Sports
Ohio Football Loses Big Again, Drops 41-17 at Buffalo
By: Anthony Allocco
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After a crushing loss to Western Michigan a week before, the Ohio Bobcats couldn’t bounce back as they dropped their second straight Mid-American Conference contest in a 41-17 loss to the Buffalo Bulls.
Buffalo (3-4, 1-2) picked up its first conference win with relative ease and a balanced offensive attack. Buffalo had 375 yards on the day, 212 of which came off the hand of quarterback Joe Licata.
Leading the charge for the Bulls on the ground was Jordan Johnson, who had success between the tackles against Ohio. Johnson scored two touchdowns, and had 147 yards on 28 carries. The versatile back also had 26 receiving yards on the day.
The Bobcats looked good in their opening drive, a 12-play, 75-yard drive that took 5:14 off the clock and ended in a Daz Patterson six-yard touchdown run.
A Bulls’ three-and-out gave the ball right back to Ohio, but quarterback Derrius Vick threw a momentum-shifting interception that was returned 15 yards for touchdown and tied the game at 7-7.
Vick had a tough day, throwing three interceptions and no passing touchdowns. Although he did have 321 yards, Vick struggled with accuracy at times, and attempted many high-risk throws that were close to adding on to his interception total.
With the first half winding down, Vick threw another interception that Buffalo returned for a touchdown for a 28-10 lead.
Many Ohio receivers contributed to the Bobcat passing game. Four players had at least five receptions on the day, led by Sebastian Smith who had nine catches.
With the absence of Papi White, Patterson got the majority of Ohio’s carries. Patterson had 11 of the teams 34 rushing attempts, but was only able to accumulate 28 yards on the ground. The ‘Cats had just 54 total rushing yard.
Ohio entered the week banged up at the linebacker position, but the defense played well with what it had. A.J Ouellette played both sides of the ball, and had two tackles from the middle linebacker spot. Although he split time with Chad Moore at that spot, Ouellette proved that he could play the position in a pinch.
The Bobcats have now posted two consecutive losses of 20 points or more, and will face another tough when they travel to face the top team in the MAC East; Bowling Green.
Bowling Green (6-2, 4-0) has scored 169 points in the past three weeks, and the Bobcats have struggled defensively since the injury to Poling last week against Western Michigan.
Poling is scheduled for an MRI early this week.
Buffalo will have a short week and will play Miami in Oxford on Thursday night.
Ohio and Bowling Green will kick off from Doyt Perry Stadium on Nov. 4 at 8 p.m.