By Christian Hoppens
OhioBobcats.com - Staff Writer

 

Though it appears to be just another month on the calendar, the month of November has caused Ohio football great struggle and strife in recent memory.

With weekend football games ceding to midweek, evening matchups and the crisp chill of winter soon approaching, the Bobcats haven't been able to put together their best football.

In each of the past two seasons, Ohio entered November a combined 13-3, but finished out their conference schedule 1-3 both seasons.

Junior running back Daz Patterson said the reasons for the end of the year scuffles have varied, citing injuries for derailing the season his freshman year.

And the Bobcats were banged up, with key contributors such as former defensive lineman Neal Huynh and offensive lineman Ryan McGrath among others, falling victim to the injury bug each week as the season continued.

In the 2013 season, Patterson said it was more of a lack of focus that led to the team's inability to finish out the season.

“Last year, it was kind of different,” he said. “It just seemed like attitude swayed and just the whole mentality and the whole morale of our team wasn't always all there.”

Redshirt junior quarterback Derrius Vick, who will make his first start since September 20 against Idaho, agreed with that statement, but promised things will be different this time around.

“I think teams in years past, we've given up and realized that our main goal was just the MAC Championship and that was out of reach,” Vick said. “Sometimes you can lose focus and take things for granted. I don't think that's this team's motto. I think we play 60 minutes of hard football every week.”

A motto that is being drilled in by coaches is that teams are “remembered for games in November,” emphasizing the importance of how important it is to finish a season strong.

Though the Bobcats are in a more precarious position than in Novembers past in terms of their record (4-5, 2-3 MAC), they still want to finish out the season strong and compete for a bowl bid.

“To me, that's good or bad,” redshirt senior Chase Cochran said. “If you played well, people will be like, 'Dang, that Ohio team is a good team.' They're not going to remember what you did a couple weeks ago. It's going to be about what you did in November. If you kind of back into a corner, (they'll say) they didn't finish the season very strong. So I think the biggest thing for us is that we want people to remember us. We are a tough football team.”

Patterson echoed Cochran's thoughts, adding that how they perform in November not only sets a tone for the rest of the season, but the offseason and future seasons as well.

“These are the games that are potentially going to get us in a bowl game. These are the games that are going to make a statement for what we want to stand for coming into next season and for the rest of the season and the offseason,” Patterson said. “The way we're going to come out and win these games is that we have to understand we're remembered for the games in November. We've had a tough season, let's see how we're going to come out here and finish.”

And standing in front of the Bobcats for their first November challenge is a Buffalo team that beat them 30-3 a year ago to the day of this matchup.

The Bulls were led by Oakland Raider fifth overall draft pick Khalil Mack, who consistently disrupted Ohio's offense while current San Diego Chargers running back Branden Oliver gashed through the Bobcat defense for 253 yards on the ground.

Redshirt safety Thad Ingol said the defense wants to display to the Bulls that they won't be able to run so freely this time around.

“We definitely want to stop the run against them to show that that was not the defense we like to display,” Ingol said. “We want to get some stops on defense and shut them down running the ball.”

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