Sports
Ohio Football Ends Season With Statement Victory in Bahamas Bowl
By: Matt Summers
Posted on:
From the cold weather of Ohio to the warm, sandy beaches of Nassau, the Ohio Bobcats (9-4, 5-3) traveled down to the Bahamas and put a beat down on the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers (8-5, 6-3), 41-6 in the Bahamas Bowl.
Ohio established the running game early, getting A.J. Ouellette into the trenches, but a nagging shoulder injury put the junior running back on the sideline in the first quarter. However, they have great depth at the position, Dorian Brown stepped in had a huge outing for the green and white. Brown finished the day with 12 carries for 152 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. In total, they averaged a dominant 9.5 yards per carry which opened up the passing game for quarterback Nathan Rourke.
The Canadian native didn’t have to do much, but when he did sling the ball, he made it count. Two of his first three passes went for touchdowns, including a beautiful 56-yard dime to a wide open Papi White, the bomb set the single-season touchdown record for Ohio. Rourke finished the game 12-of-18 passing with two touchdowns. He also tacked on 30 yards rushing on three carries. White finished the game with four catches, 106 yards, and a touchdown.
The strength of the Blazer’s offense was running back Spencer Brown who ran for over 1,200 yards on 237 carries this season but was stuffed to the tune of 37 yards on 13 carries. The Blazers were forced to abandon the run early, forcing quarterback A.J. Erdely to try to go shot-for-shot with the potent Bobcat offense.
While Erdely didn’t do anything horribly wrong, he wasn’t able to string together any successful drives. The Blazers got into the red zone twice, but both drives resulted in short field goals for UAB. Erdely finished the day 24-of-45 passing for 248 yards.
This is Frank Solich’s first bowl victory since 2012, improving his record to 5-9 overall. This puts him at 3-6 in Ohio, while he was 2-3 in Nebraska.
After falling short of the Mid-American Conference championship game, the Bobcats cap their 2017 season with a nice trip to the beautiful islands of the Bahamas and a blowout victory.