Game Notes
WESTERVILLE, OHIO—The Otterbein University Cardinals continue Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play Saturday, traveling to John Carroll University for a 2 p.m. kickoff.
The Cardinals, coming off a disappointing 41-20 home loss to Heidelberg University, seek to break into the win column in OAC play. Otterbein turned the ball over six times in the loss to the Berg.
“I think we’ve had a good week of practice,” said Otterbein head coach Joe Loth, who is in his ninth season at his alma mater. “As coaches, obviously, the challenge when you play bad is to figure out what you did wrong, what you need to do better.
“We’ve got to do a better job with hanging onto the football,” Loth continued. “There’s not a team in America that can win with six turnovers. The other thing is that we have to do a better job in stopping the run. John Carroll runs the ball extremely well so it’ll be a huge challenge this week.”
John Carroll, under 13th-year head coach Regis Scafe, picked up its first win of the season, a 37-35 decision at Marietta College last Saturday. The Blue Streaks led by as many as 16 points, 37-21, with 12:57 left to play in the game. Marietta scored the game’s last 14 points and missed on a 2-point conversion attempt with 1:15 remaining.
The Blue Streaks, led by junior running back Casey Vogl, rushed for 363 yards and five touchdowns in the win. Vogl accounted for 145 yards and four touchdowns on 17 carries. Senior quarterback Devin O’Brien completed 8 of 14 pass attempts for 76 yards and also rushed for 76 yards on 11 carries.
“John Carroll has a great quarterback in O’Brien,” Loth said. “He can throw the ball, run the ball. Defensively, they are solid all over. No. 32 (senior C.J. Seitzinger) is a preseason All-American linebacker. They are great on special teams. They are good all over.”
The Blue Streaks come into the game 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the OAC. The team opened the season with a 24-17 nonconference loss to Case Western Reserve University Sept. 3. John Carroll followed with a 58-7 loss at 2nd-ranked University of Mount Union Sept. 17 in it OAC opener.
Otterbein has won the last three meetings with John Carroll, including a 56-28 victory last season in Westerville. Three of the last four meetings, however, were decided by three points or less, beginning with a John Carroll 35-33 triple overtime win in 2007. The Cardinals defeated John Carroll, 20-17, in overtime in 2008 and again, 24-22, in 2009.
Following the Blue Streaks, Otterbein returns home to host Baldwin-Wallace College Oct. 8 under the lights. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
