Ohio Football: Bobcats should keep rolling in 2018

Ohio football has found consistent success under head coach Frank Solich. What can fans of the Bobcats expect heading into 2018?

The Ohio Bobcats have undergone a complete makeover under head football coach Frank Solich. For the Bobcats to only have two losing seasons since Solich took over in 2005 is something short of a miracle.

During the Solich era the Bobcats have strung together eight seasons of eight or more wins including Ohio’s second ever double-digit winning season, the last coming in 1968. Ohio has been in bowl games in eight of the past nine seasons, including three bowl wins making this is by far the program’s most successful era.

In 2017, Ohio finished 9-4 overall and 5-3 in the MAC. The Bobcats wrapped up the season with a trip to the Bahamas Bowl where they knocked off the UAB Blazers 41-6. Coach Solich’s staff knocked off the Kansas Jayhawks, but dropped an early road game at Purdue. The Mid-American Conference hasn’t gotten any easier in football with the success of the Toledo Rockets under Jason Candle as well as the Akron Zips under Terry Bowden and John Bonamego’s Central Michigan Chippewas squad.

The Bobcats should keep the same expectations and possibly even have rising expectations with a shot at the MAC title in 2018. Ohio finished 2017 ranked 22nd in the S&P+, and are the pre-season 68th overall.