Sports
Ohio Football bounces back in dominating win over Buffalo
By: Ty Carpenter
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB)— The Ohio Bobcats (5-3, 3-1 MAC) defended their home turf against the Buffalo Bulls (4-4, 2-2 MAC) in a crucial conference matchup, winning 47-16.
“Coming off a tough loss last week from the defending conference champions, going against a team that is probably evenly matched, I cannot say enough about their efforts and how proud I am,” head coach Tim Albin said on the win. “I’ve used this word before, but program win.”
Buffalo received the opening kickoff and struggle to move the ball early, picking up only one first down before punting. Ohio’s opening drive moved smoothly to midfield but got cut short as Parker Navarro was intercepted by Marquis Cooper, giving the Bulls the ball on their own 21.
Buffalo took the momentum and drove down the field before being held to a fourth and short. The Bulls opted for the 47-yard field goal, but missed wide right, keeping the score at 0-0.
The Bobcats followed up with a strong drive of their own. Coleman Owen receiving two big catches for 35 total yards before Ohio was held to a 23-yard field goal, going up 3-0 in the first quarter.
The Bobcats were not phased by this scoring drive, earning a touchdown of their own. Shortly after converting a fourth down, Rickey Hunt Jr. received the handoff and found the hole, running it in for a touchdown from 46 yards out, putting Ohio back on top, 10-7.
After forcing Buffalo to a three-and-out, the Bobcats struck again. On only the second play of their drive, Parker Navarro scrambled away from pressure before passing it to Coleman Owen for a long touchdown of 65 yards, extending the Ohio lead to 17-7.
On the Bulls’ next drive, Ogbonna found Victor Snow and JJ Jenkins for long completions, putting Buffalo into Ohio territory. After being held to a fourth down, the Bulls kicked a 40-yard field goal, cutting the Bobcat lead back to one score, 17-10.
But with time running low in the first half, Ohio did not let their foot off the gas. Navarro scrambled to get into the red zone, and then found Coleman Owen from 13-yards out for yet another touchdown. The Bobcats took a 24-10 lead into halftime.
That touchdown marked two first half touchdowns and 135 receiving yards for Coleman Owen. For Owen, he says that he could not do it without the team around him.
“These guys around me, the defense, the o-line, everybody does a great job of giving me the opportunity to play this game,” Owen said. “They give us the opportunity on offense to make plays.”
The Ohio offense began to come alive again on their next drive, as a 52-yard completion by Parker Navarro to Rodney Harris II set the Bobcats up deep in Bulls territory. And only a couple plays later, Nolan McCormick capped off the drive with a two-yard touchdown run, 31-10 Bobcats.
With the game slipping away, Buffalo found some life late in the third with Ogbonna finding Victor Snow who fought his way through two defenders for the touchdown. The Bulls went for the two-point conversion, but were intercepted by Kadin Schmitz at the goal-line. The ball was returned 100 yards for the score, as the Bobcats lead 33-16.
Ohio was back on offense after forcing a turnover on downs, and Coleman Owen made his third trip to the end zone on the day with a 22-yard rushing touchdown, putting the Bobcats up 40-16.
The Bobcats only continued to pour it on, as early in Buffalo’s next drive, Shay Taylor would intercept Ogbonna and return it for the touchdown.
With such a large margin of victory, Albin attributed much of the team’s success to playing clean, penalty-free football. “We had a little spurt there where I was disappointed in some things. But the guys continued to work on it. Ohio doesn’t beat Ohio, and today we did not. We’ve shown we can do it, so let’s keep building.”
Ohio will travel to Kent State on Nov. 6 hoping to build a win streak as they head deeper into conference play, while Buffalo hopes to bounce back on the road versus Akron on Nov. 2.