Entering its contest against Eastern Michigan, Ohio players stressed that they needed to play four quarters of complete football — a concept they were devoid of against Central Michigan on Oct. 12.
Although the Bobcats (5-2, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) didn’t make it easy for themselves, they made big plays on both sides of the ball and fended off the Eagles 56-28 Saturday.
Ohio redshirt senior quarterback Tyler Tettleton threw for a career-high 375 yards and four touchdowns, and the running game also accounted for four touchdowns from the efforts of redshirt seniors Beau Blankenship and Ryan Boykin, as well as JD Sprague, a redshirt freshman.
Defensively, the Bobcats grabbed two interceptions and redshirt junior safety Josh Kristoff paced the squad with 11 total tackles.
Redshirt senior wide receiver Donte Foster, who finished the game with 143 yards and a touchdown, said the Bobcats battled the entire game.
“You get up and then I felt like our team kind of got relaxed, kind of comfortable,” Foster said. “(Eastern Michigan was) going to play all four quarters, just like Central Michigan played all four quarters last week. Like I said earlier this week, we learned from that mistake and we turned it back on as soon as possible and came out with a win.”
The Eagles (1-6, 0-3 MAC) played inspired football during a game that was dedicated to honor junior wide receiver Demarius Reed, who was the victim of an alleged homicide Friday morning.
Reed was honored with a pregame moment of silence, and the Eagles wore decals of his No. 2 on their helmets and wristbands in remembrance.
“This has been very difficult for all of us, but we really wanted as a team and a program to honor Demarius today and we gave our best effort in doing that,” Eagles coach Ron English said.
Eastern Michigan entered the scoring column on the opening play of the game, as junior running back Tyler Allen returned the kickoff 90 yards, but Ohio responded with three quick first quarter scores.
However, the Eagles clawed their way back and erased the early deficit when they tied the game at 21 at the 8:19 mark in the third quarter.
Ohio’s defense was vulnerable against the run throughout the contest, as Eastern Michigan junior running back Bronson Hill amassed 257 yards on 23 carries with a touchdown.
But the game’s momentum significantly shifted in the third quarter after Ohio redshirt sophomore cornerback Devin Bass made his second interception of the season and picked off Eastern Michigan redshirt junior quarterback Tyler Benz in the end zone, halting the Eagles’ chances at scoring consecutive touchdowns.
On the ensuing drive, Tettleton found redshirt junior wide receiver Chase Cochran for an 80-yard touchdown. The Bobcats scored 21 unanswered points in the third quarter. Cochran finished the game with three catches for 138 yards.
Ohio coach Frank Solich said Bass’ interception was a turning point of the contest but credited the Eagles’ rushing attack, which challenged the Ohio defense for a majority of the game.
“The real key play was when Devin Bass intercepted the pass down in the end zone,” Solich said. They had a great deal of momentum, had scored, had position now to score again. That interception was key.”
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