The offices of Alumni Relations and Intercollegiate Athletics will coordinate pregame tailgate gatherings before each Ohio University football game -- home and on the road -- during the 1997 season. The Pepsi Tailgreat at the Riverfront will take place before each home game.
Alumni with correct addresses on file with the university will receive notice of pregame parties in advance of games in their areas. To order Ohio University football tickets, call 1-800-575-CATS.
The Bobcats, who finished 5-4 and in fourth place in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) last year, will open the season at home on a Thursday night for the second consecutive year. MAC opponent Kent will provide the opposition at 7 p.m. Aug. 28. Last year, 18,384 took in the first night game in the 67-year history of Peden Stadium as Ohio topped Akron, 44-14. The 'Cats also are tentatively scheduled to play SUNY Buffalo under the lights on Sept. 20 in Peden in a 7 p.m. start.
The Bobcats' 1997 schedule also includes a couple of familiar names in renewed rivalries. Ohio faces former Mid-American Conference members Northern Illinois and the Thundering Herd of Marshall on the road Nov. 1 and Nov. 15, respectively. Marshall, the defending Division I-AA national champions out of Huntington, W.Va., moves up to Division I-A and joins Northern as new MAC members. Marshall and Ohio University played 44 times between 1905 and 1988, with the 'Cats holding the series edge at 28-10-6.
With the conference breaking into two divisions for the first time, Ohio joins Akron, Kent, Miami, Bowling Green and Marshall in the Eastern Division. The Eastern and Western division titlists play for the MAC championship at Marshall on Dec. 5. The MAC champion will receive an automatic berth for the first time this year to the new Ford Motor City Bowl on Dec. 26 in the Pontiac (Mich.) Silverdome. The game, which will include an at-large opponent, will be televised nationally on ESPN.
For the third consecutive season, select Bobcat games will be televised by the university-run Ohio Sports Network. Affiliates include WOWK, Ch. 13, in Huntington, W.Va.; WWHO, Ch. 53, in Chillicothe/Columbus; Fox Sports Pittsburgh; and SportsChannel Ohio. Another 17 radio stations will broadcast the Bobcats this fall on the Ohio Sports Network, anchored by flagship station WMGG-FM in Gallipolis.
Bobcat football games also can be heard live anywhere in the world on Ohio University Public Radio over the Internet at http://www.tcom.ohiou.edu/bobcats/. Internet users need a RealAudio player, version 2.0 or later, and at least a 14.4 bit modem connection to listen to Ohio games as they happen. Previous games and Coach Jim Grobe's postgame comments also are available on the Web site.
Ohio University's Telecommunications Center unveiled the Bobcat Internet connection last fall and carried men's and women's basketball and baseball games on the Internet this past season.
The 1997 football schedule (with tentative starting times, home games in CAPS and TV games in parentheses) follows:
