Ohio (3-2 overall, 1-0 Mid-American Conference) opened up MAC play Saturday with a very solid 35-20 win over in-state opponent Bowling Green. The Bobcats look to continue their winning streak further into MAC play as they go on the road to play Ball State this week.
Before the team makes the trip to Muncie, Indiana, Ohio head coach Brian Smith sat down with reporters for his weekly press conference. Here is what we learned.
Ball State’s Dual-threat QB poses challenge
Ohio obviously has dual-threat abilities at the quarterback position within its own offense. This weekend, the defense has to face this challenge head-on when Kiael Kelly is across from them.
“The hard thing with an athletic quarterback is you never really get a great feel for it until it's live because you're gonna blow things dead in the pocket,” Smith said on prep for Kelly this week. “Sometimes you're never really hitting your quarterbacks in practice, so you never really get a feel of the elusiveness of tackling a really dynamic, athletic quarterback.”
The Cardinals aim to have Kelly use his legs directly throughout the game, but their biggest weapon is the plays that break down, where he can utilize his legs, his running backs or receivers downfield.
“They're going to play with a bunch of tight ends, which a lot of teams don't do, so that can create some challenge,” Smith said. “They'll do a good amount of empty quarterback runs that can be challenging for some of our fits, and then just have a kid that can scramble and still throw it well. I think they have a good running back, and he does distribute the ball well, and they have a bunch of receivers that all have a handful of catches.”
Special Teams Updates
Through the first five weeks of Ohio’s season, the offense has been a steady positive, consistently scoring points and putting together efficient drives that allowed the team to get to its 3-2 record.
All season, the unit that has struggled the most has been special teams, and after another missed kick from kicker Brack Peacock, Smith has announced a change at the position for Ball State.
“Right now, we're looking at rolling with (David Dellenbach),” Smith said. “It’s hard to hit the left upright, and I don’t know why we keep hitting it … We'll keep evaluating, but as of right now, the plan is (to) let Dave go."
Another special teams issue against the Falcons was the coverage units. Bowling Green was able to get 129 total yards on just four kick returns throughout the day. Smith and his special teams coordinator, Blair Cavanaugh, look to have the problem fixed against Ball State.
“We're looking at some different personnel to put on there,” Smith said. “There's a lot that was just execution things. Guys were just not doing their job. So either they have got to be trained better, or we’ve got to find somebody that’s going to be more disciplined to do their job.”
Injury Updates
Ohio has only played five games, but the injuries are stacking up on both sides of the ball. The first injury update Smith gave was on senior wide receiver Max Rodarte, who had an unfortunate injury against Gardner-Webb.
“He'll be out for the season,” Smith said regarding Rodarte. “He had surgery last week and is doing really well, but yeah, he will be done.”
As for defensive guys like Pius Odjugo and Jack Fries, Smith and the rest of the coaching staff are expecting them within the next few weeks.
“The rest of them, we're really expecting back within this week, or right after the bye. so a lot of those guys are getting close,” Smith said on Odjugo and Fries.
Fries went out during the midst of one of his best games against West Virginia, and has been out since. As for Odjugo, he never appeared to be hurt during a game, but he missed both Gardner-Webb and Bowling Green with injury.
Energy and effort power Ohio’s defensive turnaround
Ohio left the field against Gardner-Webb two weeks ago and moved back to .500 for the year, but Smith did not give any leniency to his players in the 52-35 win. He called for tweaks to be made on the defensive side of the ball with the hope of keeping points off the scoreboard in MAC play.
Ohio responded loudly on Saturday against Bowling Green when Cam Hollobaugh picked off Drew Pyne on the first drive and took it all the way to the endzone. Hollobaugh became the second linebacker to win MAC Defensive Player of the Week after his performance.
“His transition to our program has been awesome, and he continues to get better every single week,” Smith said. “The recognition is outstanding. (I’m) definitely pleased with Coach Woods and the job he's doing developing that room.”
The Bobcats were led up front by redshirt sophomore Jay Crable, who had three sacks, but he had help. The entire defense was flying around the field and forcing turnovers. Smith sparked this change mid-week, and his players responded with more energy, and the on-field play backed up the effort displayed on all three levels of the defense.
“I think that was a strong reflection with our defense,” Smith said. “The effort and the energy was different and just all around the importance of everyone's role within the program. The sideline energy wasn't great against Gardner-Webb, and that was elevated when we were playing Bowling Green.”
