Ohio (2-1) played well enough to win on Saturday against Morgan State (1-2) despite several hiccups along the way. The Ohio defense stepped up big despite several key injuries en route to a 21-6 win. The Bobcats didn’t allow a touchdown all game.
“We defended our home field,” Ohio coach Tim Albin said. “We got to clean some things up, that’s obvious. Sometimes you win, and you don’t play at your best.”
Ohio scored with ease on its first two drives of the game, marching the ball downfield with a heavy passing attack. This allowed the team to jump out to an early 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The team's first score of the game came on a nifty trick play in the red zone. The ball was snapped directly to the running back, Anthony Tyus III, who then flipped the ball backward to quarterback Parker Navarro, who found Tyus wide open on a wheel route in the end zone.
“It’s big for the offense on their first drive in the field to go down and score and get points on the board right away,” Tyus said.
After allowing a field goal on the ensuing Morgan State drive, Ohio got the ball back and moved the ball into Morgan State’s territory with a similar amount of ease. The Bobcats took the ball downfield for 81 yards and a score in just 1:53.
Ohio was set up in a great position to score after a 53-yard throw and catch from quarterback Navarro to receiver Coleman Owen. Navarro would finish the drive off himself with a 10-yard touchdown rush.
After the first two drives of the game, Ohio didn’t find much success, especially in the passing game.
Navarro would have a nightmare second quarter, throwing for three total interceptions, two of which came in the last four minutes of the half.
Thankfully for Ohio, its defense played incredibly throughout the game. The Bears could only capitalize on one of Navarro’s interceptions, marching down the field and kicking a field goal.
To end the half, grad student Marcel Walker-Burgess came down with a massive play for Ohio, intercepting a pass from Morgan State’s Tahj Smith with only 12 seconds to play in the half. Without the turnover, the Bears would have been in field goal range to extend its point total to 9 before the half.
After halftime, Ohio somewhat surprisingly, made a quarterback change. After three first-half turnovers, Navarro came out of the game in favor of transfer quarterback Nick Poulos.
“We needed a new spark,” Albin said.
On its first drive of the second half, Poulos led the offense down the field for a touchdown. On the drive, Ohio went 76 yards, all of which were rushing. Tyus finished the drive with a 13-yard rushing touchdown, his second of the day. Poulos showed his rushing ability as a quarterback with 29 rushing yards on the drive.
After the Tyus touchdown, no more scoring would occur in the game for either side.
The highlight of the second half for Ohio was a blocked field goal attempt by defensive end Bradley Weaver that linebacker Shay Taylor recovered.
“Watching their film, we knew that they had some weaknesses in some of their field goal areas and (point after attempt) stuff,” Taylor said. “Credit to Brad Weaver for getting in there and blocking it, it just happened to fall into my hands.”
The defense was impenetrable in the second half, allowing no points and recording a myriad of third- and fourth-down stops. The Ohio defense held Morgan State to 2-13 on third downs and 0-2 on fourth.
“Giving up 6 points, you can’t ask for much more than that in Division-I college football,” linebacker Blake Leake said.
At times, Morgan State threatened a potential comeback, but the Ohio defense just continued to make big plays.
“We had an outstanding performance on defense,” Albin said. “Offensively, the turnovers put our defense in a tough spot – they didn't flinch."
