Amanda Muschlitz / Picture Editor / am120306@ohiou.edu

Ohio Bobcats Connor Reilly, Curtis Meyers and Michael Brown smack each other’s helmets after Brown scored a touchdown for the Bobcats’ during the second quarter of their homecoming game against Virginia Military Institute. The Bobcats won, 51-31.

Coming off the worst loss of the season, Frank Solich admitted his team had to refocus.

The Bobcats lost the first in a crucial three-game road stretch against Mid-American Conference opponents by a score of 41-20 to Western Michigan. Solich said Ohio needs to get back to doing what has worked in the past.

“We’ve got to go back to taking everything one game at a time,” he said. “That was our philosophy when the staff showed up here … we started to feel good about the personnel that we were able to put on the field and started to identify with some goals along with that.”

“Until this program gets to the point where it had really turned the corner and we’re winning year after year after year, we’ll set some goals.”

Despite the loss, Ohio is still just one game behind Akron (3-3 overall) and Buffalo (2-3 overall) in the MAC East Division.

But after a stunning second-half collapse, in which the Broncos scored 30 points on the Bobcats, Solich admitted a division title isn’t realistic at this point.

“It’s always good to still have a chance to have good things happen,” Solich said. “But I think that is reaching for us. We need to get ourselves together and play really good football.”Problems in the sack department

With defensive tackle Ernie Hodge out and defensive ends Curtis Meyers and Kris Luchsinger battling ankle sprains — both are questionable to doubtful — the Bobcats have had trouble pressuring the quarterback.

Ohio had no sacks against Western Michigan on Saturday and is ranked 107th in the country with just one sack per game.

Solich said that he hasn’t ruled out moving former defensive end Jameson Hartke back to the outside or taking the redshirt off freshman Tremayne Scott.

“All bets are off,” Solich said. “We’ll look at that (Monday) and try to make a decision.”Penalties racking up

Ohio was flagged nine times for 98 yards, compared to just three for 25 yards on the Broncos.

The Bobcats rank 12th in the conference in penalty yardage and 93rd in the country in the category nationally.

“We’ve been having trouble with that all season,” Solich said. “Part of it is guys wanting to make plays so badly … some of them were somewhat inexcusable.”Boo progressing

Quarterback Boo Jackson has played relatively well in his first year with the Bobcats.

The junior has completed more than 57 percent of his passes for 1,134 yards. But he has also thrown seven interceptions compared to nine touchdowns.

“He needs to continue to get reps at seeing it live,” Solich said. “He’s shown that, when everything falls in place, his ability to throw the ball is excellent and he’s shown to be a big playmaker when he’s scrambling.”