State of the Program: Ohio Bobcats

Head Coach: Tim Albin is entering his 4th year with the program after succeeded Frank Solich who will forever be known as a Bobcat legend. Albin has a 23-16 record with the program, 9 of those losses happened during a reset in his first season, since then the Bobcats have been consistent MAC championship contenders and have won back to back bowl games. What Albin has done is underrated…but there may be a new challenge on the horizon…

Program Outlook: It’s hard to believe now but before Frank Solich, Ohio was a program that struggled immensely in football. They had a great run in the 1960s but after an incredible 10-1 season in 1968, winning seasons became extremely rare for the Bobcats. Solich came in an made them consistent winners peaking with some MAC championship game appearances and now Albin has established them as a contender as well. The next question is, when can they finally win the MAC? Despite how good they’ve been that 1968 season is still their last MAC championship.

How does the 2024 Roster look?: The transfer portal absolutely ravished this roster. QB Kurtis Rourke is gone to Indiana, various other players are off to other schools, and just about everyone who caught a pass last year is gone. That being said, there’s still some pieces here. Expect the ground game to take a greater focus with mobile UCF transfer Parker Navarro expected to be the starting QB and Myrtle Beach Bowl star Rickey Hunt Jr leading the way at RB. The defense was also slammed by portal departures after performing so well, and their defensive coordinator is off to Memphis. The secondary will be strong and one of Ohio’s biggest wins of the offseason was getting defensive lineman Bradley Weaver to withdraw from the portal. They have another out of nowhere Myrtle Beach Bowl star on this side of the ball in Linebacker Shay Taylor. A lot of portal players had already left when the Myrtle Beach Bowl happened so I couldn’t help but to be impressed by Ohio’s dominating performance and the players who stepped in and stepped up, that is encouraging for their 2024 season.

Screenshot from fbschedules.com¹

2024 Schedule Thoughts: There’s some decent opportunities on this slate. Syracuse is expected to be better under Fran Brown but Ohio could really capture some headlines if they could pull the upset there, Kentucky is another potential opportunity. Hosting South Alabama is a big game for the Bobcats too, it’s a huge game having the Jaguars at home. If Ohio was simply looking for a bowl this MAC slate would be fantastic but the Bobcats have their eyes on the MAC title and as a result I don’t see this as a favorable slate. Arguably Ohio’s 3 toughest conference games Toledo, Miami and Central Michigan are all on the road. That’s a major barrier to conference title contention.

Vegas Projection: Ohio’s win total is set at 6.5 with the odds geared toward the under. This is an interesting total because there’s 6 games Ohio should be a considerable favorite in, South Alabama at home is likely the swing game. Honestly with the Jaguars having a new coach, I have my eye on the over here.

2024 Best Case: The Bobcats ground game clocks immediately, defense remains strong and they’re ready to contend for the MAC. They capture headlines on opening weekend with a huge upset over Fran Brown and Syracuse then follow it up with a big win over South Alabama. Ohio’s 3-0 start comes to an end in a tight loss to Kentucky, but they have momentum in conference play. The Bobcats only lose one conference game and reach the MAC championship where they face Toledo. The Bobcats take down the Rockets in Detroit and finally win their first MAC championship since 1968. Ohio wins the Cure Bowl over James Madison just to make things even better to end the season.

2024 Worst Case: There’s too much pressure on the ground game with no passing game to speak of and the defense drops off leading to struggles. The Bobcats are beaten soundly by Syracuse and South Alabama to open the season and it never gets better from there. The Bobcats disappoint and stumble their way to 4-8. Fans are left to worry that maybe this program won’t be able to compete in this portal era.