If the Bobcats are going to win a MAC championship, this has to be the year. This team returns a veteran offense made almost exclusively of Seniors that will be able to put points on the board. The defense has a lot of young players, but has good speed, and should improve as they gain experience. Thus, on paper, they are about as good as last year's team was before all the injuries. Next year, however, is likely to be a big step down due to especially heavy losses, particularly including almost the entire offense.  Here is a look at the Seniors that need to step up:

Offense - Basically the entire first string except center is a Senior
         Tyler Tettleton - QB
          Beau Blankenship - RB
          Ryan Boykin - RB
         Tyler Knight - TE
          Troy Hill - TE
          Alex Asher - TE
          Anthony Talbert - TE
           Mario Dovell - WR
          Donte Foster - WR
          Matt Waters - WR
          John Prior - OT
          Ryan McGrath - OT
          Jon Lechner - OG
          Sam Johnson - OG

Defense - Defense has some very good Seniors, too
          Travis Carrie - CB
           Jamil Shaw - CB
           Xavier Hughes - S
           Keith Moore - LB
           Nic Barber - DE
           Ty Branz - DE

The last time a team was this senior-dominated was 2006, a team that over-achieved. I think this team can over-achieve, too, because I think the defense will keep improving and be surprisingly good, and I think the offense will not stop pushing for points.

Next year, though, I expect a bit of a decline, when these guys are gone, before beginning another cycle of stronger and stronger teams from 2015-2017. 

Let's win it all this year!

Well said L.C.


For me it hinges on the correct answers to a multitude of questions.  Some are obvious.  Some concern underclassmen.  Some I'm not sure about cause I don't know what they are.

Here are some:

Will we stay healthy?

A big duh on this one as we saw what happened last year.  I'm not as concerned as last year since we seem to have more depth.

What will the defensive line do?

I'm lookin at Kendric Smith and Kurt Laseak to be game changers here.....I also like newcomer Terrel Basham.....great name by the way.

What happens if Crutcher goes down?

Not wishin this on anybody.....love the kid....he likes my buddy G-man so he can't be bad.  But who can help and fill in if necessary?  Purdum has a great motor.  The keys for me are Tautuaki and McCloud (there can be only one)....if both wash out we could be hurtin for certain.

Will Ben Russell step up at MLB?

I think he will......that makes Moore a monster OLB.

Will we have the playmakers like the Indy Bowl?

Cochran just outran people.  Hill in the promos looks like a TE TD mochine.  Waters can get open and who knows....a redshirt or true freshman could surprise.

Will one or both of OUr new TE's produce?

Talbert had a nice bowl game for NC State and Asher from NC had an unbelieveable high school career....just came thru his hometown and Tommy Jefferson's....Charlottesville VA.

Do we have a kicker?

Sure we have a punter....if somebody frikkin blocks....hardy friggin har.  But field goal guys......we have quantity....but do we have quality....who wins?......the Okie State guy....the Syracuse guy?....the Zanesville guy?....or the Albany guy?.....stay tuned.


I have more....maybe later.

If one or two of the WR's  you mentioned  steps up we will be hard to beat.

Landon Smith was tearing it up last year before he.....survey says.....got injured. No reason he can't pick up where he left off.

My biggest concern on offense is converting red zone trips to touchdowns instead of settling for field goals. And that's not an indictment of whoever winds up our kicker....it's just a simple mathematical fact that 7 > 3. Seems like during the Theo/Franshaw days, we were fantastic at that. I don't think it's T^2's fault we aren't doing it as well now, and I don't know that it's playcalling either.

If the O can put the points on the board like they're capable of doing, I'd like to see an attacking defense. I don't mind getting burned a few times, especially with a high-scoring offense, if we can generate some sacks/turnovers.

It seems obvious to say, but it also depends on which Tettleton is playing. I think it's obvious that he was injured even after he returned from sitting out the Norfolk State game. In retrospect, he may have been better served for sitting out UMass and Buffalo as well, but at the time, nobody could've known that.

Breaking the season into two sections, there's the first three games against Penn State, New Mexico State and Marshall where Tyler was somewhat healthy. He then missed the next game with injury (Norfolk State) but returned to play more apprehensively against UMass, Buffalo, Akron, Miami, EMU, BGSU, Ball State, and Kent State. Then, after a long break, he once again came back healthy against Louisiana-Monroe in the bowl game.

In his four healthy games, T2 was 80-121 for 1112 yards. That's 9.2 yards per attempt. In rushing, he had 134 yards in only 27 carries, an average of 4.96 ypc. In these games, he was sacked a total of 2 times. That's 2 sacks in 123 dropbacks (not counting the rushes that were to elude the pass rush), for an average of a sack every 61.5 attempts.

In his eight games played while injured, Tyler was 148-246 for 1732 yards. That's only 7.0 yards per attempt. Even more glaring, in the rushing dept, he went for only 110 yards in 93 attempts, a measly 1.18 ypc. In these games, he was sacked a total of 20 times. That's 20 sacks in 266 dropbacks (again, not counting the rushes), for a sack every 13.3 pass attempts.

His health is of utmost importance. For him to be completely effective, he needs to be the dual threat. He also needs to be willing to put air under the ball, a la the first quarter of Louisiana-Monroe.

Good list of fifth and sixth year seniors. To sweeten the pot there are 17 RSJrs or Jrs. Lots of grown men and experience.

From the perspective of how this program has traditionally rolled on the backs of 5th year seniors I say you would be correct.  There are a lot of great bobcat names in their final year. Dovell and Foster were from the time when Ohio first started pumping out talent receivers like hot cakes. They've shown up in the stat sheet for a very long time. Tettleton has played in two MAC Championships and led the program to victories in 2 bowl games. He's in the top 3 of all time Bobcat QB's along with Cleve Bryant and Kareem Wilson. The program is going to have to step back from exceptional QB play to good QB play unless we have another T2 in the wings. Will there be enough strength up front across the OL and DL to deliver another 9-10 win season out of the MAC in 2014? 

Normally Ohio is a heavy load for MAC teams to handle in the trenches. The spread pistol also is not easy to defend with the bobcats a serious threat running and throwing the ball. This program is used to winning and its filled with guys who have won a lot of football games. Its a major disappointment to drop a game against competition from outside of the Top 25. Five years ago the sense was that once in a while being Ohio we were due for a bad game. Even in a good year in the past dropping an inexplicable game was predictable. Most of the MAC East outside of us would be classified as a darkhorse team that has some legit FBS talent but would need to get hot in November to have a chance. Ohio brings its C game in November and its enough to win the division.