2000 OHIO FOOTBALL: Game 2 Notes at Minnesota
ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio (0-1, 0-0 MAC) at Minnesota (1-0, 0-0 Big 10) September 9, 2000 1:30 p.m. CT (2:30 ET) Midwest Sports Channel (tape-delayed) Metrodome Minneapolis, Minn.
TODAY'S GAME: This is the second game of the season for both teams ... The Bobcats will play their second-straight road game after falling at Iowa State 25-15, while Minnesota is home for the second week in a row ... This game is a rematch of the 1999 season opener when the Golden Gophers won 33-7 ... Today's game will be aired on Midwest Sports Channel on a tape-delayed basis at 11 p.m. CT (midnight ET) and can be seen on Direct TV channel 641 ... Anthony LaPanta will handle play-by-play duties, while Darrell Thompson will provide color analysis.
THE SERIES: Minnesota holds a 7-0-1 advantage in the series after winning last years meeting 33-7 ... The Golden Gophers have been the home team in all eight meetings, but are slated to come to Athens in 2003 ... The series dates back to 1969 when the teams tied 35-35 ... Other than that tie, Ohio has not scored more than 17 points on Minnesota.
THE COACHES: Jim Grobe is in his sixth season at the Bobcat helm with a record of 26-30-1 ... He ranks fifth on Ohio's career coaching victories chart ... He has led Ohio to four-straight winning MAC seasons for the first time in 30 years (1996-99) ... Grobe has built a balanced program, having been ranked 10th in the nation in graduation rates and earning the first MAC Sportsmanship Award.
Glen Mason is in his fourth season at Minnesota with a 17-19 record ... He holds an overall career record of 76-83 in his 15th season as a head coach, including stints at Kent State and Kansas.
THE BOBCATS: Ohio is 0-1 after falling at Iowa State 25-15 last week ... The squad is coming off of a 5-6 finish in 1999 after winning three of its last four games ... Ohio was 5-3 in MAC action last year, giving it four-straight winning MAC seasons in over 30 years ... Ohio runs a Pro Set offense, while lining up in a Pro Set 3-4 formation defensively.
LAST WEEK'S GAME: Ohio fell to Iowa State, 25-15, in action last week ... The Bobcats pulled within 10 points with eight minutes left on a 28-yard TD pass from Dontrell Jackson to Raynald Ray ... Jackson posted his fifth 100-yard passing game with 130 yards via the air, just nine yards shy of his career high ... Ray exhibited his continued versatility, with two catches for 30 yards and a TD, three rushes for 43 yards, four punt returns (45) and two kickoff returns (45), giving him 163 all-purpose yards on 11 plays.
Sophomore Chad Brinker paced the rushing game with 68 yards
and a touchdown on 13 carries ... He opened the game with a 47-yard kickoff return and closed that opening drive with a five-yard TD run.
Defensively, Ohio held ISU to just two rushes over 15 yards and just five carries over 10 yards ... The Bobcats only allowed three passes for more than 20 yards ... Those long plays proved to be back-breakers as the 73-yard run was an Ennis Haywood touchdown and all three long passes set up ISU scores (2 TDS and 1 FG).
THE GOLDEN GOPHERS: Minnesota is 1-0 after posting a 47-10 win over UL-Monroe in Minneapolis ... Tellis Redmon rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries, while freshman quarterback Asad Abdul-Khaliq was 12-of-18 passing for 161 yards and three TDs ... The Gopher defense held ULM to 59 rushing yards ... Minnesota is among teams receiving votes in the polls after finishing 8-4 last year.
EVERY PLAY, RAY-RAY: Senior Z-back Raynald Ray has made a name for himself as Ohio's most versatile player ... Lining up in Ohio's slotback position, Ray was the team's leading receiver and fourth-leading rusher a year ago ... Ray also returns both kickoffs and punts for the Bobcats.
He picked up where he left off last year in the opener at Iowa State ... He paced receivers with a pair of catches for 30 yards, including a touchdown ... He also rushed three times (43 yards) and returned four punts (45) and two kickoffs (45).
DAVE ZASTUDIL -- PUNTING TO A Z: Junior punter Dave Zastudil is gaining national attention as one of the best punters in the nation ... The 1999 MAC Special Teams Player of the Year, Zastudil owns Ohio's top two punting seasons and has finished in the top 15 nationally each of the last two years ... He enters his third season with a 44.2 career punting average, on-track to break the MAC mark ... He is also on the watch list for the inaugural Ray Guy Award, a national award for I-A's best punter.
Zastudil had a good punting game (7-47.1) at Iowa State despite working through minor back pain during the week ... After a short opening punt off of a high snap, he recovered by averaging 51 yards on the last six punts ... His effort has him ranked third in the nation (9/3).
ON THE BRINK(ER): Sophomore Chad Brinker paced Ohio's rushing effort in the loss to Iowa State ... The Bobcats' leading rusher a year ago tallied 68 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries ... He also topped the century mark in kickoff returns with 104 yards on just three returns ... He opened the game with a 47-yard return to set up the opening scoring drive.
WORTH NOTING: Bop White's fourth-quarter interception against ISU kept Ohio's streak of games with at least one pick active, extending it to 10-straight games ... The Bobcats did not convert a third down against ISU until 0:39 left in the third quarter ... Ohio held ISU to 0-8 on third down in the second half.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: Ohio can start its own youth movement again this season ... The Bobcat depth chart is more than half filled with underclassmen (freshmen or sophomores) ... The defense boasts 13 upperclassmen, while only seven upperclassmen line the projected offense.
TRUE FRESHMEN NO MORE: Ohio's trio of true freshmen starters have turned into true sophomores ... Quarterback Dontrell Jackson, cornerback Bop White and kicker Kevin Kerr were the only true freshmen to start for the Bobcats in 1999 ... The trio combined for 30 starts last year ... Jackson was also the nation's only true freshman to start at quarterback in all of his teams games last year and just one of three freshmen to do so.
HIGH SCHOOL REUNION: This season's offense could look more like a high school reunion ... Sophomore quarterback Dontrell Jackson is being joined by a pair of Thornton High School (Harvey, Ill.) teammates who could end up being among his favorite targets ... Redshirt freshman Tierra Pought (split end) and true freshman Stafford Owens (Z-back) are slated to be among Ohio's rotation in the receiving corps this fall.
FOLLOW THE (TACKLE) LEADERS: Ohio returns four of its top six tacklers from a year ago, paced by junior strong safety Chris London who led the team a year ago with 107 tackles ... London was the most consistent defensive player, posting at least six tackles in every game ... Sophomore linebacker Tom Weilbacher was second a year ago with 89 tackles, while ranking among national leaders in fumble recoveries ... Senior cornerback Donnie White (65 stops) and senior linebacker Matt Spitler (61 stops) were also among Ohio's leaders last season.
PICKIN' OFF PASSES: The Bobcat defense picked off 17 passes last season ... That mark is sixth-best in school history ... After going without an interception in the first two games of 1999, Ohio picked off passes in each of the last nine-straight games ... Then-freshman Bop White paced the Bobcats with five interceptions, ranking 20th in the nation ... His season tied for sixth in school history, while besting older brother Donnie White who grabbed four interceptions.
RUSHING RULES: Ohio had relied heavily on its rushing game in the last few years ... In the last four seasons, the Bocbats have posted the best four rushing seasons in school history ... Last season's 2,883 rushing yards ranks fourth on the Bobcat charts and was sixth-best in the nation ... Over the last four years, Ohio has averaged 3,136 rushing yards per season.
POUR ON THE PASSING: The Bobcats tallied 1,037 passing yards in 1999 ... Freshman Dontrell Jackson accounted for 745 passing yards, completing 52-of-113 attempts ... It marked the most passing yards and completions by a Bobcat since 1994.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Ohio's secondary features the teams only siblings ... Senior Donnie White and younger brother sophomore Bop (David) White are the starters at the two cornerback positions ... The brothers were spoofed last season with a Venus and Serena Williams Got Milk? ad that was altered to feature Donnie and Bop White's names ... The flyer lined the bulletin boards of the Ohio locker room ... Cousin Wiz (Leon) White is also on the team, playing tailback and on special teams.
ON THE AIR: Bobcat football fans can follow the team on the radio by listening to the Ohio Sports Network ... Derek Scott will provide the play-by-play with color analysis from Josh Hatfield and sideline reports from Rob Cornelius ... Radio broadcasts can be heard on OSN affilliates or through the Internet link provided at ohiobobcats.com
ON THE NET: All of the latest information on the Bobcats can be found at ohiobobcats.com -- the official web site of Ohio Athletics ... It is one of the many means of information dissemination utilized by Ohio Sports Media Services ... In addition to releases, specific team information (rosters, schedules, statistics, bios, etc.) for all 20 varsity sports is available ... Links to the Ohio Sports Network radio broadcasts are also available. Real-time statistics for all home football games are available on-line at ohiobobcats.com as a service of Total Sports ... A TotalCast will also be available for the road game at Miami.
