Sports
Ohio University Football was unable to overcome a sloppy second half and lost to Ball State 20-14
By: Andrew Bowlby
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MUNCIE, Ind. (WOUB) – Ohio University Football entered week two of Mid-American Conference play off a 35-20 win over Bowling Green. The Bobcats (4-2, 2-0 MAC) offense struggled immensely in the second half and fell 20-14 to Ball State (1-4, 0-1 MAC) for the first time since Nov. 14, 2012.
Ohio came into Saturday’s game with a seven-game winning streak over MAC opponents. In six of those games, the Bobcats put up 35 or more points. Struggles were apparent early for the Ohio offense.
On the first drive of the game, Parker Navarro ripped off a 44-yard rush to get into Ball State territory. From there, Ohio was flagged for a holding penalty and knocked back forcing David Dellenbach to kick a long field goal. His 49-yard attempt was missed wide left.
Ball State went three-and-out on their first drive giving the Bobcats a second possession quickly.
Ohio turned to Sieh Bangura on the second drive, and he move the offense into Cardinals’ territory again. Ultimately, Ohio couldn’t convert a third down. It set up a fourth-and-2 that Bangura got the call on, but he couldn’t reach the first down marker turning the ball over again.
“I would have loved to have finished more drives and be able to extend our lead,” Ohio head coach Brian Smith said.
Following back-to-back drives where Ohio had a chance to score but didn’t, they finally opened the scoring on their third drive.
Navarro set it up with a 37-yard pass to Chase Hendricks that got Ohio to the BSU one yard line. After one play, Duncan Brune punched the ball in to give the Bobcats a 7-0 lead.
The ensuing Ball State drive was the first that showed promise for the Cardinals. After a good return and a late hit flag assessed to Ohio, Ball State had good field position. They got the ball over mid-field but a pair of tackles for loss by the Bobcats forced another punt.
On Ohio’s next drive, the problems that would lurk throughout the entire game became clear. Navarro was sacked on back-to-back plays by the MAC’s leading sack man. Nathan Voorhis landed 3.5 sacks on Navarro and the consecutive ones in the second quarter ended a promising looking drive.
The Bobcats defense once again stretched the Ball State offense and forced a fourth-consecutive punt.
From there, Ohio moved the ball down the field, and Navarro connected with Rodney Harris II for his first career touchdown putting the Bobcats ahead 14-0. While it wasn’t clear in the moment, the Harris TD would be the final score of the day for Ohio.
Ball State finished the first half with, by far, their best drive. Qian Magwood caught a 35-yard pass setting the Cardinals offense up inside the Ohio five-yard line. It seemed like points were a near guarantee, however, the Bobcats defense denied Ball State on four-straight plays on goal-to-go to end a dominant defensive first half.
The Cardinals only mustered up 121 total yards in the first half and 71 of those came on the final drive. It seemed at the break that Ohio needed to come out, execute and they would be off to a 2-0 start in conference play.
However, that was far from what happened.
It was clear from very early in the second half that Cardinals quarterback Kiael Kelly was going to make plays. On Ball State’s second drive of the third quarter, Kelly moved the ball down the field both in the air and on the ground. He ultimately capped it with a 13-yard rushing score getting Ball State on the board.
From that moment, the momentum swung dramatically in favor of the Cardinals.
Ohio had a chance on a fourth-and-1 play inside of Ball State territory to try and re-establish themselves, however, Navarro fumbled the snap and turned the ball over on downs.
Individually Navarro had a rough afternoon. While at times he delivered on big plays, he also made mistake, some very costly.
“Very hit and miss,” Smith said on Navarro’s decision making. “There’s definitely some things that I think he could’ve done better at.”
Ball State capitalized on the fumbled snap and good field position with a Carson Holmer 22-yard field goal making the score 14-10 in favor of Ohio.
As the game got closer, pressure shifted to the Bobcats and mistakes were amplified. Following a Ball State punt that was downed at the Ohio one-yard line, Navarro fumbled a snap in the end zone resulting in a safety.
With Ball State within two points an upset and a chance to knock off the defending conference champions was reachable.
The two teams traded punts with the Bobcats before a final offensive drive of the game. Beginning with 3:09 to play in the fourth quarter, Kelly made a handful of plays with his legs. With the ball on the Ohio 43 and on a third-and-4, Kelly delivered arguably his finest play of the game. He tossed the ball up on the Ball State sideline and Magwood came down with the catch over Tank Pearson and rushed into the end zone to give the Cardinals their first lead of the day. The two-point conversion was converted and BSU had a 20-14 lead with under a minute remaining.
Ohio did have a shot at the end zone and try and win the game, however, Navarro’s pass was batted away and Ball State pulled off the upset.
“They were a good defense, but I just think Ohio beat ourselves today,” running back Sieh Bangura said. “It was too many mistakes that we made, it was just too many things we just couldn’t come back from.”
Ohio had one of its worst halves of offense against in the second. Only going for 95 total yards and unable to score, it was a letdown that will be focused on in the team’s upcoming bye week.
The Bobcats have what feels like a much-needed week off following the loss before gearing up for homecoming against Northern Illinois on Oct. 18.