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Internal, external pressure weighing down on Bobcatsby Joe Arnold ••“Pressure on people people on streets; chippin’ around kick my brains around the floor; these are the days it never rains but it pours.”•• Queen and David Bowie couldn’t have sung it any better. For the Ohio football team, it must seem like they have been walking under the same rain cloud for the past eight games. A week ago, the Ohio football team endured a 46-minute delay in its game against Florida as rain and lightning from Tropical Storm Hanna pelted Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. With 9:41 left in the first quarter, the Bobcats led No. 10 Florida 3-0. Nobody expected Ohio to score, let alone grab a lead against the Gators. For that game, all the pressure was off. No pressure to get the win that would snap an eight-game losing streak. No pressure to throw the ball efficiently or go back to the option. Ohio’s only worry? To be sure it didn’t stub its collective toes on it way to the bank — $500,000 check in hand. A respectable showing in The Swamp raised a few eyebrows, but a loss is a loss. Now the focus is on Connecticut, and the pressure is back. The Huskies, who jumped from Division I-AA to I-A in 1999, are 1-2 after having disposed of Buffalo 24-3 last week. Looking at Ohio’s recent history with I-AA teams, Connecticut isn’t a gimme. Instead of addressing the pressure on the team coming from those outside of the fenced-in practice fields, defensive line coach Eric Washington issued a challenge to the upperclassmen. “I’d rather you hate one another and win instead of being buddies and coming out here every week and not being successful,” Washington screamed at his squad. “I don’t want a guy that’s been out here for four or five years and has been in a lot of wars and had a chance to succeed and fail. I don’t want a guy to accept another guy not doing what he’s supposed to, and I want them to put pressure on one another healthy pressure to come out and maximize our time. “I’d rather them feel irritated by their own peers constantly challenging them than to feel relaxed around them knowing that they’re accepting a sub-par practice. Those are the things that have contributed to us not being successful.” If coach Brian Knorr is feeling the outside pressure, he isn’t showing it. After experimenting with a passing game that didn’t quite stick earlier this season, the second-year coach went back with what worked — the option. Through the team’s first two games, fullbacks Joe Sherrill and Ray Huston combined for zero carries. Against Florida, Ohio’s first three carries went to Huston and Sherrill. Reserve fullback Tony Rozzoni was Ohio’s second leading rusher with 34 yards on 12 carries. But one win in 14 games doesn’t cut it, and Knorr said he knows it. “Anytime you lose, you’re under pressure. You’re judged on Saturdays,” he said. “Until we get off this slide and win and get some confidence and get some momentum, certainly we’ll be under pressure.” “I’m not coaching any different. I have faith in this group of coaches. We’re gonna come out and coach and do our best, and I believe things will work out.”
••Arnold is a senior journalism student. Send him an e-mail at jarnold60@hotmail.com.••
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