The first win of the season always makes a difference, no matter who the team is.

The Ohio football team (1-3 overall, 1-0 in the Mid-American Conference) got its first win of the season last Saturday against Buffalo. The Bobcat's next opponent, the Kent Golden Flashes (1-3. 1-0), did the same by defeating Bowling Green, 41-27. The win may have been more meaningful for Kent, as it stopped a 16-game losing streak spanning back to 1997.

For the Bobcats, Saturday's win brought relief, Ohio Head Coach Jim Grobe said.

"We really needed to win," he said. "You could tell there was some relief on our kids' part. I think our kids feel pretty good about themselves right now. Hopefully, we can take that momentum and continue to improve and play better (against Kent), who pretty much had their way with Bowling Green last week."

Offense producing

Many things went Ohio's way against Buffalo, Grobe said. But what pleased him the most was the play of his offensive line, which allowed the offense to gain 523 total yards, including almost 400 yards on the ground.

"You can't rush for the number of yards we rushed for (Saturday) without your offensive line playing pretty good," Grobe said.

Tailback Jamel Patterson had most of the workload for Ohio against the Bulls. Patterson tallied 180 yards on 17 carries, as well as two touchdowns. Z-back Raynald Ray also chipped in 60 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries.

Patterson is averaging the most yards per carry among the top 50 rushers in the nation. His 51 rushes for 406 yards gives him a 7.9607 yard-per-carry average that slightly nudges out Kansas State's Frank Murphy, who averages 7.96 yards per carry. Patterson's record of 101.5 yards per game ranks him 26th in the nation in rushing.

Despite his success, he is not necessarily Ohio's go-to guy, Grobe said.

"I think we have more than one good running back," he said. "It would be nice if we could get Chad Brinker and Keith Brooks the ball more. It's hard with as many running backs as we have to get everyone the ball."

The way the defense lines up will determine which running back will get most of the carries, Grobe said.

Ray agreed with his coach, and said it is important to get the ball to as many different backs as possible.

"I think it's a good mix," he said. "They can't really hone in on one player. It keeps the defense guessing."

Ohio's rushing offense ranks first in the MAC and 10th in the nation, with 247.8 yards a game.

Defense improving

The Ohio defense scored eight points against Buffalo, kept the Bulls offense out of the end zone and caused four turnovers.

Overall, the defense is playing with a lot of emotion, linebacker Mark Calgaro said.

"I think the emotion is pretty high," he said. "We just all played together finally, and the defense started clicking."

The defense only lacks consistency, Grobe said. Too many Buffalo

drives were allowed, and the

defensive unit stayed on the field too long. But the defensive line is getting better every week, especially the play of Art Adams.

"He was without a pulse the first three games," Grobe said. "We just didn't get anything out of him. Now he's starting to look like the old Art Adams."

Special teams mixing it up

Anyone who was paying attention to the kick-off squad Saturday noticed punter Dave Zastudil handling the first two kick-offs.

Zastudil had been practicing his extra duty lately, and he asked the coaching staff if he could give it a shot in a game.

"They just wanted to see what I could do," Zastudil said after Saturday's game. "It was fun. It was good to see where I was at."

Zastudil is ranked fourth in the nation with a 48-yard punt average for the season.

Ohio is also trying "sky-kicks" on kick-offs, where the ball is intended to drop at about the 20- or 25-yard line. This is just for variety, Grobe said.

"We want to have the ability to kick it different places and keep people a little bit off-balance," he said.

Although place-kicker Kevin Kerr missed two extra point attempts last weekend, Grobe is not concerned about his confidence. He is more concerned about getting Zastudil, who holds for Kerr, and long snapper Jay Roden more practice.

Erik Davis leaves team

Offensive lineman Erik Davis, who has been plagued with injuries for most of the season, has left the team and returned home to Jackson.

"He and his mom talked it over this past weekend, and they decided that he wouldn't play football anymore - at least for right now," Grobe said. "He felt like he needed to be closer to home.

"I left the door open for him to come back, and I hope he will," Grobe said. "We'd love to have him back if he decides to play college football again. It just felt like his heart wasn't in it any more."

Davis' chronic injuries and lack of success this season weighed too heavily on his mind, Grobe said.

"A lot of times young guys need to get away from things and catch their breath," he said. "When you're a big guy and you have injuries, it's hard for big guys to overcome those quickly. He wasn't a happy camper with the way the situation was."

The effect of Davis' departure on the team is not a heavy one because of the severity of his injury, Grobe said.

Davis would have been out of action for a couple more weeks, and the team considered giving him a medical red-shirt this season, Grobe said.