The Bobcats lost to Northern Illinois on Tuesday in their final game at Peden Stadium this year
Ohio might have seen its chances of becoming bowl-eligible literally slip out its hands.
Down a touchdown and driving through Northern Illinois territory with two minutes remaining during Tuesday’s game at Peden Stadium, redshirt junior quarterback Derrius Vick found senior wide receiver Landon Smith for a 10-yard pass.
But Smith fumbled the ball and Northern Illinois recovered before draining the clock on its way to a 21-14 victory.
“I thought he was down,” Vick said. “We’ve got to protect the ball, and we can’t let the refs decide the game. We’ve got to come up with the ball at the end of every play.”
Coach Frank Solich said he wasn’t in front of the play, but also thought Smith had caught the ball and was down. He also said two referees told him they thought the same thing.
“It didn’t even cross my mind it was an outright fumble,” Solich said. “We were going through both scenarios in turn of play call, we thought it was going to come back in our favor.”
The play, however, was reviewed and overturned after the original ruling of a catch.
The Bobcats (5-6, 3-4 Mid-American Conference) had tied the game on their previous drive on a nine-yard touchdown catch by freshman running back A.J. Ouellette from Vick. Ouellette also scored a touchdown on the ground and rushed for 127 yards.
Northern Illinois (9-2, 6-1 MAC) then turned around on its next drive and gained 70 yards in four minutes to retake the lead. After that score Ohio had a chance to tie or win the game, but the fumble killed any hopes the Bobcats had of upsetting the best team in the MAC on Senior Day.
“It definitely hurts,” Ouellette said. “I got to know the seniors quite a bit this year, and I wanted to win this one for them; we came up a little short.”
The Bobcats had other opportunities to score throughout the game, including a pair of 46-yard field goal attempts. Redshirt junior kicker Josiah Yazdani was a couple yards short on both attempts on a night with wind chills around zero degrees.
Solich said in hindsight he probably would’ve elected to go for it on fourth down instead of kicking the ball both times.
“I was second guessing myself when we called for the field goal,” he said. “We’re in four down territory, maybe it’s time to go for it.”
Solich also said he wished Ohio would’ve changed its play calls at the start of the fourth quarter when it had a 2nd-and-three on Northern Illinois’ 31-yard line but ended up turning over on downs after three straight rushes from Ouellette.
“Right now, you’d line up and one of those three plays you’d call something different,” he said.
The Bobcats outgained the Huskies 344-325 but committed two turnovers as Vick tossed an interception in the third quarter.
After the loss, Ohio will need to beat Miami next Tuesday to become bowl-eligible for a sixth consecutive season. A win, however, won't guarantee a bowl game.
“I know (we) prepared tremendously well for this game,” Solich said. “They’ve done everything we asked — that’s what’s so heart breaking after a game like this. We felt like a team that had improved, and we were getting better at the end of the year.”
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