A week after surviving a tough test from Cincinnati United Prep, the Ohio State Club Football team will take to the road for the first time this season.
The Buckeyes are set to take on Ohio Northern’s JV program for the second straight year, after Ohio State won the inaugural matchup, 46-7, a year ago.
The Polar Bear’s varsity roster opened the season with an impressive 45-7 victory over Franklin (Ind.) while the ONU JV’s fell to Bluffton, 19-13, in their Week 1 matchup. Ohio Northern is under new leadership this season, as head coach Andrew Fries takes over the OAC program.
Ohio State’s offense will look to improve on a lackluster performance in Week 1 in which the Buckeyes failed to reach 300 yards of offense for the second straight game, including last year’s 29-14 national title loss to Central Georgia Tech. Ohio State’s offense had achieved 300 or more offensive yards in all but two games last season, both losses to Wittenberg JV and Central GA Tech.
After a sluggish first half, Ohio State’s running game picked up momentum in the second half against the Bulls, as the Buckeyes rushed for a total of 174 yards and two scores last week, which led the NCFA in the league’s opening weekend. Quarterback Niko Pappas led all Buckeyes in offensive yardage, accumulating 135 total yards and two touchdowns against Cincinnati United.
Defensively, the Buckeyes will need to see improvement from their secondary after allowing multiple big plays through the air to Cincinnati United. The Bulls threw a pair of touchdown passes against Ohio State in the season opener and a third big play set up a short touchdown run for CU’s third score of the day in a 21-20 OSU victory.
With a handful of injuries already, the Buckeyes will lean on veterans Matthew Humphreys, Trey Jones and Jackson Rittman in the front seven to provide a spark. Jones led Ohio State in sacks last week with 1.5 while Rittman tied for the team lead in tackles with seven in the Week 1 win. Humphreys also collected four assists and a half sack against the Bulls and will be instrumental for the OSU defense to get back on track.
The Buckeye defense did force a pair of turnovers Week 1, as safety Marcellus McLellan collected an interception, while defensive back JP Naylor forced a fumble that was scooped up by linebacker Colm Damron.
In its history Ohio State is 4-4 against NCAA Div. III JV opponents. Last year, the Buckeyes went 2-1 against NCAA JV opponents, collecting wins over Ohio Northern and Denison and a loss to Wittenberg.
Kickoff against the Polar Bears is set for 2 p.m. at Dial-Roberson Stadium in Ada, Ohio.
Ohio State Club Football 