The Ohio secondary scrambled to stop the array of short passing routes employed by the Nittany Lions in the first half of the Bobcats’ 24-14 victory.
In the second half, the secondary clamped down on Penn State’s routes, lowered quarterback Matt McGloin’s completion percentage and helped secure a benchmark triumph for Ohio.
This weekend’s matchup against New Mexico State presents a different passing scheme. Redshirt senior safety Gerald Moore and company will face a quarterback-receiver tandem that stretches the field.
“The quarterback (Andrew Manley) is playing on fire right now, he had a great first game,” said first-year Ohio defensive line coach Jesse Williams, a former Aggie. “This is the coaching staff’s fourth year there and probably their best offense. We know we are facing an explosive unit coming in.”
The Aggies scored 49 points in a matchup against Sacramento State last week in which they generated 468 yards of total offense, 367 of which came through the air. New Mexico State wideout Austin Franklin accumulated 236 yards receiving and two touchdowns in that game.
“In a lot of ways offensively, they will present more problems than Penn State did,” said Ohio coach Frank Solich. “They have a quarterback with a tremendously strong arm, (and) they go down the field a fair amount of the time. They’ve got two really quality receivers that are physical and have great speed and hands.”
Williams, who did not return to New Mexico State following the 2011 season, harbors no ill will against his former employers.
“It’s about the 22 players on the field,” he said. “The good thing about the coaches is that we can’t do any of the blocking, or tackling. That’s what it will come down to.”
He didn’t let the offense in on any of the Aggies’ tricks, either.
“Our offense is pretty well schooled on what they want to do (and) how they want to do it,” Williams said. “It’s a specialized offense to where it really doesn’t matter what look they get. They are going to do what they get to do.”
Coming off arguably the biggest win in program history, it’s reasonable to think that players could overlook this week’s opponent. Solich, however, disagrees.
“I really do believe we have that group that will be able to move on,” he said. “We’ve always approached every season, every game as one at a time and I think our players understand that. There is no one on our schedule that cannot beat us if we don’t play great football. We need to line up and play really well every week.”
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