Sports
Ohio University Football overcomes second half mistakes in MAC win over Bowling Green
By: Andrew Bowlby
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – As a defending conference champion, Ohio Football (3-2, 1-0 MAC) expects to get the best effort from all of its opponents. And that was the case Saturday afternoon at Peden Stadium as Bowling Green (2-3, 0-1 MAC) rolled into Athens for Eddie George’s first Mid-American Conference game.
The Falcons caused issues for the Bobcats at times, but Ohio overcame mistakes and defeated BG 35-20 opening conference play with a win.
Bowling Green won the coin toss and elected to receive the game’s opening kickoff. The Falcons took the opening kick 49 yards to out near mid-field. While the good field position set BG up to potentially get an early score, things quickly went the other direction.
On just the fourth offensive play, a Drew Pyne pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and was intercepted and returned 71 yards by Cam Hollobaugh for a pick six for the game’s opening points.
“I just saw open field, and I was like, ‘I’ve got one man to beat,’” Hollobaugh said. “Micheal Molnar threw a big block, and after that it was off to the races.”
Bowling Green’s offense did respond on its next drive. After a few chunk plays, the Falcons got into the end zone off a 27-yard pass from Pyne to Kaderris Roberts.
After the BG score, Ohio’s offense finally took the field with 10:02 on the clock in the first quarter. On the opening drive both Sieh Bangura and Mason Williams were key fixtures. Bangura had a handful of rushes for positive gains and Williams made a few catches to get the Bobcats into the redzone.
Williams ultimately capped the drive with a 19-yard score and his first touchdown since week one. He ended with a game and career high eight receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown.
“It happened naturally. We have so many talented players on the offense,” Ohio head coach Brian Smith said. “It’s very little let’s specifically get things for specific guys. It’s really based off what’s the defense going to take away. What do they want to limit? And it allows other people to emerge.”
Following the Williams TD Bowling Green returned another kick into good field position. The Falcons moved the ball deep into Ohio territory, however, the Bobcats’ defense stood tall and held up. Jackson Kleather knocked through the 26-yard field goal attempt pulling BG to a 14-10 deficit.
The teams each then stalled on a couple drives punting the ball back-and-forth. Ohio’s first drive of the second quarter moved down the field with Parker Navarro using both his arm and his legs. With the ball spotted at the Bowling Green 25-yard line, Navarro threw a perfect ball to Chase Hendricks and the conference’s top receiver was in the end zone for the fourth-consecutive week.
Aside from the TD, Hendricks was limited. His only reception on the day was the 25-yard strike in the first half.
“They were doubling at times, they were pressing him up at times,” Smith said. “We’re going through the progressions of what the offense is, and it’s creating opportunities for different people.”
Bowling Green’s next drive was the beginning of the Ohio defense’s stretch of solid play. Pyne got the ball into striking distance; however, he was pressured by Evan Herrmann and had a miss-throw giving Tank Pearson his first interception of the season.
Ohio didn’t take advantage of the opportunity and gave the ball back to BG who eventually kicked another field goal making the score 21-13. The Bobcats had an opportunity as time expired to add a field goal, however, Brack Peacock missed the attempt sending it off the left upright.
Coming out of halftime Ohio had a shaky drive that gave BG the ball with good field position. The Bobcats called an early timeout and couldn’t convert a fourth down ending with a Navarro interception.
Despite what became a second half where the offense did struggle, it was Ohio’s defense that stepped up. The pressure they caused was instantly apparent. Jay Crable came up with a sack on BG’s first drive resulting in a punt.
Crable credited the players around him who opened holes for him to get second half sacks. Crable ended up with two other sacks in the game finishing with 3.0, tying a program record in a single game.
Ohio’s defense had two other sacks in the second half, one from Hollobaugh that resulted in a fumble. The defense caused chaos that the BG offense struggled to play against. In the first half, Ohio conceded 282 total yards and had no sacks. The second half was an entirely different story.
The Bobcats gave up just 68 yards and sacked the BG quarterbacks five times.
That pressure resulted in Navarro tacking on a pair of rushing scores from five and 34 yards out to ice the game.
“We just had to make a flip,” Crable said on the difference from the first to second half. “I feel like we came out a little dry in the first half. (We) made a lot of adjustments, and we were able to come out and play ball.”
The offense was opportunistic and came up with the plays when it mattered. However, there were issues at times. Navarro threw an interception which Smith said was unfortunate as the Bobcats were turning the ball over on downs regardless. Navarro also had a pair of fumbles generated off pressure from the Bowling Green defense. While thing were not perfect, Ohio fought through and the defense provided the necessary lift to get the Bobcats through.
Ohio’s victory marks the third consecutive season that the Bobcats start MAC play with a victory, and it sets the tone for what’s to come.
“The first four games of the season, while it’s important, they don’t really matter when it comes to being in the MAC,” Williams said. “This game shows everyone who we are. It’s just a huge tone setter for the rest of the MAC. They know they have to run through us and that we’re not scared to see anybody.”
Ohio will have its first MAC road game next week when it faces Ball State at Noon in Muncie.