Their first home game is Week 4? Goodness, it would be hard to even try to be a fan.
Actually week, 4, but only their third game. That's going to happen when you only play 5 home games a year. The same thing happened to them in 2011 and back in 2003.
There are people that post on here that have used their scheduling philosophy as a model that Ohio should emulate, yet a look at their situation shows what happens if you go that route. There are similarities with Ohio's scheduling, and differences:
1:1 deals - While Ohio has played Wyoming, NMSU, NTSU and Louisiana Layfayette, they have managed 1:1 deals with Colorado State, Vandy, and Syracuse, plus an ongoing 1:1 with CIncy (much like what Ohio is trying to do with Marshall).
Money games - Just as Ohio plays a road game a year for the money, Miami plays some of these, too, having played OSU, Michigan, Florida, and LSU.
2:1 deals - Ohio won't do these, but Miami does do them. The result is that they have been able to play more BCS games at home, but the cost is less home games a year.
FCS schools - Ohio plays one a year. Miami has played only a few of these (S.Illinois, Charleston Southern). By scheduling them, Ohio has managed to play 6-7 home games a year. By not playing them, most years Miami has only 5 home games.
At the end of the day, Miami has had 6 home games only 3 of the last 12 years. Is that helping them build a program? Is that helping them build fan support? Is that helping them build fan support? Or, are those few BCS home games just a flash-in-the-pan, quickly forgotten once they are over?
Personally I would heap praise on how Ohio has done it. To me the 6 (and occasionally 7) home game schedules have helped build a winning tradition, and that that has helped build attendance. The increased attendance, and increased number of home games, in turn, means more money to the Athens business community from the program, and you'd think that also helps build local support for the program.
Furthermore, now that the program has come this far, you see better signs for the future ahead. You see better 1:1 deals, with the likes of Kansas. You also see higher ticket prices, meaning that the home gate is better. That in turn means better home schedules because it means less need to take the 1 and done payday games, and the day may be coming when Ohio can have 7 home games a year fairly often.