For the first time in the Tim Albin era, Ohio will start its season a week before the majority of College Football in Week 0. Luckily for the Bobcats, they will do so with Starting Quarterback and reigning MAC Player of the Year Kurtis Rourke, according to a tweet from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Kurtis Rourke will play against San Diego State
Albin revealed Rourke’s status for week 0 was still unclear before Monday’s practice, but Rourke’s availability would be discovered by the end of the day. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Rourke will be healthy enough to start against San Diego State.
San Diego State's Defense
Hoke’s defense has been a staple for San Diego State, and according to Albin makes the team difficult to prepare for.
“Defensively, that’s probably their strong point,” Albin said. “They’re probably a national top 20 defense. They present problems with pressure packages.”
Albin compared the difficulties of preparing for the Aztecs’ pressure packages in only a week to prepare for triple option offenses. Luckily, the Bobcats started to prepare for the Aztecs last Wednesday, but will still have a difficult challenge against one of the group of five’s best defenses.
Aztecs’ offense is unknown
As difficult as it will be for the Bobcats to prepare for San Diego State’s defense, its offense, led by new offensive coordinator Ryan Lindley, isn’t known.
“They’ve (defensive coaches) kind of had to piecemeal things together and do all the due diligence they can to find out what things they’re doing,” Albin said.
Albin added that the Aztec offense greatly improved by the end of the year.
Cross-country travel will not be an issue
San Diego is 2,300 miles from Athens and has a difference of three time zones. A trip to the opposite coast could mean fatigue and jet lag for some Bobcats, but Albin doesn’t anticipate it causing problems.
“We’re going to make sure guys are in bed fairly early because they’re going to wake up because of their internal clock at probably six or seven in the morning,” said Albin. “Us playing at 4 p.m., I don’t anticipate (the time change) to be an issue.”
