The dreams of Mid-American Conference championships and division titles had faded away weeks ago, but there still was a task at hand for Ohio this past Friday.
Redshirt senior quarterback Tyler Tettleton and the 18 other members of his class had one goal remaining on a season that saw enough ups and downs to make a person seasick. They wanted to “finish this thing off right,” the Oklahoma native said.
After three weeks of being dominated, the Bobcats returned the favor to the opposition, handling Massachusetts in every facet of the game en route to a 51-23 victory in what would be the final game at Peden Stadium for the winningest class in program history.
“Seniors, that was really the only way to see them go out with all they’ve accomplished here,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “They’ve been a great group to work with. They’ve done an awful lot for Ohio. You know, I feel like I kind of grew up with them here.”
Tettleton, who threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns on 18-of-27 passing, paced the offense, and redshirt senior running back Beau Blankenship had arguably his strongest game of the season, rushing for 125 yards and a touchdown on just 13 rushes.
Blankenship’s 9.5 yards per carry was his best mark of the season.
Defensively, redshirt senior cornerback Travis Carrie finally had a breakout statistical game after quarterbacks largely avoided his side of the field for the majority of the season. He finished with two interceptions and brought them both back for touchdowns.
The game was the way that each of the three, and members of the senior class as a whole, wanted to go out in their final game in Athens.
“You see what’s going on around here,” Tettleton said. “We’ve kind of built that and started a foundation for (younger players). It sucks that we couldn’t get the MAC title, but hopefully we started something and allowed them to have something going into the next couple years, to have a chance to win.”
Although Friday was the last home game for Ohio’s seniors, it might not necessarily be their last collegiate game, with a bowl game still being a possibility.
The MAC has three primary bowl tie-ins and three secondary bowl tie-ins. The secondary tie-ins mean that the bowl will seek out a MAC representative if the previously contracted conference doesn’t have enough eligible teams.
Northern Illinois making a Bowl Championship Series game would increase Ohio’s chances of making it to postseason play, as it would open one of the primary bowl slots.
But with five other bowl-eligible teams in the conference in addition to the Huskies and Bobcats, it’ll be an anxious week of waiting for Ohio with bowl games being announced this Sunday.
Solich said he can’t assume anything in terms of postseason plans with a 7-5 team heading into bowl season and that he plans on having Ohio run through normal conditioning and weight-lifting drills this week.
ch203310@ohiou.edu
@c_hoppens
This article appeared in print under the headline "Seniors happy with last home game"
