The University of Idaho football team will certainly accumulate its fair share of frequent flyer miles this season. Not only do they play in the Sun Belt conference where the closest school is New Mexico State, but it will also play five of its first seven games on the road.
One of those five games is on Sept. 20, when Idaho travels to Athens, Ohio, to take on Ohio University — a team that went 7-6 last season, which ended with a 37-20 loss to Eastern Carolina in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s bowl.
“That’s another long road trip,” Idaho head coach Paul Petrino said. “They’re an old MAC (Mid-American Conference) school, so talent-wise we should be pretty evenly matched. We’ve got to go out, play well and find a way to win.”
The Bobcats joined the MAC for its inaugural year in 1946. It is the last of the five original schools (OU, Butler University, University of Cincinnati, Wayne State University and Case Western Reserve University) remaining in the conference.
Ohio wasn’t always the MAC power that it is today. From 1973 to 2004, OU averaged 3.72 wins per season, with only seven winning seasons and zero bowl bids.
The suffering ended when Frank Solich was hired in 2005. During his eight seasons, the former Nebraska head coach has led Ohio to a 66-50 record and six bowl appearances.
“Obviously their coach did a great job when he was at Nebraska and he’s done a great job while he’s been there,” Petrino said. “They’ve been in bowl games for five straight years. They run the ball really well on offense and they’re a physical team on defense.”
Ohio returns eight starters on defense, four of which play on the line. Sophomore defensive ends Kurt Laseak and Tarell Basham and senior defensive tackles Antwan Crutcher and Cameron McLeod combined for 163 tackles and 11 sacks last season.
The offense isn’t so lucky, and with only three starters returning, Solich has his work cut out for him.
The biggest challenge is finding a replacement for record-setting quarterback Tyler Tettleton, who finished his career with 9,129 passing yards and 67 touchdowns. The leading candidate is junior Derrius Vick, but incoming freshman Joey Duckworth will have his a shot this fall.
If quarterback wasn’t enough, the wide receiver position might be worse. Ohio returns eight wide-outs who combined for just 1,112 of 3,190 receiving yards and seven of 22 touchdowns last season.
Even though the styles of play might be different in the MAC compared to the Sun Belt, Petrino said he expects the two conferences to have the same talent level.
“I’d say the Sun Belt was better last year, but very comparable talent-wise,” he said. “They have good teams and tough football players. Players that come from up there are always very physical and tough.”