An Ohio win may keep NIU from its sixth consecutive MAC Championship game.
Ohio’s future may be unwritten, but its fate is sealed.
The Bobcats should be in a bowl game this December, and at this point, it’s just a matter of whom they’ll play.
Although some of that may be determined elsewhere — as in the Mid-American Conference Championship game or other conference matchups — ultimately, Ohio is playing for three things.
Finish the season off on a high note
After a strong start to the 2015 campaign, the Bobcats were shaken up by injuries on both sides of the ball and their legitimacy trembled.
Despite a 5-1 start to the season, a three-game losing streak during conference play made it look like Ohio might not even make a bowl game.
It was actually the program’s worst loss — 62-24 at Bowling Green on Nov. 4 — when Ohio started playing its best football.
Including that game, the Bobcats have witnessed the offense at its best after the defense carried the team through the first half of the season.
Now, with two healthy quarterbacks who both like to run, Derrius Vick and J.D. Sprague, Ohio has picked up more than 1,000 yards rushing in the last three games.
“You don’t expect to have those kind of numbers rushing the football,” offensive coordinator and running back Tim Albin said. “It’s rare. And why is that? I just think the guys have done a good job up front. The biggest reason is our quarterback run game.”
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With injuries mounting earlier in the season, at one point it looked like Ohio might be limited to third-string quarterback Greg Windham.
If coach Frank Solich does refer back to his dual-quarterback system, Vick and Sprague could influence the impressive rushing stats and open up more opportunities to stretch the passing game.
They’re going bowling
Before last year’s bowl trip hiatus, the Bobcats made it to five consecutive bowl games. They should be back after picking up their seventh win Tuesday.
With the MAC set to appear in six games, here are some of the locations Ohio could be venturing to in a month or so: GoDaddy Bowl, Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Raycom Media Camellia Bowl, Boca Raton Bowl, Popeyes Bahamas Bowl or the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.
According to the latest bowl predictions by SB Nation, Ohio is projected to play Old Dominion in the Bahamas Bowl on Dec. 24.
Topping the dogs
If Northern Illinois beats Ohio, the Huskies will play in the MAC Championship Game against the Falcons. If Ohio wins, that would knock Northern out and push Toledo into that West spot instead.
But that’s not a simple task.
On the cusp of a sixth-consecutive MAC Championship appearance, the Huskies haven’t lost in the month of November since 2009.
It’s a 20-game winning streak.
Ohio might even seal Northern’s fate, too.
@Charliehatch_
gh181212@ohio.edu
