It’s simple: the Bobcats need six points this weekend for a chance at postseason play.
Earlier this season, coach Aaron Rodgers referred to Mid-American Conference play as another chapter in the program’s history — one that would be full of success and establish a strong foundation moving forward.
Then the Bobcats split the first three weekends in conference, lost both matches this past weekend and found themselves now outside of postseason play altogether.
With only three matches left, the team will need some luck and assistance from other teams to get results in its favor and push themselves up from fifth-place in the MAC East into a tournament position.
“In coach speak, you’d say every game is important,” Rodgers said. “But there are a lot of things riding on these games. I think two wins will be enough to get us into the tournament and one win will get us closer.”
Playing MAC West bottom-dwellers Central Michigan on Friday and then hosting Toledo, which is fifth in the West Division, on Sunday will offer the Bobcats their best chance to rack in points before closing the season against Kent State next Friday.
But getting six points in a weekend isn’t exactly the usual for the Bobcats, who haven’t produced six points in a MAC weekend since 2011.
In essence, this is the most important weekend Ohio has played since Rodgers became coach in December 2012.
“Two points is what we need to get in, but nine points will be enough to get us a better seed,” Rogers said. “We control our own destiny. We win and we’re in the tournament. Being in control of your own situation is always a good thing.”
With the Chippewas in last place and the Rockets just one spot above, the opposition is exactly what Ohio needs for a last season push for the MAC Tournament.
The Bobcats have won three of their last four matches on Fridays, which bodes well for a team desperate for as many points as possible.
But their success — or lack thereof — on Sundays, when Ohio has been winless in the MAC, may be the ultimate reason the team misses conference play.
Knowing that a win and a loss is better than two draws, Rodgers said earlier in the season that three points every weekend is acceptable and could eventually lead to his side locking up a fifth or sixth seed spot in the tournament.
Had the Bobcats split last weekend, these matches Friday and Sunday would be about maintaining a spot, rather than fighting for one.
In Rodgers’ first season in 2013, the Bobcats claimed the eighth spot in the MAC tournament and avoided a losing season for the first time since 2009.
“These two or three games will be huge for us,” Rodgers said. “If we can get these wins, it would be a great story for us. And it we don’t, it will give us something to look forward to for next year.”
If Ohio falls to Central Michigan, it’s going to take more than a storybook ending to get into the tournament after all.
gh181212@ohiou.edu
@charliehatch_
