Ohio Looking To Bounce Back After First-Week Struggles

Ohio University football coach Frank Solich welcomed an early-season bye week after his Bobcats struggled against FCS opponent Howard in Week One on Sept. 1.

Ohio (1-0) trailed former Virginia coach Mike London’s Bison by as many as 13 — at home — in the first half and gave up an eye-opening 645 total yards (484 through the air), but outscored Howard 21-10 in the second half and escaped with a 38-32 win.

Now in his 14th year at the helm in Athens, Solich, who many may remember best from his brief but successful tenure at Nebraska in the late 90s/early 2000s, admitted after the opener that he was not too pleased with the overall performance.

“We did not play very well,” Solich told reporters. “I don’t think we played especially well on either side of the ball. When you give up as many yards as we did, you don’t win football games that way. We have a lot of work to do defensively, no question about it.”

Solich used the past week to not only give his injured players added rest (junior safety Javon Hagan is among the players expected to be ready to go this weekend), but to work on cleaning up what he feels was a productive but concerning season opener.

“I know, certainly, those guys that are banged up felt good about the rest they were able to get,” Solich said in his weekly press conference. “We identified a fair number of areas we need to improve in terms of being a better football team coming off of that first game. [The open date] gives us a little added time to correct some of those things and work on them, and we’re moving forward.”

One major area of concern was the play of starting quarterback Nathan Rourke. The junior, who was named team captain after helping lead the Bobcats to a nine-win season in 2017, struggled mightily against Howard and was benched for the first time in his career.

Rourke — who not only threw for over 2,200 yards and 17 touchdowns a year ago, but also rushed for over 900 yards and 21 scores — played just the first three series against Howard, going 2 for 8 for 44 yards while rushing five times for 17 yards.

When Rourke (a 2017 second-team All-Mid-American Conference selection who was named to the 2018 O’Brien and Maxwell Award preseason watch lists) failed to get Ohio into the end zone in the first quarter, Solich went with backup Quinton Maxwell the rest of the way.

It turned out to be a wise move, as Maxwell threw for two touchdowns and rushed for two more to lead the comeback effort. Now, as much as Solich might not want to admit it, he’s got somewhat of a controversy on his hands.

“We’re not going to jump at anything right now… We’re not giving up on Nathan by any stretch of the imagination,” said Solich. “He’s going to get all the chances to play that he needs to have, and so is Quinton.”

According to the Bobcats, Rourke has already been determined the starter for Saturday against the Wahoos, but Maxwell will also see the field. Solich said that performance will dictate playing time.

“Both of us know that we can go in there and perform well — whatever happens will happen,” said Maxwell. “All I can do is control my attitude and effort.”

One of the bright spots for Solich’s squad against Howard was senior wideout Papi White, who posted career highs in both catches (8) and receiving yards (154). A.J. Oullette and Maleek Irons combined for all but 41 of the Bobcats’ 161 rushing yards.

Still, Solich hopes to see more production — particularly on the ground — out of his offense, which returned eight starters from last year’s team that led the MAC in scoring output.

“Offensively, we didn’t run the ball the way we want to be able to run the football,” Solich said. “We need to get that done.”

Despite giving up so much yardage, along with what Solich referred to as “too many explosive plays” against the Bison, the Ohio defense did manage to create four takeaways. The Bobcats have put an emphasis on creating turnovers and more specifically stripping the ball away, and that resulted in two forced fumbles in the Howard game.

Solich knows that preparing for Bryce Perkins and the Cavaliers’ new-look offensive schemes will not be an easy task.

“They have an excellent quarterback,” Solich said of Perkins. “He’s 6-3, 215, really can run, and it presents a lot of problems. They use him as a runner coming off a traditional running style that you see quarterbacks coming off of now in terms of an offense. Then, they use him a lot in the option game where he’ll carry the ball sometimes there. He can throw, which causes an extra problem in terms of that dimension.”

With the announcement that Saturday’s game will be relocated to Nashville, Solich will likely have his team well prepared. When asked prior to the venue change about possibly playing in sloppy conditions in Charlottesville, the coach said he likes to have his troops ready “in any environment,” adding he will cover all bases as best as he can.

“You want as few surprises as possible for your team,” Solich explained.

The Bobcats finished 9-4 overall (5-3 in the MAC) last year, which culminated in a 41-6 Bahamas Bowl win over UAB in December. They were picked to win the MAC’s East Division in the preseason.

Virginia won the only other meeting between the schools back in 1993, 41-7, at Scott Stadium in the midst of the George Welsh Era.