Sports
Ohio Heading Back to Alabama for Dollar General Bowl
By: Sean Neidig
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After suffering a heartbreaking loss in the Mid-American Conference Championship Game, Ohio Football will get a chance at redemption in the Dollar General Bowl against the Troy Trojans.
The game will be played on Dec. 23 in Mobile, Ala. at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on ESPN.
Troy finished their season 9-3 and went 6-2 in the Sun Belt, good enough for third place in the conference. Ohio is 8-5 and just lost to Western Michigan, 29-23.
For the year, the Trojans average 34.2 points per game and 439 offensive yards per game. The Trojan defense only gives up 22 points per game and 364 yards per game.
Troy’s offense is led by junior running back Jordan Chunn who has found the end zone 13 times this season. Chunn rushed for 1323 yards and picked up 225 more yards receiving on 29 catches. Chunn caught those passes from junior quarterback Brandon Silvers, who threw for 2945 yards this season and rushed for 123. Silvers has a 22-10 touchdown-to-interception ratio and also rushed for four scores.
Three Trojan receivers have more than 400 receiving yards and five or more touchdowns apiece this year. Emanuel Thompson leads Troy with 737 yards and Deondre Douglas leads the team with six receiving scores.
Chunn, Silvers and the receiving corps will be going up against a Bobcat defense that only allows 22.2 points per game. Chunn in particular should have a tough game against a stingy and athletic Ohio defensive line that only allows 105.8 rushing yards per game.
“We are excited to be playing an excellent Troy team, they have had a great season and we look forward to seeing them in a bowl again,” Ohio head coach Frank Solich said in a press release.
The Trojans and Bobcats share a common opponent this year, the Texas State Bobcats. On Nov. 26, Troy beat Texas State, 40-7. Ohio lost to TSU 56-54 in triple-overtime in their first game of the season, but Ohio is a very different team now than they were at the beginning of September. Troy only lost by six points to No. 2 Clemson in their second game of the season.
This game is also a rematch of the 2010 New Orleans Bowl, where Troy beat Ohio 48-21.
It remains to be seen who will be starting under center for the Bobcats after redshirt freshman Quinton Maxwell started the past six games for Ohio but was pulled in favor of senior Greg Windham against Western Michigan.
Ohio is going bowling in Alabama for the second straight year after playing in the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery last year.