Sports
Ohio Football Opens 2015 at Idaho
By: Nick Komjati
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Bobcat football arrived in Moscow, Idaho on Wednesday after a 2,241-mile trek, the program’s furthest regular season road trip since the Bobcats challenged Hawaii in Honolulu in the 1996 season.
“This will be a huge trip for us and [the players] are looking forward to it,” head coach Frank Solich said. “I’ve talked to other coaches about whether you stay on east coast time for the short time that you are there. And in my opinion I think you do. I think it should be a very interesting trip for us in that regard.”
The trip to Moscow presents several challenges. First, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has recently deemed the air quality unhealthy, due to the recent wildfires that continue to rip through the region. The Idaho Vandals thankfully play their games in the Kibbie Dome, which also presents problems for opposing players’ depth perception and sight angles. The Bobcats have prepared for the unique atmosphere by practicing for the game in their own Walter Fieldhouse, a smaller but similar structure to the Kibbie Dome.
“We’ve had a fair number of indoor practices this fall camp leading up to this game just to get used to having walls around you and a top cover on you,” Solich said. “Hopefully, it won’t be too much of a drastic change for us.”
On the field, the Vandals have not experienced much success over the last 16 years, as they have completed just one season with a winning record since 1999. Third-year head coach Paul Petrino aims to improve on last season’s 1-10 record, where the Vandals lost by an average of 14.7 points per game.
Offensively, the Vandals held their own in 2014 and return many key pieces this season. Quarterback Matt Linehan was just a freshman last season when he threw for 2,540 yards and 11 touchdowns. His inexperience showed at times, leading him to throw 18 interceptions, including three by Ohio linebacker Quentin Poling in last season’s home-opener.
Even with Poling’s breakout performance a year ago, the Bobcats did not defeat the Vandals as easily as expected. Ohio quarterback Derrius Vick sustained an injury in the first half that hindered his whole season, but backup JD Sprague was able to do enough to out-perform Linehan and the Vandal offense, which rolled to 418 total offensive yards.
This year, the Bobcats are preparing for a lot of movement from the Idaho offense. Junior defensive end Tarell Basham said that the defense is practicing their ability to read Idaho’s offense based on the placement and movement of their tight ends and fullbacks.
“If any one of us sees an offensive tight end or an offensive wing step off the ball or trade, we have to be very vocal and let everybody else on the team know that so we can get the recall and get lined up,” Basham said.
On the other side of the ball, the Bobcats should not expect much of a challenge from Idaho’s defense. Even will the loss of Vick in the first half of last year’s contest, Ohio surpassed 500 yards of total offense on their way to 36 points, the offense’s second-highest scoring total of the season.
While Solich announced the coaching staff’s confidence in Vick by naming him the starter on Sunday, he has consistently mentioned that both Vick and Sprague could see the field in multiple games this season.
“It could be for a few weeks or it could be that we want to [alternate quarterbacks] throughout the season or it could be a one game deal,” Solich said. “We’re not stepping out there too far in how we’re going to do things. We’ll see how the first half and the first game goes and that will start to determine things for us.”
Many analysts around college football predict an improvement this year for the Bobcats, including Phil Steele, a college football guru and sportswriter that predicts Ohio to be one of the most improved teams in the country. The Bobcats feel that they have addressed several problems from the end of last season and will surely be a better team when facing Idaho on Thursday.
“We definitely needed to emphasize stopping the pass this camp and I feel like we did a really good job at it,” Basham said. “A few years ago, we were ranked top five in the country in turnovers and we really want to get back up there.”
“Experience,” Sayles said. “We have a lot more experience and getting together and communicating. It’s coming together very well.”
The ‘Cats and Vandals kickoff at 9 p.m. ET. The game can be viewed on WatchESPN.