On a cold and windy Tuesday night in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the viewing experience for midweek MACtion was at an all-time high for those who enjoy the wacky and sloppy football that is often played on frigid weeknights between Mid-American Conference teams.
Unfortunately for Ohio (6-4 overall, 4-2 MAC) fans, the Bobcats were the ones playing the sloppy brand of football, and that lack of execution, particularly from the passing game, is what sunk the Bobcats in a 17-13 loss against Western Michigan (6-4 overall, 5-1 MAC).
The freezing temperatures hovering around 30 degrees certainly would make it tough for any offense to execute at a high level, but the Ohio passing offense had an especially bad night moving the ball downfield through the air.
The dysfunction for the Ohio passing game and graduate student quarterback Parker Navarro started early on Tuesday night, as his first pass of the night was picked off by Western Michigan’s Tate Hallock.
The ball was intended for star wide receiver Chase Hendricks, but Hallock read the play beautifully, picking off the pass and returning it all the way into field goal range for the Broncos offense, who converted the turnover into an early three points.
Hendricks appeared to be bracketed on the play, a scheme decision that persisted all night for Western Michigan’s defense, allowing them to take away the first read and top target for Navarro.
“We struggled getting into a rhythm,” Ohio head coach Brian Smith said of the passing game. “I thought they did a good job really bracketing Chase to kind of take him away… we just weren’t able to get comfortable to get back into throwing the ball.”
Hendricks finished the game with just two catches and 13 yards receiving, his lowest totals of the year in any game in both stat categories.
With his top weapon being blanketed, Navarro struggled mightily to throw the ball downfield, completing just eight of his 17 passing attempts for a measly 70 yards passing and one interception.
He was able to use his legs to generate offense, rushing 18 times for 105 yards and a touchdown, but the inept passing game hurt the Ohio offense in a big way.
Ohio had a 7-3 lead going into the half as the defense did a great job of holding the Western Michigan running game in check, but that quickly changed as the Broncos came out of the half and scored right away, running for 49 yards and making it look easy as they took the lead.
Ohio responded with its best drive of the day, a mammoth 17-play drive that went 83 yards and took over 10 minutes off of the game clock. The drive started in the third quarter with just over 10 minutes remaining until the fourth, and it didn’t end until the beginning of the fourth.
The main ingredient in that drive was the run game, as of the 17 plays in the drive, 16 of them were rushes from either Navarro or senior running back Sieh Bangura, and the only pass that was called was an incomplete attempt for Mason Williams.
Bangura had a great night, taking 16 carries for 97 yards and a score, but he arguably should’ve gotten even more carries, as the rushing offense was very successful against the Broncos' defense.
“I feel like the (offensive) line did their thing today,” Bangura said. “I got about 4-5 yards a pop every run, so the (offensive) line did really well today, and I was able to just feed off of them.”
The run blocking was great for Ohio, but when Ohio found itself needing a drive at the end of the game to take the lead, they allowed pressures from Nadame Tucker and other Broncos defensive linemen.
Tucker got the key sack on the third and 16 that sent Ohio into a fourth and 20 that it was not able to convert. Western Michigan chewed the clock with the lead, giving Ohio just 16 seconds for a miracle that never came, as the passing offense was again held in check, and Ohio ended the game after a few failed lateral attempts.
With the loss, Ohio no longer controls its own destiny for the MAC title game, and it will now need to win out and get some help from other teams in the conference to make it back to Detroit.
