Kyle Grantham / Staff Photographer / kg116806@ohiou.edu

Ohio goes to Kent State Saturday in a battle of Mid-American East basement teams.

Not much went right for the Bobcats in the first half of the season.

Costly mistakes resulted in losses to Ohio State, Northwestern, Central Michigan and Wyoming, injuries hit the team hard and Ohio finished just 1-5.

Ohio ranks 115th in the nation in turnovers lost, 111th in red zone offense, 112th in red zone defense, 107th in sacks per game, 103rd in tackles for a loss and 93rd in fewest penalty yards.

But despite all of that, Ohio trails Buffalo and Akron by just one game in the Mid-American Conference East Division race.

“We still have a shot,” quarterback Boo Jackson said. “It’s a long shot, but we still have a shot. We don’t want any of our guys putting their head down because we’re 1-5.

“We need to turn everything around right now.”

The Bobcats have had a tendency of turning bad, early-season conference losses into big wins under coach Frank Solich.
In 2006, Ohio fell at home to Bowling Green 21-9, before rattling off seven straight wins. In 2007, the Bobcats lost a heartbreaker at Toledo 43-40, before beating Bowling Green on the road 38-27.

Solich said those teams were able to recover because they had confidence in themselves. This team is no different.

“We’ve never lost the belief in ourselves,” tight end David Carter said. “We know we have good players. We know if we put it together we can play with anybody.  At no time, even up to now, have we doubted ourselves.”

After losing 41-20 to Western Michigan on Saturday, the Bobcats face a 1-5 Kent State team. But the Golden Flashes may be getting some of their injured players back.

Like Ohio, the Golden Flashes only win of the season came against a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) team — Delaware State. Kent State is last in the conference in total defense, kickoff return and punt return and 12th in passing offense.

But the Golden Flashes are expecting the return of star running back Eugene Jarvis, who led the conference in rushing last season with 1,669 yards.  Jarvis has played in just three games because of a high ankle sprain.

Quarterback Julian Edelman has been the team’s leading rusher on the season with 487 yards.

“We’re going to have to work extremely hard at stopping the run,” Solich said. “They have the type of runners that are able to put together an outstanding running game. That’s what they’ve been known for.”

Ohio has some players of its own returning this week.

Offensive lineman Michael Philibin and Chris Rodgers worked with the first-team offense on Wednesday. Linebacker Lee Renfro and Errik Ejike and defensive end Kris Luchsinger also practiced.