.
Note: gifs by Andrew Gillis from ncaa sportsvids on Youtube.
