Greg Windham leaned forward, looked down at the table and shook his head.
His first career start was supposed to go differently.
And despite a four-touchdown, 380 passing-yard performance, Ohio was upset 56-54 by Texas State at home in the 2016 season opener.
“It just sucks right now,” he said after the triple-overtime loss. “I feel terrible. I feel like I let my team down. But I’ve got to bounce back.”
Now is his chance.
Only this time it’ll be Ohio looking to beat its opponent on the road — Kansas — on Saturday afternoon in Lawrence, Kansas.
Whereas the Bobcats lost a game they should have won, the Jayhawks are coming off their first win since 2014. Fans celebrated the 55-6 romp over Rhode Island by storming the field.
But Ohio’s main concern won’t rest on its opponent’s newfound confidence.
Rather, Windham and the Bobcat offense will have to adjust after losing starting running back A.J. Ouellette to a left foot injury coach Frank Solich called “somewhat long lasting.”
However long Oullette’s absence is, he’ll be out Saturday and Ohio will therefore ditch some of the plays and formations offensive coordinator Tim Albin wanted to run at the beginning of the year.
That means Ohio could stray from multi-back formations with three running backs and might line up in more pass-friendly formations. If so, that would add more pressure to Windham in throwing the ball.
“He’s shown that he’s got the ability to be the type of thrower you want him to be,” Solich said of his quarterback. "He can make the reads, he can find the open receiver, he’s got the kind of arm that can make the deep throws, the short throws and so he has that ability. Now it’s just a matter of working on being consistent.”
If he can, Windham will slowly develop a passing game that utilizes multiple receivers.
With Sebastian Smith, Ohio’s main receiving threat, leaving the Texas State game early due to injury, Windham adjusted and used multiple targets. Windham threw to nine different receivers.
Perhaps Windham hasn’t found his favorite target. If he has, he still has a wide enough distribution to exploit the defensive secondary in multiple areas on the field. And if he can make that a consistent threat, it should help spread defenses as the Bobcats inch closer to conference play in October.
“That’s the one thing from the quarterback spot, you need to be a consistent player,” Solich said. “You can’t be an up and down player and just show flashes through the course of the game. You’ve got to be productive and show that you’re able to manage a game from start to finish.”
More performances similar to this past Saturday from Windham won’t leave the quarterback disappointed too often after games.
The key is Windham taking his chance and capitalizing.
