What, No Road Trip to Ypsilanti?
Ohio has some questions, especially on their defense, but they are a contender to win the MAC East in large part due to their schedule. The Bobcats four conference road games are against Buffalo, Akron, Central Michigan and Bowling Green. That may sound like it is all well and good, but let us take a closer look.
Buffalo finished last season with a 1-7 record in conference play and added a victory over Rhode Island in non-conference play. College Sports Madness has the Bulls ranks 116th of 120 FBS teams. Two weeks after later the Bobcats head to Akron. Like the Bulls, the Zips ended up with a 1-7 conference mark, but they could not quite pull off a victory over their FCS opponent and lost to Gardern-Webb 37-38 in overtime. College Sports Madness has the Zips generously ranked at 108th overall.
After a week off and a game against Temple at home, Ohio hits the road for two straight weeks. Central Michigan actually won two conference games last year and three total. Yet, beating Hampton, Eastern Michigan and seemingly always beating Western Michigan is not that impressive. The Bobcats are good enough to take care of business against the Chips, who The Madness has ranked 113th overall. Then comes Bowling Green in what promises to be a mid-week thriller…probably not though. The Falcons did have one good win last year against Marshall, but finished the year with a conference record of 1-7 and we have just two teams ranked lower than Bowling Green heading into the 2011 campaign.
For those keeping score at home, Ohio plays four road games against Mid-American Conference opponents that combined to go 5-27 in conference games last year. All their major tests will come at home, but the Bobcats do have a couple non-conference road games. The first is against New Mexico State, who went 2-10 last season, and is ranked by College Sports Madness as the worst team in the nation heading into the 2011 campaign. The other is against Rutgers, who believe it or not, is actually not that bad…at least comparatively speaking. College Sports Madness at least has them ranked in the top 100, which cannot be said for any other road opponent the Bobcats face this season.
Read an in-depth football preview for this team
