Ohio picked up its second win of the season, remaining undefeated at home with a 28-point margin of victory. That 28-point margin was Ohio's largest since its matchup against UMass in Peden last year, where it won 42-14.
The Bobcats' dominance on the scoreboard came from their dominance on the ground.
Coming into this game, Ohio had struggled to get the run game established. The Bobcats had yet to rush for over 170 yards in a game as a team through three weeks. They had also yet to have a rusher hit 80 rushing yards in a game.
With junior running back Duncan Brune being ruled out right before the game after coming down with an injury against Jacksonville State and missing last week, it was going to be an uphill battle to get the run game going.
“Duncan (Brune) was kind of a game-time decision,” head coach John Hauser said. “So, we decided to hold him. Hopefully we’ll get him back next week.”
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Bobcats’ running game, they rushed for 301 yards and four touchdowns spanning across seven different players.
On top of that, two players rushed for over 80 yards. Ohio’s leading rusher was redshirt freshman running back Irving Brown, who ended the game with 97 rushing yards on eight carries. Halfway through the third quarter, Brown broke off a 60-yard rush to set up an easy touchdown and put the game out of reach. This was Ohio’s longest rush of the season.
Second in rushing yards was graduate student running back Victor Rosa, who rushed for 87 yards and two touchdowns. Rosa, who came into the season as the running back No. 2, was the main workhorse as he filled the starting running back role for Brune. Rosa ended the game with 20 carries.
Ohio dominating on the ground helped open up the passing game for junior quarterback Matt Vezza as he found a good amount of success through the air.
“Stonehill is a very good third-down team on defense; they throw a lot at the opposition on third down,” Vezza said. “Being able to run the ball efficiently on first and second down was huge for us in this game.”
Vezza was also a big piece in the running game with 39 yards and, more importantly, two rushing touchdowns. The first touchdown of the game came from an 18-yard Vezza scramble in which he finished it with a clean spin move into the end zone to get the Bobcats on the board.
It was Ohio’s most rushing yards in a game since its blowout victory last season against UMass, where it rushed for 363 yards.
“I think we did a good job with the looks they gave us,” Hauser said. “I thought the game plan was to attack them in certain spots. We thought we could impose our will a little bit on them up front, and I think our guys did that. Our backs did a good job of hitting the seams as well.”
The Bobcats' offense wasn’t the only thing that dominated the run game. Ohio’s defense allowed Stonehill to rush for negative one yard throughout the entire game.
“The guys just brought into the game our team philosophy of filling our gaps,” Hauser said. “We did a better job of taking away space and getting penetration in the backfield. We probably had more tackles for loss today than we did in our first three games combined.”
Ohio’s front seven never let up as they shut down the Skyhawks' running game while never giving them a chance to get any momentum on the ground. This game's rushing yard difference of 302 yards in Ohio’s favor was the largest in an FBS game this season.
