Everybody seems to have their own opinions on the move.
Coach Frank Solich doesn’t mind. He just wants to play a game after almost two full weeks without a game.
Safety Kylan Nelson looks at it as a homecoming. He was born and raised in the state of Tennessee.
Offensive coordinator Tim Albin once took an 18-hour bus ride to play a football game. An eight-hour one won’t kill him.
No matter what, Ohio will play a football game against Virginia this Saturday at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, at 4:30 p.m. EDT.
The game was originally scheduled for a 3 p.m. kickoff Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, which is roughly 177 miles from Virginia Beach. Hurricane Florence is expected to make landfall Thursday night into Friday morning and pound the East Coast, potentially including Virginia.
Ohio started to prepare for the torrential rain and high winds. Solich even talked about it in his weekly press conference. Monday’s practice was scheduled indoors, but it was moved outside because of rain in the forecast.
“You take into account the weather, and you never know wind factors or rain. Later in the year, it could even be snow,” Solich said Monday. "You know those factors aren't ideal in terms of throwing the ball, but if you have a solid or strong running game, you still have a chance to move the football in some way.”
By Tuesday afternoon, the two schools had brokered a deal to move the game to Nashville. Neither Solich nor Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall have ever coached a game at Vanderbilt Stadium.
The true road game for the Bobcats turns into a neutral-site game, something Ohio hasn’t done in quite a while when you take bowl games and conference championship games out of consideration. It’s something many Group of Five schools barely do.
With the move, it also means Virginia loses all home-field advantage. The Cavaliers moved because they want to make sure they played all scheduled games. In his third year as coach, Mendenhall wants Virginia to make a bowl game. Saturday presents the opportunity for another chance to win.
“Virginia wanted to make sure this game got played,” Richmond Times-Dispatch beat writer Mike Barber said in an interview with The Post. “Not that they think it’s a guaranteed win, but they only have so many chances to win games. Virginia decided even if it means going to Ohio, which I was told today that it was an option.
“Had nothing come available, they were willing to go play this game as a road game. They did not want to give up a chance at six wins this year. I give them credit for that. They were committed to playing the game.”
Nelson has played in his home state once before, in 2016 at Tennessee. He bleeds orange, but wears green, he said after Wednesday’s practice.
The surprise move to Nashville will be a homecoming of sorts for him because he grew up in Memphis. His parents now live in Kentucky, but his aunts, uncles and grandparents still live in Memphis.
He’s been to games at Vanderbilt Stadium before, too. It doesn’t compare to the Volunteers' Neyland Stadium, but Nelson says it’ll do. He was looking forward to bragging about playing in a hurricane, but he gets a homecoming instead.
Saturday will give the Bobcats an opportunity to beat their first Atlantic Coast Conference school since 1997 when they beat Maryland, 21-14.
And it’ll mean a lot if they beat Virginia, whether it’s in Charlottesville or Nashville, a hurricane or sunshine.
Nashville will just have to do for Virginia and Ohio.
