Christian Hoppens
Staff Writer, OhioBobcats.com

In the recent history, month-long swoons have followed Ohio football.

In 2014, the Bobcats suffered a 1-3 October with an identical record in November in 2013 and 2012.

Entering the Bobcats' matchup against Kent State Tuesday night, it's a trend the team is trying to put behind them as they search for bowl eligibility.

“We're headed in the wrong direction right now, and we have to get it turned around,” coach Frank Solich said. “I think that there are several factors that play into that, some that we can control and some that we cannot.”

One of the factors they cannot control is the injury situation.

A new method of practicing and conditioning was put in place before the season in an effort to curb the rash of injuries that's crippled the team the past three seasons.

To the credit of Solich and his staff, preseason and practice injuries appeared to decrease considerably this season, but in-game injuries have struck the Bobcats hard.

An ankle injury knocked redshirt senior linebacker Jovon Johnson out of the Idaho game and has hampered him for much of the season. Both redshirt freshman running back Papi White and redshirt sophomore linebacker and three-time MAC East player of the week Quentin Poling each haven't played since injuries sustained in week seven against Western Michigan.

Add to that a hand injury suffered by redshirt senior cornerback Devin Bass in the Buffalo game along with a flurry of injuries to other starters and depth players and Solich can't help but feel like his team is a little snake-bitten.

“Some of it you can't control. You can control the position you put your players in. Once the game starts, and that's where you look at our injuries now and they've come in games,” Solich said. “Some of them were carry-overs. … So, you have enough of that and it can come back to hurt you, and we've had our fair share of that over the years.”

But Solich isn't letting injuries become an excuse for his team and that sentiment is shared by Johnson.

“I don't list injuries as an excuse,” Johnson said. “It's a part of the game and every team deals with injuries every year. We just have to deal with it. We can't make excuses for it. We just have to come out and play Ohio football.”

The team Ohio will attempt to regain its swagger against is a Golden Flashes team that boasts one of the stronger defenses in the Mid-American Conference.

Kent State ranks second in the conference in total defense, allowing just 327 yards per game while also ranking second in rushing defense (117.8 ypg) and third in passing defense (209.2 ypg).

“I think they play really good team defense. You don't see breakdowns; you don't see a guy not getting his job done. When that happens, offenses struggle. They will blitz you, they have good team speed, they will come after you,” Solich said. “They have good corners to where they feel good having those guys lined up man-on-man. A good defense that is backed up by a good secondary, and that usually makes you a good defensive unit. I think they've been good for a long time now and certainly the coaches have done a good job.”

Ohio's offense had a decent game statistically against Bowling Green the previous week, accumulating 543 yards, including a season-high 299 yards on the ground. But the inability to score on big and explosive plays, paired with little things like penalties and missed assignments held the Bobcats to 24 points.

A more consistent, full four quarters from both sides of the football is what Ohio is seeking and to do that, redshirt senior offensive lineman Mike Lucas said they need to work on maintaining intensity for a full 60 minutes.

“I feel like when we dig ourselves in a hole, it's hard to just pull everyone through and fight back,” he said. “So I feel like we need to a good job of maintaining our intensity throughout the whole game and just know that it's a four quarter battle each and every game. It's going to be four quarters, no matter what the outcome is or what it looks like early. We've let a couple of these games away once the score went up.”

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