Bobcats, Cardinals looking to rebound



Ohio hopes to somewhat healthier on defense





ATHENS, Ohio – Both Ball State and Ohio are coming off losses and are looking to rebound. The Cardinals (3-3, 1-1 Mid-American Conference) were off to a solid start, despite facing Oklahoma, Indiana and South Florida in its non-conference schedule, but they were put into place with a 42-0 home loss to Temple last week. Ohio (4-2, 1-1 MAC) suffered a 38-37 upset at Buffalo, putting a damper on one of the best starts in school history. “We’re going to have to find a way to get back on track this week in practice,” Ball State coach Pete Lembo said. The Bobcats were down half of their defensive starters against the Bulls, but coach Frank Solich said his team is not using that as an excuse. “This is not a game to feel sorry for yourself about,” he said. “This game there’s a lot of challenges out there. You’ve got to understand those challenges. You’ve got to accept those challenges and respond to those challenges. I truly believe that’s what our football team will do.” Ohio should be at least one player healthier this week. Defensive end Curtis Meyers, who was sick last weekend, should be fine this week. Defensive tackle Carl Jones, who suffered a shoulder injury against the Bulls, is questionable, as is cornerback Omar Leftwich, whose shoulder also is recovering from an injury against Kent State. However, safety Xavier Hughes was lost for the season with a broken bone in his shoulder, and defensive tackle Neal Huynh will need at least a couple more weeks to recover from a knee injury. Defense had been a relative strength of the Bobcats, but they were exposed against the Bulls, allowing more than 500 yards. Even so, they rank second in the MAC by allowing just 20.0 points and 324.7 yards per game. The Bobcats rank second in the nation with 12 interceptions. Hughes was the team leader with three. Defensive end Nic Barber’s three sacks lead the team. Safety Gerlad Moore has 33 tackles to lead Ohio, with linebacker Noah Keller and defensive end Tremayne Scott tied with Huynh for the team lead with four tackles for loss. Offensively, Ball State is led by young players, including sophomore quarterback Keith Wenning. He has completed nearly 65 percent of his passes for 1,110 yards and seven touchdowns with five interceptions. “He’s a young quarterback but doesn’t show young on tape,” Solich said. “He looks like an experienced quarterback who’s able to hang in there in the pocket and throw the passes on time and read the coverages and do all the things you’d like an experienced quarterback to be doing.” Wenning has spread the ball around. Briggs Orsbon has 22 catches for 213 yards, Willie Snead has made 20 receptions for 250 yards and Torieal Gibson has caught 20 balls for 177 yards. Three other players have at least 10 catches. Freshman running back Jahwan Edwards has gained 420 yards and scored six touchdowns while averaging 4.8 yards per carry. “They’re both a two-back and a one-back offense and of course that’s always challenging for your defensive unit to be able to stop because you’re talking about power football as well as one-back misdirection, receivers coming into the backfield, flying across the ball,” Solich said. “I think they’ve got really good personnel to be that way.” A sophomore quarterback also leads Ohio. Tyler Tettleton already has passed for more yards than any other second-year player in school history with 1,533 yards. He has completed 64 percent of his passes with 13 touchdowns and two interceptions and has added 250 rushing yards and four scores on the ground. “He does an excellent job running their offense,” Lembo said. “They’re very diverse and do a nice job with their personnel groupings. I’m very impressed with their offensive skill players. They can get the ball in to the hands of a number of different receivers that can hurt you.” LaVon Brazill has been Tettleton’s target of choice with 28 catches for 312 yards, while Riley Dunlop has made 18 receptions for 238 yards. Six other Bobcats have at least nine receptions. Donte Harden returned last week after missing two and a half games. He has 306 rushing yards with a 6.1 yards per carry average. Ryan Boykin has totaled 326 yards on the ground while averaging 4.2 yards per attempt. “First of all, we have to assess our own personnel and see who we’re getting back this week and from there try to figure out a plan to contain some of those guys,” Lembo said. Ball State has allowed more yards than any other team in the MAC at 469.0 per game. The Cardinals have given up 34.5 points per game. They have forced only five turnovers on the season. Travis Freeman leads Ball State in tackles with 61, Aaron Morris has a team-high six tackles for loss and Nathan Ollie has tallied four sacks. “If you look at them up front, defensively, they’re not an exceptionally big football team, but they’ve got great mobility,” Solich said. “If you look at their linebackers, they’re young players, two juniors and a sophomore, but they’re very mobile kind of guys that can make plays from sideline to sideline. They’ve got a freshman starting at safety, as well as a senior at the other. They have some balance there and they’ve got two corners who can play. I see them as a well-balanced football team, one that’s able to win the game from an offensive standpoint or a defensive standpoint, and they’re very solid on special teams. It will be a challenge for us.” Regardless of who is able to play, Solich said his team is talented enough to win. “We’ve got good enough personnel,” he said. “We’ve got enough people surrounding those people that we can win football games. We’re looking forward to the game. We’re looking forward to it being homecoming. Hopefully we’ll have a great crowd. We know our guys will be ready to play.” Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Peden Stadium.



