To fully understand the impact of Jim Grobe’s third season as Ohio University football coach, fans need to turn back the clock three years. In 1994, the Bobcats finished 0-11 and were ranked as one of the worst programs in Division I-A.
“We’ve c ome a long way,” said starting strong safety Brandon Cade. All the way to a date with Marshall and All-American wide receiver Randy Moss Nov. 15, with the Mid-American Conference (MAC) East Division title and a berth in the first-ever MAC championship game at stake.
But Marshall’s convincing 27-0 victory before 32,012 in Huntington, W.Va., left the Bobcats looking ahead to next year and scratching their heads over the lackluster way in which they finished the season. After outscoring its first fou r MAC opponents 133-21 in going 4-0, Ohio struggled to beat lowly Akron (21-17) and Northern Illinois (35-30) before finishing with consecutive losses to Miami (45-21) and Marshall.
Ohio ended its first winning season since 1982 with an 8-3 overall record and a 6-2 mark in the MAC, good enough for a second-place tie with Miami in the East Division. The eight victories were the most by an OU team since 1968, the last time the school won a conference football crown.
Playing without star fullba ck Steve Hookfin, who was suspended for one game for violating team rules, the Ohio offense sputtered and the defense surrendered 581 total yards against Miami. Against Marshall, quarterback Kareem Wilson and the ’Cats triple-option offense ran out of gas, gaining only 63 total yards and one first down.
In each of its final two games, Ohio was victimized by late first-half touchdowns and its inability to pass out of the option. The Bobcats, who rushed for a school-record 3,321 yards, were only 16- of-58 passing for 411 yards in ’97.
Yet despite closing the season in dismal fashion for the second consecutive year — the 1996 ’Cats lost their final two en route to a 6-6 record — most agreed that the 1997 team put Ohio University back on the football map. This young team with only nine seniors received enough votes to be ranked 30th in the AP national rankings in early November. And fan support was unprecedented, with Ohio averaging a record 21,197 for five home games.
“I think we’ve proba bly come along a lot faster than anyone thought we would and that’s really a tribute to our players,” said Grobe, among 10 semifinalists for the Football News national coach of the year award. “I think we have laid a foundation for the future.
“We’ve gotten better each of the three years, and we fully expect to be better next year.”
