Sacramento State was the story of the offseason in the Mid-American Conference after the program made the jump to the FBS level as a football-only member.<\/p>\n
That expanded the conference\u2019s geographical area from the Midwest out to California, and the Ohio Bobcats will be one of the first schools to make the trip this weekend. The teams will play in Sacramento on Saturday, with a 10 p.m. EST kickoff time.<\/p>\n
The Bobcats (4-2, 2-0 MAC) aren\u2019t exactly thrilled about the cross-country trip, but welcome the opportunity for another conference win and a different style of test.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t get the night game philosophy,\u201d Ohio head coach John Hauser said on Monday. \u201cBut hey, we play anywhere, and we\u2019ve got to go anywhere. We\u2019re going to prepare like every week. So let\u2019s go play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fresh off their best half of the season and a 31-14 home win against Central Michigan last weekend, Ohio will have ample opportunity to continue rolling on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Sacramento State (1-5, 0-3 MAC) has struggled in its first season of FBS play, with its only win coming against FCS Mississippi Valley State in the non-conference.<\/p>\n
In three conference games against Eastern Michigan, UMass and Bowling Green, the Hornets have been outscored 101-33, including a 38-10 loss last week at BGSU.<\/p>\n
But Hauser doesn\u2019t believe this first-time MAC matchup will be a breeze.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were in that game with Bowling Green for a while last week,\u201d he said. \u201cThey do a lot of stuff to get you behind the chains, which we\u2019ve struggled with at times this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
What the Hornets haven\u2019t done well is stop the run, which plays right into Ohio\u2019s game plan. In their five losses, Sacramento State is allowing nearly 173 rushing yards per game. In the last two weeks alone, they\u2019ve allowed 450 combined yards on the ground.<\/p>\n
That opens the door for another impressive outing for an Ohio ground attack that is humming, averaging an incredible 242 rushing yards across their last three games.<\/p>\n
The returns of Duncan Brune and quarterback Nick Poulos have boosted the run game, and that pairing, along with Victor Rosa, Irving Brown and Mike Taylor Jr., will all have ample room to run this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe O-line, I think they\u2019ve gotten better every week. I really do. Coach Crook has got them every week coached up and playing at a high clip,\u201d Hauser noted of the improved blocking. \u201cThe wideouts, I think, have gotten better every week at blocking too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bobcats have also come on strong in the last few games defensively, bolstered by a series of strong performances from linebacker Michael Molnar.<\/p>\n
Molnar, who was named MAC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Chippewas, will continue to be a central piece of this defensive unit.<\/p>\n
Jermaine Minnis finished with a team-high 12 tackles in his first start last week, while both Jack Fries and Charlie Christopher could soon return from injuries.<\/p>\n
But the emphasis this week will fall on the team\u2019s secondary, which has been a strength despite injuries to starters KJ Sejour and Eli Thompson.<\/p>\n
Sacramento State has attempted 217 passes this season, and quarterback Jackson Sharman already has over 1,000 yards and six touchdowns through the air. While much of that is due to negative game script, it\u2019s still something Ohio will have to try to limit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think most offenses are trying to be balanced,\u201d Hauser said when asked about the Hornets\u2019 pass-heavy offense. \u201cWhere they present challenges is having good options outside at receiver where [Sharman] can throw it up and they\u2019ll go and get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
DJ Walker, Darren James-Hamilton and JT Haskins will play important roles this week on the back end, while Barry Dillon, Ronald Jackson Jr. and Kendall Bannister operate at corner.<\/p>\n
The Hornets don\u2019t run at a very successful rate, averaging just 3.3 yards per carry as a team, and do not have a single player with over 200 rushing yards through their first six games. Isaiah Ene and Daniel Swinney have recorded 187 and 184 yards, respectively.<\/p>\n
But that doesn\u2019t mean the Bobcats won\u2019t continue to emphasize stopping the run and forcing their opponent into third-and-long situations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always going to be a stop-the-run and make them one-dimensional type of defense,\u201d Hauser noted.<\/p>\n
While the Bobcats look to hold several advantages on paper, there are still several obstacles that Ohio must overcome. Along with the time change, Ohio is just 1-2 in road games so far.<\/p>\n
With three wins in a row under their belt and confidence seemingly at an all-time high, Saturday\u2019s West Coast clash gives the Bobcats a great chance to take one step closer to their season-long goals.<\/p>\n
Their best strategy will be sticking with their one-game-at-a-time mentality.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never overlook anybody. I can see they\u2019re very capable offensively and defensively, and our guys will understand that,\u201d Hauser said. \u201cI know playing on the road is difficult in college football, right? I\u2019m just concerned about us getting out there and playing well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sacramento State was the story of the offseason in the Mid-American Conference after the program made the jump…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[18875,44693,7,1321,44687,44689,84183,9522,44688,19804,19806,19805,9437,13709,121,123,122,50335],"class_list":["post-498429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-american-football","tag-american-football-bowls","tag-california","tag-college-football","tag-college-football-conference-seasons","tag-gridiron-football","tag-mid-american-conference","tag-national-football-league","tag-ncaa-division-i-fbs-football-teams","tag-nfl-seasons","tag-nfl-teams","tag-nfl-teams-seasons","tag-ohio","tag-ohio-bobcats","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-sacramento-state-hornets-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}