A new offense, a new quarterback and eight new starters on defense are usually a recipe for disaster, but Ohio proved the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts in its win over New Mexico State on Saturday.
While Ohio coach Frank Solich made note of many areas where his young team needs to improve, he said he was generally pleased with its performance.
“I thought they played very hard, and at times we executed well,” Solich said. “We did a lot of good things, but there’s a lot of things that need to be polished up on.”
OFFENSE
The Bobcats dominated at times, racking up 452 yards of total offense leading to six touchdowns despite breaking in a new quarterback and a new offense.
In his first collegiate start, quarterback Tyler Tettleton completed 16 of 28 passes for 153 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
While Tettleton did not impress the coaches with any spectacular plays, Solich said he was pleased with the way his young quarterback managed the game.
“Overall I thought he did a great job of handling his first start,” Solich said. “He’s one of the most inexperienced quarterbacks in the league. His ability to handle the game and make good plays showed, and his teammates have a lot of confidence in him.”
An experienced group of offensive linemen showed their dominance in allowing Ohio to rush for 241 yards.
Donte Harden, Beau Blankenship and Ryan Boykin combined for 164 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
“Donte is a slasher, Beau has great quickness and can cut on a dime, and Ryan’s the kind of guy that will get you short yardage,” Solich said. “We’ve got a real good combination as far as running backs go.”
DEFENSE
With four new starters on the defensive line, the unit did not seem to miss a beat, allowing only six yards rushing from New Mexico’s State’s offense.
The group also forced three sacks in their debut.
A young group of defensive backs showed their inexperience at times, allowing New Mexico State quarterback Andrew Manley to throw for 362 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite the tendency to give up the big play, Solich said he was not completely disappointed with the play of his secondary.
“The real positive thing was they threw for a lot of yards, but they weren’t putting points on the board,” he said “Stopping the run and forcing them to throw the ball the way they did, you’re going to give up some yardage.“
SPECIAL TEAMS
The special teams unit faced high expectations coming into the season, but after allowing an average of 44 yards per kickoff return, Solich made it clear that the kickoff coverage unit needs work.
“We’ll look at that phase of the game very closely,” Solich said. “They beat us in the return phase of the game. We have the capability of winning all of the special teams battles.”
Aside from the kick-coverage team, special teams excelled. Punter Paul Hershey averaged 51 yards on five punts, including a school-record 80-yard booming kick. Place kicker Matt Weller connected on all six extra-point tries and forced three touchbacks on seven kickoffs.
“I thought the rest of our special teams play was great. Hershey did a great job of punting the football,” Solich said. “They didn’t have any return yards whatsoever, and that’s mostly a credit to him.”
LaVon Brazill and Travis Carrie combined to average 26 yards on punt returns, including Carrie’s 65-yard return for a touchdown.
“We are fortunate to have two great returners in the system right now,” Solich said “We have two guys who can take it all the way on any given touch.”
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