Keep Your Friends Close, And Your Enemies Closer: Ohio University

In an effort to not bore you to death with repetitive news regarding Ohio State, the Big Ten Network, and USC’s injury report we are starting our interview series today (and a bit late if I do say so myself). Interviews will follow in chronological order according to the Buckeyes’ 2008 schedule. Some sources have not responded to us yet (USC, Illinois and Wisconsin, we’re looking in your direction).

Since I was not able to contact anyone at Guinzone, I have our second opponent, the Ohio Bobcats, leading off. The Bobcats went 6-6 in 2007, but finished with nice momentum despite missing out on a bowl game. OU is only a year review from the MAC East Title and Solich appears to have things headed in the right direction. To fill in the giant gaps in our OU knowledge, we asked Zach Swartz, Sports Editor for Speakeasy Magazine, an online student-run outfit in Athens, to answer questions.

We like to start with the lightning round.

1) Where does this year’s Ohio team rank in the last five years?

With Ohio football, it’s really hard to tell. We lost Kalvin McRae, our all-time leading rusher in the offseason, and he has basically been our offense for the past four years. Still, we should have a pretty decent receiving corps, as well as a decent new quarterback. Speaking of the QB position, we had some competition in the offseason between incoming juniors Boo Jackson and Theo Scott. Boo is a run and gun type guy with an arm, while Theo is a pocket passer. We also have an incoming freshman quarterback out of Dublin Coffman named Josh Febus. After all that, I’d say this year would probably be the third best team of the last five years. Two years ago we won the MAC East Championship and made our first bowl game since 1968, and the year before Frank Solich took us to a winning record that had been a long time coming. Last year was kind of a bust, so I would say that this year, even though there has not been a lot of confidence without Kalvin McRae, we should be pretty decent.

2) Position of strength/weakness?

Strength: Quarterback and running back; the competing QBs above should be pretty good, and our new running back, junior Chris Garrett, who played wide receiver last year, is really fast. We’ll see how that goes. Also, we should have a pretty good kicking game, and a decent corps of linebackers.

Weakness: Secondary. We’re not very fast, and we often have trouble tackling. But, who knows. With Ohio football, we might have a great defense and a horrible offense.

3) Best/worst-case scenario for this season?

Best case: We win the MAC East again, possibly the MAC Championship, and make a December bowl game

4) Who is Ohio’s best player?

Chris Garrett will step up, I predict. Theo Scott/Boo Jackson will also be very good. Senior Andrew Mooney (TE) will be great, senior linebacker Michael Brown will be very good, and offensive linemen Dennis Thompson and Josh Leuk should really help out Garrett.

5) Predict their conference finish.

Hopefully, first or second. More likely, third or fourth in the MAC East.

Now, onto more thoughtful questions (we hope).

6) The last time the Buckeyes and Bobcats played was 1999 and, if my memory serves me, the halftime score was 10-10. Should we expect an equally competitive first half?

I know how good the Buckeyes are, and how un-comparable the Bobcats are. Ohio is going to take the money they get from the state for playing at the Shoe and use it to pay Frank Solich some more money; meanwhile, the Bobcats will probably be down 31-3 at the half. Do not get me wrong, though. Our first game is AT Wyoming (who beat us at home last year) and the second is at OSU. I think, even though we will get destroyed in Columbus, the game will help the team mature and realize some of their weaknesses, just like OSU will get from flying cross-country the following week.

7) The Bobcats play six of their first eight games on the road, with seven road games total. Who made this schedule? Can they withstand that brutal start?

The Ohio University athletic department has never been the sharpest tool in the shed. Former athletic director Kirby Hocutt (who started his new job as AD of the University of Miami (yes, Florida) June 1) was under a lot of scrutiny at the end of his tenure. Still, like I said, I think that playing those first two games on the road will really help our team win some games later on. I predict they go 4-4 through those first eight games.

8) This is Solich’s fourth season and he just received an extension through 2013. What grade would you give him at this point?

Capital A PLUS! Not quite. Beside the fact that he had his little drug/drunk driving dilly-o, he has been a surprisingly decent coach for us. His first year we went 4-7, the next year was 9-5 and won the MAC East, and the next we went .500. That might not sound very good from an OSU standpoint, but that 4-7 record was an improvement (we also beat Pittsburgh at home that year in overtime on ESPN). The 9-5 record was awesome, but 6-6 was actually a disappointment, when about three years prior it probably would have made Solich AD. Realistically, despite his affairs and often annoying demeanor, I’d give him a B+.

9) After winning the MAC East in 2006 while leading the MAC in scoring defense in (18.1 points/game), the defense allowed 29.9 points/game last year and yards allowed went through the roof (407.5 yards/game). Which way will the defense trend in 2008?

Like I said earlier, it’ll be about the same as last year. The secondary is going to get beat on 75% of long pass plays. We should have some good pass rushers, but that won’t be enough. Our only hope is to get our quarterbacks and new running back to score a lot, maybe make some field goals every once in a while and possibly get some receiving TDs.

10) In contrast, the 2007 offense was record-setting, but the offense lost it’s all-time leading rusher, Kalvin McRae. Will the coaching staff open things up now that the receivers are the experienced group?

I really hope so. Theo Scott got some playing time last year and should be able to air it out decently. Boo Jackson should be able to do the same. But, by moving Garrett to running back, something tells me over the first few games they’re going to try to stick with what they’ve known over the past four years. Still, I do not think that’s going to work out for the best, and hopefully Solich will make that extension worthy and throw some balls deep.

11) Tell us something about the Bobcats that Phil Steele did not.

We have a good marching band. It’s called the Marching 110. I bet he didn’t say that. You TBDBITL people probably wouldn’t believe me, though.

12) Finally, pretend you are an anonymous Big Ten coach and give us a few quotes about Ohio State.

“Ohio State is going to be the hardest team to beat in the Big Ten, by far. They have an ungodly number of returning players, one of the best coaches in the history of the conference and, maybe most importantly, a couple chips on their collective shoulder. I don’t care that Illinois made the Rose Bowl or that Wisconsin will be very good; the Ohio State Buckeyes are the best team in the conference. If they beat USC, they will win the national championship. Unless, of course, they play Georgia.”