Last Edited: 8/19/2011 10:17:38 PM by catfan28

At first glance the natural thing is to say its a soft schedule, but when you breakdown the road games we have play and some tough matchups among the home games and its not a walk in the park as the casual fan might think. 

The five difficult away games include:
Louisville 25-10 last year and a traditional national power and top 25 program.  Future NBA talent on the court and Rick Petino on the bench.  

Marshall 22-12 last year. This is a rivalry game for us. We played twice last season. This game will be a tough road game as always.   

at Oakland 25-10. They beat us in Athens last year. They are the top team in the Summitt most years.  This won't be an easy game. 

at Portland 20-12 last year from the WCC. Finished 4th behind Gonzaga, St Mary's and Santa Clara. Its a west coast game and a team that it on the same level as the top of the MAC.  This will be tough game. 

at Wright State 19-14 from the Horizon League. A rare road game vs a non-MAC in state school. Wright State is a solid Horizon program. This will be a tough game for us.  

Now the home games are games Ohio will be expected to win, but some of these games will be close. These teams are much like teams in the MAC that they could beat you if you don't bring your A game.

St Bonaventure 16-15 from the A-10 they were 8-8 in A-10 last year which is very good. They beat us last year too.

Robert Morris 18-14. They beat us in Athens last year. That tells you they aren't too afraid of us either. 

Arkansas St 17-15 from the Sun Belt.  They got better late last year could be a team on the rise.

Morgan St 17-14 they recently reached the NCAA tournament.  

NC A&T 15-17 Very up tempo team. They played us tough two years ago and also out west under O'Shea.

Kennesaw State 8-23 but Ga Tech managed to lose to them last year. We should still win this one.

Tenn-Martin 12-21. Regular season opener we better win that one. 

Lamar 13-17 Another game you better win at home,but Southland is a decent league so can't take them to easy.

Marietta College this game comes after a tough road trip and Bobcats will need a W. To regain some momentum. Marietta is a excellent team in their division, but Bobcats have superior talent and that will be on display.

Record likely 9-5 non-conference. The MAC schedule would likely yield 11-5 and put us 20-10.  This isn't at-large worthy and will be perhaps CBI worthy.  If we show that we can win a couple of those road games and sweep at home non-conference then I would feel better going into January and up those projections.  Bobcats first must prove to its fans that they can take care of business at home. They need to do that to install confidence that we are a contender to win the MAC regular season. Ohio needs to beat Miami and Kent State and Buffalo those first three MAC home games and get off to a decent start in the MAC for once. This team has some experience led by a talented junior class. We should expect a better start to the MAC than what we have done the last two years.  I think we will be in contention in the east and in fact lead it most of the way until three tough road games at UB, at Kent St and at Miami in the last two weeks on the schedule. If  we win all the home games we should have a very good season. I'd expect 12,000 plus for Miami from the fans and students on a Saturday. That's the game every Bobcat should have circled and free up time on the calander to attend.          




     

Last Edited: 8/20/2011 2:07:58 AM by First Street Forever