Sports fans throughout the nation will be watching Ohio this weekend, if only because the Bobcats are facing Louisville in the ESPN flagship channel’s lone Sunday broadcast.
For impassioned Ohio fans, though, the game everyone’s been talking about since the conclusion of last season is almost here.
Ohio’s opponent, No. 9 Louisville, is the highest-ranked team the Bobcats have played since they traveled up U.S. Route 33 in 2010 to play then-No. 2 ranked Ohio State.
The Bobcats were blown out in that intrastate game by 36 points, and Ohio’s only claim to fame (or, arguably, black eye) in the contest was Rufus’ infamous tackle of Brutus Buckeye.
On Sunday afternoon, the Bobcats will once again take the field against a team ranked in the top 10 in the Associated Press poll, and at this point all we can do is speculate about the outcome and hope a mascot doesn’t provide the contest’s most exciting moment.
Louisville coach Charlie Strong said in an American Athletic Conference coaches teleconference this week that his squad won’t be taking the Bobcats lightly.
And they shouldn’t, as Ohio is the highest-ranked team the Cardinals will play all year, according to votes in the preseason coaches poll.
“It’s going to be a great matchup,” Strong said. “If you look at Ohio a year ago, they went in and won in Happy Valley to beat Penn State, so we’re going to have our work cut out for us.”
Although Ohio did surmount a great victory to begin the 2012-13 season against Penn State, the Nittany Lions never entered the AP top 25 last season.
Ohio did.
However, after Ohio earned its first Bowl Championship Series ranking in program history after a Homecoming win against Akron, it stumbled throughout the remainder of its schedule to salvage a 9-4 overall record.
A week-one win is nothing short of a significant task for the Bobcats if they once again wish to shock the nation in the season’s opening weekend.
Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has been picked as a Heisman Trophy contender.
Transfer running back Michael Dyer helped lead Auburn to a perfect 14-0 season in 2010, alongside current Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.
The last time the Cardinals competed on the gridiron, they pulled a 33-23 upset against then-No. 4 Florida in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, even without Dyer’s presence in the backfield.
The scouting reports have been filed, and the countdown clocks are approaching game time — ever so slowly for those itching to suit up on Sunday.
Do the Bobcats have a fighting chance to win? Of course. That’s why they play the game.
Is Louisville as good as others claim? We’ll have to wait and see.
Chad Lindskog is a junior studying journalism and is the sports editor of The Post. Are you looking forward to the Ohio-Louisville game on Sunday? Let him know at cl027410@ohiou.edu.
@ChadLindskog
