Forecast was for a high of 48 in Athens. My car's thermometer showed 55, and it felt that way. Still I watched a snowball being made and it got bigger as it rolled down hill.

I was sitting with friend and classmate John Edwards, a former Bobcat footballer. When with about 3:30 to go in the 2nd qtr and no score Ohio had the ball 4th and 1 just inside WMU territory, I expected a punt. Heck, we've all seen Coach Solich order punts when Ohio had the ball on 4th and 5 or so INSIDE the opponents' 40.

When hesitation followed, I turned to John and said, "Looks like Frank is going against his conservative tendency."

Then I saw Oulette running onto the field and I thought, "Uh oh. This doesn't look good. If we don't make this," I said to John, "it could turn out to be the decisive moment." I saw a snowball being formed.

Then I saw the formation and said, "Western's DC must be screaming,'shoot the gaps.'" Which of course is precisely what happened. That snowball grew larger and rounder.

WMU has a short field and capitalizes. Kicks off. Three and out. Long punt return. (Where was the Ohio player who had lane responsibility on the student side?) Moments later it's 14-0 and the snowball is rolling fast.

I don't know that I've ever heard a coach acknowledge that a single play during the first half was the game's decisive play. But, yes, I do believe that that play - play call - decided the game.

Yes, we can point to injuries to Poling and White and Wells' ejection as debilitating losses. But what I found shocking was the second half crumbling. On another thread this evening, I read several BA'ers averring that Ohio's D didn't quit. Sure, it's harsh to accuse any players of quitting. But that's what I saw, and it shocked me. Why? Because starting with late last season, I saw this gang of Bobcats having the requisite toughness to hang tough no matter the adversity. Earlier in this post, I used the word crumbling, and I'll stick with that as an accurate characterization.

Can Ohio regain that toughness starting next week? Can the Cats look at the loss of Poling, arguably the D's best, and White, doubtlessly the O's most explosive component, and still take the game to the Bulls? Tonight I find myself doubting they can do it.

In the end, I saw Ohio outcoached, outexecuted and outdesired.

The outcoaching wasn't limited to that decisive play. Let me ask: How many times did Ohio run 2- to 4-yard pass routes when 5 or more yards were needed? 6? 7? 8? More? Once or twice and I could fault the receivers for shortcutting assigned routes. But when such routes were run repeatedly, even if not called by Coach Albin, it still rests on the coaches to insist that receivers run the planned routes.

I heard that this was Ohio's worst loss at Peden since 1990. 25 years. May it be another 25 before another such debacle.

Agree 1,000,000% with that play being decisive

Dead on.

I assume any coach would love to have a team that executed like WMU did yesterday. The point is it is not just one play, it is the same old crap every year against teams that have even a little heart beat. With 10 1/2 years into this system, is it wrong to expect a little more than what we witnessed from the Cats yesterday?

Marshall only has one loss this year (to Ohio). This was a bad game but, IMO your post over-generalizes a little. Ohio's won a lot of football games in the past 11 years.

What probably concerned me the most about this game, which Mike alludes to, is that the coaches seemed to have no answer. This came through in Solich's comments after the game that he didn't know what caused the breakdowns on defense. We need to get to the point that the coaches see what's breaking down right away and can coach the players to fix it immediately, before it happens again 3-4 times for 50 yards each time.

Agree that those early long-throw misses could have been game-changers.

Let me give you another scenario-

Ohio is 6-2(3-1) and in a must-win game to get keep their championship hopes alive. Down 7-3 to start the 3rd quarter Ohio gets called for a safety on the 4yd line. Over the next 10 quarters Ohio is outscored 114-13 and they lose their last 4 out of 5.

You can argue whether or not that safety was a decisive call or not, but you can't argue that in hindsight it was the turning point. Clearly the failed 4th and 1 was the turning point in yesterday's game, I just hope that it doesn't carry on past that one game.