By Nathaniel Maund

I couldn’t be at Ohio’s match on Sunday because I was in Chicago for a funeral, but I thought I’d take a break from all the Carmelo hysteria on ESPN to quickly dissect the win. For those who didn’t hear about the match, two things happened that led to the Bobcats ending up in a three-way tie for the regular-season MAC title. First, Central Michigan, competing at the same time as the Bobcats, beat Kent State. Then, of course, Ohio beat Eastern Michigan.

First off, I’m not sure what happened with the 125-pound match. Gabe Ramos won by forfeit, so I’ll find out from coach Joel Greenlee what happened when I talk to him after practice tomorrow. It’s possible Ramos’ opponent hurt himself and couldn’t continue.

Other than that, there weren’t any huge upsets in the dual meet. This is a match the Bobcats expected to win. Ohio has always been third in the MAC behind CMU and KSU, so they weren’t about to lose to the Eagles. Eastern’s only ranked wrestler on Intermat was at heavyweight. David Wade took over Jeremy Johnson’s spot at No. 20 last week, and it looks like that will probably flip back over. Johnson beat Wade, 2-0, just as Greenlee predicted he would. This is Johnson’s first win against a quality opponent in a while, as Johnson has faced three top-15 wrestlers in the past weeks.

Other notable matches include senior Germane Lindsey notching a major decision at 141 and redshirt freshman Ryan Garringer pinning his opponent in just 32 seconds at 184. Garringer is starting to come around after struggling for much of the season.

So that’s how the Bobcats won their first regular-season title since 2001. Next up is the MAC Championships. They’ll have a weekend off before traveling to Northern Illinois for the tournament.

That’s it for now. I’ll have more informative posts this week as I get to practice and talk to the wrestlers as well as Greenlee. Enjoy the all-Carmelo, all-the-time SportsCenter.