If I'm not mistaken and Wikipedia is 100% accurate as of today, this is just the second and third time an Ohio player has won an individual POY award in the Solich era. A synopsis...
Ohio offensive POYs:
Cleve Bryant, 1968
Sammy Shon, 1981
Kareem Wilson, 1996
Ohio defensive POYs:
Tarell Basham, 2016
Ohio special teams POYs:
Dave Zastudil, 1999 and 2001
Matt Weller, 2011
Ohio freshmen POYs:
Javon Hagan, 2016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-American_Conference_foo... 1996 was an interesting year. Grobe won coach of the year and Wilson won offensive POY. Anyone care to share what that season was like? I'm old enough but wasn't in Athens then.
1996 was Grobe's 2nd year, and the most amazing 6-6 season you could have. It re-introduced competitive football and a semblance of college football atmosphere to OHIO. Unfortunately, Ohio lost their last 3 I believe after a 6-3 start that included a season opening 44-14 win over zippy, and consecutive 38-0 wins over BG and @ WMU. An overtime loss to Ball State (1st ever 1A overtime game iIrc) after blowing a big lead ultimately cost Ohio a MAC title. We were that close.
In 1996 most teams still were playing 11 games. Ohio got a 12th because for its second game, following the season-opening smackdown of Akron, the Cats traveled to Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors were a double-digit favorite. And Ohio came home a 21-10 winner. It was then that I felt Ohio was on the road to respectability.
Yes, after opening at 6-3, Ohio lost the last three. One was a shoot-out at East Carolina. I watched part of that game in an airport lounge. EC prevailed 55-45. The season-ender was against Toledo in Peden. Ohio had a lead. On a 4th down play, late in the 4th quarter, a Toledo WR made a miraculous catch in the southeast corner of the endzone to put the Rockets up by 1.
After the ensuing kickoff, Ohio managed to advance for an attempted FG from about 50 yards. The kick was on target but short. The result - a pretty darned thrilling 6-6 season.
It was the next season that Grobe's team went 8-3.
Last Edited: 12/1/2016 12:57:26 PM by Mike Johnson