DETROIT— Ohio is being projected to miss yet another Mid-American Conference championship game.
Not only are the Bobcats picked to finish third in the MAC East, but Akron, which the Bobcats defeated 43-3 last year, was picked ahead of them and received three first-place votes.
However, the only thing that matters to most of Ohio’s opponents is that Frank Solich is back for his 10th season. They couldn’t care less where the Bobcats are ranked, because they know what Solich has done to turn the Ohio football program into a perennial contender.
“He has been steady, he’s been consistent. Just think about when he walked into Athens and how fast his impact was felt,” Buffalo coach Jeff Quinn said. “He’s just been very steady and very consistent, and that says a lot about the program that he’s been able to build.”
Ohio lost its offensive core of Tyler Tettleton, Beau Blankenship and Donte Foster to graduation, but Solich believes he has the right guys in line to build another cohesive unit. Buffalo junior quarterback Joe Licata said it may take time to get confortable with the transition, though.
“Tyler was a great player, it’s going to be hard to replace him,” Licata said. “That first year, it’s really hard to do — to gain that experience — because that’s the most important thing as a quarterback is experience.”
Licata’s teammate, senior defensive lineman Kristjan Sokoli, said from what he’s seen in redshirt junior quarterback Derrius Vick, there is a lot to look forward to for Ohio fans.
“He seems to be a great athlete, he has good feet,” Sokoli said. “I saw him play last year against us when they took Tettleton out of the game. I saw a little bit of film on him too, it looks like he’s got athletic ability.”
First on the agenda for Ohio this season is a matchup at Kent State. Last season, the Golden Flashes blew out the Bobcats 44-13 at Peden Stadium.
Although last season’s matchup could be in the back of Ohio’s minds, Kent State coach Paul Haynes won’t be taking the same approach. He expects the Bobcats to be just as good, if not better, next season despite the changes in personnel.
“It really doesn’t matter what happened last year. We won’t approach preseason camp any differently,” he said. “We’ll focus on us, like I’m sure coach Solich is focusing on them getting better.”
“Coach Solich does a great job with recruiting and just like we lose guys, they lose guys. I’m sure they’ll have a good next guy up for them to replace their good players.”
He added that although he isn’t the biggest fan of starting the season with a MAC game, the matchup will add fuel to the fire between the programs.
“I think it’ll be a great environment,” Haynes said. “Both teams know what’s at stake and that’s the beauty of starting with the league game. There’s a little bit of a rivalry starting with Ohio and Kent, which is fun, I love rivalries.”
When asked if the rankings are even just “billboard material” for teams, which they can hang up and use as a motivational tool, Haynes refuted.
“I don’t believe in ‘billboard material.’ You still have to kick the ball off, you still have to tackle and block,” Haynes said. “It doesn’t matter what was said before the game. It’s all on your preparation, it’s all on how you prepare and how you work in practice.”
@Alex_Busch91
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