Of all the nights this game falls on, it falls on the one night this month that I have a board meeting...crap

Indeed, perhaps I could take it on as a challenge to sit in every unoccupied seat just for kicks! Might not finish by the end of the game.

I do have to say it appeared that WMU's fans traveled well for last night's game, however that may have been some creative videography.

And as you may be aware Sweet Lou, the OHIO-Chicago Alumni base is one of the largest outside the state of Ohio, but a quick check of the Alumni Events Calendar shows there is neither a group getting together for the game in DeKalb nor a game watch. Weak sauce Chicago alumni.

Maybe the NIU Band gets an unsportsmanlike penalty for making too much noise on a crucial Bobcat drive. There are many arrows in the MAC refs quiver. ;-)

Edit: Anyone remember the "roughing the center" call against us on a certain potentially winning FG years ago? Maybe it's time to pull that one out as well. Have only seen it called once since, and that was in an SEC game.

Start Irons.

Clearly, they execute better.

I took his point (which I agree with) to be that we find excuses ("we just need to execute better") to justify our shortcomings, while NIU overcomes.

One difference might be that their injury list is 4 players, while Ohio's was as high as 18 players. Hopefully that gap is narrowing, though, as more players are returning than there are new injuries.

And except that besides being missing their starting QB and top runner, Ohio also had injuries to five of seven safeties, two of their top five cornerbacks, all of the the top four linebackers, the top three defensive tackles, and two of the top four defensive ends.

So far as I know, these are the defensive players with injuries, either out, or playing hurt:
Safety - Nelson, Carpenter, Scipio, Macer, Cunningham
Cornerbacks - Bass, Brunson
Linebackers - J. Johnson, Poling, Brown, Moore
Defensive Tackles - Tautuiaki, Sayles
Defensive Ends - Basham, Smart, Purdum

Here are the defenders that I believe to he healthy:
Safety - T. Davis, D. Jones
Cornerback - Wells, Layton, Provitt, Terpin
Linebackers - Daugherty, Croutch, DiCillo
Defensive Tackles - Porter, Aloese
Defensive Ends - Laseak, Robbins, Berger

It's the last game of the season, and I know that anyone that can play, will play. Go Bobcats!

We're now on year 4 of the injury excuse.

I love the optimism. But I think NIU will be 14-point favorites.

34-1 in last 35 at home

22 straight November wins

Ohio has played 1 upper-tier MAC team to within 10 points in the last four years (0-13 during that stretch)....ironically it was NIU last year (21-14)

If Ohio wins....this would arguably be the best MAC win in 11 years of Solich era.....and quite possibly up there with the win at Penn State.

I just don't see it happening.....but we can always hope!

How about a win this year against a 9-2 Marshall team

I cringe a bit at your word choice. "Excuse" implies that either the injuries aren't real, or that injuries have no affect on performance, and obviously neither is true. Certainly it is saddening, even demoralizing for us, as fans, to see our favorite players getting hurt so often over the last four years, but consider for a moment that the effect has to at least as great on the players. It has to be a tough coaching job to keep their morale up when they are number 1 in the country in injuries, or close, four years running.

It would be easier if there were some pattern to the injuries, or some obvious explanation. Then they could understand and/or fix them. Instead we see injuries to pretty much every part of the body. I'm not totally sure of all these, but I think these are the injuries:
Leg: Tautuaiki, Patterson
Knees: White, Mangen, Sayles, Poling
Ankles: Vick, B. Brown, J. Johnson
Groin: Carpenter, Scipio, Nelson
Shoulders: Wood
Thumbs: Bass, Moore
Illness: C. Brown
Concussions: Macer
Wrist: Vick
Foot: Cunningham, Smart
Hip: Lowery

The only pattern I see is that all three of the groin injuries are to safeties. Mostly it seems to be bad luck. Maybe it's the curse of Bo Schembechler, I don't know.