College Football Predictions – Ohio Bobcats 2017 NCAA Football Preview
2016 Recap
2016 Record – 8-6
2016 ATS – 7-7
Wow, that was a long season.
The Bobcats played a whopping 14 games and finished up with a record of 8-6. That’s what happens when you get to the MAC Championship and a bowl game. The Bobcats were probably disappointed with how the season finished but they played Tennessee tough on the road, BEAT Toledo away from home and then gave JUGGERNAUT Western Michigan all they could handle. The last time the Bobcats had a losing record ? 2008. Pretty impressive.
2017 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating
MAC – TBD
East Division – TBD
OFFENSE
The Bobcats were mid-pack in the MAC last year in total offense averaging 392 yards per game. They only managed to score 26 points per game and will need to find a way to be a bit more dangerous if they want to win a conference championship. Sophomore QB Quinton Maxwell is the front-runner for the starting QB job and played well in limited action last year. The depth may be lacking at WR but Ohio does have a true #1 WR in Papi White (672, 16.4, 6 TD).
The running game should be pretty good with some pretty talented and experienced RBs on the roster. They bring back their 1-2 punch of Dorian Brown and Maleek Irons who combined for almost 1,300 yards and 9 TDs last season. They also get back 17th year senior AJ Ouellette who missed almost all of the 2016 campaign due to injury. The offensive line returns three starters and has impressive size. This feels like the best Ohio offense in a number of years. <grabs popcorn>
DEFENSE
Ohio was a PENETRATION NIGHTMARE last year bagging 44 sacks and that ranked them 6th in the FBS. Their run defense was #1 in the MAC by a wide margin and they only yielded 22.6 points per contest. This season the Bobcats return six starters on defense but have some big holes to fill. Ohio’s all-time leader in sacks Tarell Basham departs and all he did last year was total 11.5 sacks, 16 TFL and 12 QBH. They will also miss leading tackler LB Blair Brown. They do return MLB Quentin Poling (1st Team MAC) and some really good players in the secondary. We worry a bit about the pass rush but Ohio always seems to play good defense.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Ohio has the best set of kickers in the MAC. PK Louie Zervos was amazing last year as he nailed 29/35 FGs and P Michael Farkas was solid. The return units are a bit of an unknown.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot
September 30th – at Massachusetts. This will be the Bobcats’ 3rd road date in four weeks and this game also pops up in a MAC SANDWICH (Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan). Probably not an optimal spot for a road favorite.
MEGAmazing Tidbits
Frank Solich was hired in 2005. The only current FBS head coaches hired before that are Kirk Ferentz (Iowa) and Gary Patterson (TCU). Mike Gundy and Kyle Whittingham were also hired in 2005.
MEGALOCKS ATS Value Rating (10) 5.5
MEGALOCKS says:
Overall, we give the BOBCATS a 5.5 ATS Value Rating (Average) this season.
This feels like another solid Bobcats team. The offense should be improved but we do worry a bit about the lost talent in the front seven. We do feel good that Frank Solich almost always has these guys playing sound defense so maybe we are worried all for nothing ? The kicking game is a great bonus.
The schedule is really soft. From a betting perspective it feels as though these guys are going to be favorites A LOT and we are not crazy about laying points in MACTION ACTION.
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