HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Frank Solich stood in front of the brick wall inside the Fred and Christine Shewey athletic building beside the field at Joan C. Edwards Stadium and tried to stay positive.
His team had every reason to win Saturday against Marshall. Ohio’s offense generated 438 total yards and scored when it needed to against the Thundering Herd. Quarterback Nathan Rourke became the program’s all-time touchdowns leader and turned in his best performance of the young season — three passing touchdowns, 215 passing yards and 118 rushing yards.
But the performance felt meaningless, and the defense is to blame.
Ohio allowed 511 total yards and failed to record key stops in its 33-31 loss to Marshall. Solich had plenty of positives to say about his offense, which rebounded after it was limited to 10 points last week against Pitt.
The defense? Well, Solich wants to look at the tape, but it won’t be good.
“We just didn’t muscle up early in the game,” Solich said as chants from Marshall players echoed across the hall. “We need to get better. That’s obvious.”
The defense had a rough night from the first snap. Marshall marched down the field and scored on just six plays on its first drive to invigorate its home crowd of over 27,000 fans eager to see the Herd win the 16th edition of the “Battle for the Bell” rivalry.
Ohio’s defense never looked sound the rest of the half. Missed tackles, broken coverages and poor communication allowed the Herd to counter each scoring play from Ohio’s high-powered offense.
A 27-17 halftime deficit felt difficult to overcome if the defense couldn’t stop Brenden Knox, who rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. The redshirt sophomore bulldozed his way through Ohio’s linebackers. Then, he ran over the secondary. He was Ohio’s biggest issue, and it had no solution to stop him.
“We just need a better technique on tackling,” defensive end Will Evans said. “We had some pretty good hits on him, but he’s a powerful runner. I’m not going to take that from him.”
A solution, though, wasn’t necessary. Knox didn’t play in the second half after he suffered an injury.
The defense’s job became a lot easier, and the missed tackles went away in the second half. The offense, meanwhile, stormed back. Rourke broke the touchdown record and gave Ohio its first lead of the game with a 72-yard touchdown run, his fourth touchdown of the night.
It was also his last. Ohio allowed Marshall quarterback Isaiah Green to find tight end Xavier Gaines for a 43-yard touchdown that gave the Herd the lead again. Gaines is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and the most versatile weapon on Marshall’s offense — he took a snap as a quarterback on the Herd’s first drive and ran 26 yards to the end zone.
Gaines was uncovered on the touchdown pass from Green.
Ohio failed to score points on its next offensive drive, and it needed its defense to make one more stop with five minutes left to return the ball to Rourke, who was in the middle of a potential career-defining game.
Ten plays later, Green was taking a knee at Ohio’s two-yard line. Rourke never stepped back on the field, and the defense never left it.
“It’s difficult to stop an offense when both the running back and quarterback are really, really good,” Solich said. “You got to find ways to get things done. We’ll watch film and figure it out.”
Ohio failed to record a turnover for the second consecutive game. It didn’t record a sack on Green, either. Last week, it only had one sack against quarterback Kenny Pickett.
Those issues were easy to excuse when the Bobcats were up against a Power 5 opponent. Marshall, picked to win the Conference USA East Division in the conference media poll, provided a good look at how Ohio might fare against top teams in the Mid-American Conference in the future.
If Saturday was a snapshot, the Bobcats are in trouble.
