Sports
Ohio Picks Up First Loss To Minnesota, 27-24
By: Andrew Hohman
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Ohio coach Frank Solich is a reserved, poised man.
But he was beyond livid after a penalty call many have never seen.
The Bobcats crumbled in the final two minutes and 36 seconds, giving Minnesota a 27-24 win and Ohio its first loss of the season.
Josiah Yazdani lined up for a 53-yard, game-tying, field goal with seven seconds left. Minnesota iced Yazdani with a timeout, but Ohio played through, as most teams do .
Then a delay of game penalty was called.
The ball was pushed five yards back, and Ohio failed on a Hail Mary attempt.
Everyone will remember the delay of game penalty and timeout that happened in the same play, but Ohio already lost the game before that.
When a 41-yard Yazdani field goal gave the Bobcats a 24-20 lead with 2:36 left, the Ohio defense would need one more stop. They weren’t even close.
Ian Wells dropped an interception, the Bobcats had three penalties and Minnesota averaged over seven yards per play on the drive.
The Golden Gophers simply beat up the Ohio defense for 78 yards in two minutes and eight seconds. The ‘Cats weren’t much better throughout the game.
Minnesota running back Shannon Brooks had no trouble finding running lanes en route to two touchdowns and an average of 8.2 yards per carry. The Bobcat defense forced its only turnover on a muffed punt. The defense didn’t change the game like they normally do.
It certainly wasn’t expected. Nothing in this game was.
The Ohio offense looked elite in the first half. Derrius Vick was 11-15 with 153 yards and two touchdowns. The offense was averaging 6.8 yards per play. The Minnesota defense that came into the game ranked 13th in the country in efficiency couldn’t slow the Bobcats down.
The Golden Gophers improved in the second half, but the Ohio offense still put up 10 second-half points, even with Vick limping on an injured right ankle. The Bobcat receivers made tough catches and the running backs pounded through defenders with strength.
The special teams, which Solich admitted struggled through the first three weeks and was seen as unreliable, made big plays once they were trusted.
In the second quarter, on a fourth and three at the Minnesota 17-yard line, Solich chose to go for it over risking a kick from Yazdani, who made just one of his three field goal attempts before the Minnesota game.
In the fourth quarter, Solich gave Yazdani a chance on a 36-yard field goal. Yazdani missed the kick, but a false start penalty gave him a second chance, which he converted five yards farther back.
Daz Patterson had a 56-yard kickoff return to start the final drive. And then the delay of game penalty happened. The 53-yard field goal would have been a career long.
Yazdani missed that practice kick, but he never received a second chance like he did earlier in the game.