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A dejected A.J. Ouellette collects himself after an attempted touchdown during Ohio's game against Akron on Tuesday night. The Bobcats lost 37-34.

Football: Ohio falls to Akron 37-34, loses control on MAC East

AKRON — Javon Hagan didn't mince words. He knew.

He knew his defense hadn't performed up to par. He knew Ohio had chance after chance to put Akron away time and time again, but mistakes cost his team in the worst way possible. 

Most of all though, he, and everyone else, knew Tuesday night at InfoCision Stadium—Summa Field likely ended Ohio's ultimate goal of a Mid-American Conference title. 

With a crushing 37-34 loss to Akron, the Bobcats' control on the MAC East slipped away with each mental mistake and every unforced error. 

“Everything we worked for just basically down the drain," Hagan said. "Not (going to) be the happiest right now, but it is what it is. Still got a bowl game left."

With a win, Ohio (8-3, 5-2 MAC) would have clinched a berth in the MAC Championship Game in Detroit on Dec. 2. Now, Ohio will need a win next Friday against Buffalo and an Akron (6-5, 5-2 MAC) loss to Kent State (2-9, 1-6 MAC) to end up in Detroit for a second straight year.

"They have to play Kent, which is last in the division," Hagan said. "Of course it’s going to be not likely for them to beat Akron, but it is what it is.”

The Bobcats came in riding the highest of waves, just six days removed from a 38-10 thrashing of preseason MAC favorite Toledo. Now the Bobcats' season hinges on something it can't control next Tuesday, when Kent State travels to Akron for a season finale. 

It's ironic in that regard, as Ohio's season will be decided on the same field, between two different teams, a week after the Bobcats blew the best chance they'd have to finish it themselves.

"We felt that this was a really good opportunity for us to make it back to the MAC Championship," quarterback Nathan Rourke said. "And knowing there’s not a great chance of that happening is very disappointing."

Perhaps the most frustrating part of the entire night for the Bobcats was the fact that they had opportunities to take the game over. Those were met swiftly with an interception, or a dropped pass, or a fumble.

When Ohio needed a big play late, it just couldn't find one.

"We had turnovers; you can’t win the game with turnovers," coach Frank Solich said. "You can’t win the game when you have busted coverages. Nothing seemed to fit for us as well as it has in previous games, for the most part."

Despite a 68-yard run from Rourke on the second play of the game — which followed a defensive three and out — Ohio could never settle in and slow down Akron quarterback Kato Nelson. He  kept Ohio's defense off balance all night long with dazzling scramble drills and precision passing, which made defending him a tall task for a defense that hadn't seen much of him on film.

Nelson, in for suspended quarterback Thomas Woodson, threw 322 yards and four touchdowns with 45 yards on the ground in just his second college start. His shiftiness and speed in and around the pocket gave Akron 30 first half points, a number too much for the Bobcats offense. 

While Nelson looked sharp, there were times when Zips receivers ran free down the field, uncovered on their way to the end zone. 

“That’s what was the hard thing, we were just so focused on (Woodson), and he wasn’t even in the stadium tonight," Hagan said. "That’s a big letdown on our part. If we would’ve focused on (Nelson), the quarterback, we would have been able to prepare better.”

All that considered, it looked as if the Bobcats would erase all of the demons that plagued them for 56 minutes when the offense got the ball with four minutes left. Rourke and the offense stood 55 yards away from a touchdown and a MAC Championship appearance. 

Two runs and a completed pass to Papi White left the offense facing fourth down in need of a first down to keep the drive, and likely MAC title hopes, alive. 

On fourth down, Rourke threw a pass down the left sideline which hit a reaching White in the hands. Then the ball hit the turf. 

"Those plays, they’re what they are," Solich said. "If they work, you look great. If they don’t work, then you’re banging your head against the wall.”

All of those miscues and mistakes culminated in a three-point loss to a team that, on paper, Ohio should have beaten.

“We definitely beat ourselves," Hagan said bluntly. "They’re not the better team. Definitely not the better team.”

Despite that, Hagan and every other Bobcat still left InfoCision Stadium with a pit in their stomachs thinking of what could have been. 

Instead of a celebration in the locker room and tunnel, there were long, dejected faces. Instead of planning a trip to Detroit in two weeks, uncertainty faces the Bobcats for the next two weeks. 

That uncertainty includes the prospect of sitting on the couch next week watching a 2-9 Kent State team try to upset an Akron team with championship visions now tangible. 

The prospects of that happening are slim. But you don't have to tell the players that.

They know. They all know. 

@Andrew_Gillis70 

ag079513@ohio.edu

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