Ohio opens MAC play against Akron

by Shane Sadler
THE POST

One luxury the Ohio football team can take into its game against Akron this weekend is its record of two wins and one loss.

This will be the first time in coach Jim Grobe's six seasons at Ohio that the team will enter Mid-American Conference action with more wins than losses. The previous two seasons the Bobcats were 0-6 in non-conference games combined.

Grobe said it was important for his team to get off to a good start.

"People do not realize how hard it is for the players to go into a pretty tough conference with no wins up to that point," Grobe said. "Wins are what give a team confidence, and I think our past two games have given us a lot of confidence.

"In reality, however, we're right back down to ground zero right now. Those wins are important, but we really need to be concerned with winning the games in our league because those are what count at the end of the year," he said.

Confidence could be a negative factor for Akron, however. After being hyped up during the off-season as the team to challenge Marshall for the top spot in the East Division of the MAC, the Zips opened their season with two straight losses. One of those losses was a 17-7 defeat at the hands of Central Michigan.

But Akron was victorious in its last contest, defeating Central Florida 35-24, and it cannot forget about the beating they gave the Bobcats last season.

In the 41-28 loss, Ohio dug itself into a hole early by committing six turnovers in the first half. At one point in the game Akron held a 41-7 lead.

"We went up there and just flat out got whipped," Grobe said. "We hurt ourselves by turning the ball over, and I was proud that the kids fought back so hard in the second half, but we got physically beat up pretty good."

Quarterback Dontrell Jackson said the Bobcats are going to be much more physical with the Zips this year.

"They said after last year's game that we were not very physical, that we were kind of soft," Jackson said. "This year is going to be different because we're going to get real physical with them so they won't be able to say that stuff this time around."

One factor that will be important throughout the game for both teams is which offense can win the time of possession battle. Ohio and Akron are both squads that like to employ a ball-control offense that keeps their defense rested and gives the other team less time to score points.

Akron coach Lee Owens said time of possession will be a factor, but offensive productivity will be even more important.

"We would like to keep the ball as long as possible for sure, but what we want to make sure and do is score points at the end of our drives," Owens said. "Ohio is a team that is putting together long consistent drives, while at the same time they are scoring points, which is the name of the game."

Grobe said he agreed with Owens in regard to the offense scoring points.

"I think our team is similar to theirs because we both like to run the ball to win, and normally when you run the ball it takes longer to score," he said. "But we don't go into a football game with the goal of hanging on to the football, we go in trying to find the best way for us to score."

Linebacker Tom Weilbacher said the Akron offense uses some different formations, but its main goal is to overpower the opposing defense.

"Akron uses a lot of formations that we will not see at any other point in the season, they do a lot out of unbalanced sets," Weilbacher said. "Basically, they are a good team that likes to run right at the defense to see which team is stronger and they are going to try and run us over.

"We are just going to make sure we are in the right place at the right time and that we recognize what is going on at all times, if we can do that we will be in good shape," he said.

Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, at Peden Stadium.