Ohio hits the road to start of the 2026 campaign with a pit stop in Lincoln, Nebraska on Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats are coming off a 9-4 season, and the fourth consecutive year with nine or more wins.
First-year Ohio head coach John Hauser will walk into his first official start at the helm with aspirations to keep this rolling this year. He sat down with reporters for his weekly press conference, and this is what I learned.
Quarterbacks will decide Week One
Graduate student Nick Poulos and senior Anthony Colandrea will walk into Saturday’s game to take their first live snaps as members of their respective rosters. Poulos was named Ohio’s starter less than two weeks ago, but the third-year Bobcat runs with a starting group all offseason.
“So just you know his consistency,” Hauser said. “He's got big arm strength. I mean, that's something that we definitely like about Nick (Poulos). He can run. He's very multiple. But the experience in the system and just his relationship with the guys...He's been here...They respect him. They listen to him. So, all those things kind of combined. It just made a ton of sense for him to get the call.”
Colandrea is new to Nebraska, but not to Hauser’s defense. He transferred to the Cornhuskers from Ohio’s 2025 Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl opponent, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Colandrea went 19/30 for 184 yards in the game, but also threw an interception to Ohio’s two-time captain, redshirt junior safety DJ Walker. Hauser hopes Nebraskas’s system and familiarity will help them contain Colandrea Saturday.
“He's a great player,” Hauser said. “He can run, he can create, he can get out of the pocket. Seeing him at UNLV, probably a similar type system to what he's going to be in (with Nebraska). But he's just a very explosive player that can run and he can throw, and you know I think it's a mix with us us seeing him and he kind of knows what we're like so excited to get to see him and at least we do have some familiarity with them, which will help our guys a little bit.”
Roster Development:
The 2026 season kicks off for Ohio on Saturday, but it truly got started in Athens back in the spring, and Hauser is ready for his players to feel the reward of months of hard work pay off. The development has picked up during fall camp with a more defined depth chart but now the answers will come on the field Saturday.
“So just continuing to to solidify our starters and add depth,” Hauser said. “I think getting better every week is something that we've done here that we're constantly talking about. So, the development is not close to over, but I'm excited to see some of these guys that have worked so hard for so long to get to go out there and play in a great environment on the road and a great test for us week one.”
Frank Solich Legacy
Legendary former Ohio head coach Frank Solich left behind a trail of wisdom and tools since his departure in 2020. He passed it down to his successor, Tim Albin, but didn’t bury the hatchet with the Bobcats there, being a resource for Brian Smith during his time in Athens and now this offseason for first-year head coach Hauser.
Solich is a household name in Athens because of his 16 years of leadership. What fans may not know is that before his tenure at Ohio, his coaching career started in Lincoln for the Bobcats' week-one opponent, the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Solich played football in Lincoln from 1962 to 1965, and the three-year letterman was later put in the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 1992. Starting in 1979, Solich was hired back at his alma mater to be an assistant coach for 19 years. Then in 1998, he took a job as the head coach for six seasons. In his time on the staff, he was part of three national championships, 11 league titles and never missed a bowl game in 29 years.
“I talked to him last week for a little bit, and I've always kind of picked his brain," Hauser said. “I didn't have the opportunity to work with him here, but when I worked for Tim Albin, he was around a lot and very under the radar. But I got a chance to really talk to him a lot, and he's great. I call him, he picks up, and I can ask him anything, and he's kind of been through all of this. So having him as a resource and going back to his place for this first game is pretty neat.”
Special Teams
One of the big stories of last season for Ohio football was the inconsistency from the special teams unit. The group struggled to kick field goals, going 7/12 on the year. That also called for multiple kickers to be used throughout the year, making consistency hard to come by. Thankfully, consistency was the first thing out of Hauser’s mouth when discussing the group and the outlook for this year.
“I like the consistency right now,” Hauser said. “We've been kicking the ball a lot better, field goals, PATs, kickoffs. Punter Magnus (Haines) is back, has some experience. Colton Burrows has done a great job in training camp too. We're snapping the ball well. Coach Cavanaugh has those guys tuned in to what's going on. Our guys understand the importance of special teams, and whether you're a starter or not, special teams are going to impact the game.”
