I'm not saying punting was right, I'm not commenting on that, but the logic checks out fine.

I'm old enough to remember that some coaches that cut their teeth in the business back in the middle of the twentieth century that were still around used to have a fairly common phrase. You used to hear, "It's not a sin to punt." Maybe this adage is less common because rule changes in defensive holding, pass interference, and protecting offensive players have increased point totals or maybe adages just change over time. It is what they do. But I think everyone agrees that scoring points is just about always better than punting and punting very, very probably results in a better situation than turning it over. It also, I think, squares with nearly everyone's intuition, traditional coaching styles, and modern analytics that it is usually more of a sin to punt when you are trailing that if you have the lead and usually more of a sin to punt in an offensive shootout than a defensive struggle.

This DOESN'T mean that it is ALWAYS right to punt if you have the lead on a defensive battle. Being up 14-10 with fourth and short just outside your kicker's trusted range with 7 minutes left is very different that being up 20-0 with fourth and 15 in your own redzone with 7 minutes left. But if you have the lead and how the game is going affects the analysis and just about every situation and coaching style makes you more inclined to punt with the lead or in a defensive game.

Consider the exact opposite of what you are arguing. I recall a game against UMass in 2018 where we kicked off, gave up a quick over the top TD, and then threw a pick six to fall behind 14-0 almost immediately. Ohio then scored a TD on their next 6 drives and then a field goal on the 7th. UMass started going for it on every fourth down. When Mark Whipple was asked about it, he said he couldn't afford to punt because it was clear Ohio was going to get points on most of their possessions.

You could flip this on its head just like you did in the opposite scenario. If you are having trouble stopping Ohio isn't it important to give your defense a chance by not giving Ohio a short field. Also, in a game that is 45-35 early in the second half, why not trust that your offense won't be in this position of facing 4th down too many times for the rest of the game and to trust that they will capitalize on the rest of their possessions and that you should be more inclined to punt in this type of game than in other games. I'm guessing that your gut is telling you that is just wrong without a background in coaching or doing any complex analytics. The opposite is also true.

I'm not arguing either way on if all those punts yesterday were correct strategy. The idea of taking less risks trying to get points with the lead in a defensive battle than you would in most other situations totally analytically checks out though.

Poor coach. There is even criticism when you win. Oh, well, it's Bobcat football. No, it wasn't pretty. Wasn't pretty at all, in fact, but we got a win, and I guess that goes for something.

The only true threat the Zips had was their fantastic punter, who kept flipping the field on us. Why not try to keep the ball away from him as long as possible by extending drives on fourth and short in their territory?

As Victory pointed out, Ohio outgained Akron 440-178. They also held Akron to -18 yards rushing. Ohio was an 11.5 point favorite, but won by 20. Were there areas where Ohio needs to improve? Absolutely, but that is expected. I expect them to improve each game. Was it a disaster? Absolutely not.

I'm glad Ohio gets a bye week. They need it, and now is a great time. Then, go beat CMU.

That would explain why they threw so few passes, and gave Akron a heavy load of Tyus. In prior games this year, Navarro attempted about 15 passes per half, but against Akron, only 18. With Navarro dinged up, and Poulus out, that makes the win even more impressive. Ohio did what they had to do.

Let's work on 4 things during the bye week: 1. get Navarro healthy; 2. find a way to eliminate the costly and ill-timed penalties; 3. work on securing the football; 4. find a way to get Bobcats not named Owen involved in the passing game.

11 penalties v. Akron for 91 yards. Some were costlier than others, negating a long punt return, a long run down the sideline by Tyus and one long scramble by Navarro. Ohio fumbled 3 times, losing 2 of them. The one fumble we didn't lose ended up a touchdown but could have been costly if not for Ohio linemen falling on the ball in the end zone. Half of Navarro's 12 completions went to Owen with no other receiver getting more than 1 reception.

One other thing, look for Walter Bob to compete for more playing time on the D-line. Already a strength for OUr team, I look for Bob to add not just depth but quality to this position. The JUCO transfer and former Bama recruit saw limited minutes late v. Akron with 2 tackles. He came into summer camp late and I believe he saw his first action in Saturday's win.

Nah, I'm good with the decision to punt with the lead. A failed fourth down at that part of the field may just be the break and momentum boost that flips the game.

It's fine to cover your eyes until the end of the game, but for a lot of us - we watch all of it and are critical of mistakes.

11 penalties is worth being upset about, especially when you're playing one of the worst teams in college football. We have 9 fumbles through 5 games. You see the score and are stoked and that's also fine.

For me, the BYE week couldn't come fast enough.

Looking forward to CMU - we can't have the same mistakes. In the last 14 games vs CMU we've lost 10. They've won 6 of the last 7. They win 75% of the time vs us at home.

Need to get everyone healthy. Clean up the mental errors. Happy they leaned hard into Tyus, because we need to control the clock and not allow teams to get ahead of us. When Parker isn't asked to do very much, he is pretty decent. Even when things weren't clicking, he wasn't forcing it. That's extremely encouraging.

Miami looks like ass, so I'm elated we play them this early in the season before they figure out that they shouldn't be this bad.

Ideally, we're at least 6-3 heading to a home game vs EMU who is inexplicably 2nd in scoring (32ppg) and #1 in sacks.

They had to like the crowd, though.

I've lived through enough homecoming disappointments (and I'm not that old...am I?) to not complain about a homecoming win. I don't care that it was against Akron, it was a game we needed to win and we did. Like someone else said, clean up the penalties. There were a lot on Saturday (and I think one hold was declined by Kron), far too many. This team feels like a work in progress, and winning games like this one that we are supposed to win (on paper) is a positive.

Looking like 1 and 4 are taken care of. However, 2 and 3? Not so much with 3 penalties in the first 5 minutes of CMU game and costly lost fumble on 2nd possession that stops a positive Ohio drive.