Each week, we ask five of our sportswriters five questions about Ohio athletics. Their answers may surprise you. This week, we talked to sports editor Alex Hider, contributor Danny Medlock, assistant sports editor Katie Hendershot, hockey writer Josh Yost and volleyball writer Shelby Dermer.
Football has been outscored 79-3 over its last two games. What happened to this team?
Alex Hider: The simple answer is that they were never that good to begin with. Take a look at their six wins: Two home games against North Texas and Marshall that they should have lost, a blow out of a terrible FCS school and three wins against MAC bottom feeders. They haven’t been in a league with Buffalo and Bowling Green all season.
Danny Medlock: When the team wins everyone loves the quarterback. Its the exact opposite when they lose. I think Tyler Tettleton’s body language has been terrible since the Halloween of 12′ and I’m personally at a loss for why he has stopped using his legs. Tettleton has gained just 89 yards on the ground this season. He gained 499 yards in 2012 and 916 in 2011. The defense has been terrible, but this offense isn’t even competing. Will always have those two years, Tett, but this year is leaving a nasty spot on your resume.
Katie Hendershot: In those games, Ohio has played two top teams in the MAC, so that’s part of it. I still don’t think it can be completely attributed to tough opponents, because that’s still a huge difference. Ultimately, I think the season is just wearing on them.
Josh Yost: It seems this team just doesn’t have any finishers on it. Last season they fell apart late in the season, now they’re going to do it again.
Shelby Dermer: For starters the defense in both games is giving up over 400 yards total. To break that down even further; 242 yards allowed on average in the last two games. The offense hasn’t done it’s part either, scoring three points in two contests. Tyler Tettleton has been shaky as he has given games of just 126 and 93 yards the last 2 games with 0 TD’s and an INT.
Kiyanna Black scored 35 points Sunday against Xavier. (Ohio Athletics)
Women’s basketball scored 94 and defeated Xaiver in its first game on Sunday. Was this a fluke, or is this team legit?
Hider: It’s hard to lose a game when you hit 11 threes and you get 35 points off the bench from a role player like Kiyanna Black. And remember, Ohio may have scored 94 points, but they allowed 88. After a nightmare season, the future looks brighter for the women’s team. I just don’t know how bright.
Medlock: I think the bigger question is whether or not Kiyanna Black is a breakout star. I think “Bizzle,” the 3-star-rated recruit from Columbus has the chops to carry the program for the next three years. After last season, everything is gravy with this team lets see where this goes.
Hendershot: Yes and no. I don’t think the women’s basketball team will do that to all of their opponents, because Xavier isn’t coming off a strong year either, but this is still a completely different team than the one we saw last year. I expect a much better season than the last one, just maybe not 90-point wins every game.
Yost: It was probably a fluke. Bad seasons like last year don’t just disappear overnight, but sometimes bad teams can have good games against an opponent that’s just off their game.
Dermer: This team is legit! Kiyanna Black knocked down 11 three-pointers against Xavier and led the way with 35 points, while Ohio still had 3 other girls with double-digit points: Destini Cooper (17), Mariah Byard (16) and Lexie Baldwin (10). This team also snagged 10 offensive boards and had 41 total rebounds. And lets remember they missed 16 free throws against Xavier, they could have easily hit triple digits.
Thoughts on the first snow of the season?
Hider: Snow really sucks if there’s no chance of school being cancelled. I miss grade school…
Medlock: AL GORE WAS WRONGGGGGG!!!
Hendershot: I love snow (as long as I’m not driving) but I hate the cold. This presents so many conflicting emotions about the first snow of the year.
Yost: It’s absolutely awful. Only thing that’s good about winter is the winter sports, otherwise let’s keep it 78 degrees and sunny all the time.
Dermer: The weather calls for snow. So everybody, tomorrow morning when you wake up, act like you’ve never seen snow before and just go crazy! People, calm down unless it’s canceling your classes.
Stevie Taylor and the Bobcats came up just short in Columbus. (Mark Clavin)
What did we learn about men’s basketball in their loss to Ohio State?
Hider: We learned that this team isn’t going down without a fight. Last season, the Bobcats would have folded after those early Ohio State runs. Remember the Memphis and Oklahoma games? I think it’s a testament to Jim Christian and his coaching staff. This team already has better chemistry than last season.
Medlock: Do I miss D.J. Cooper’s poise out there? Sure, but I don’t miss the guy’s smileless face. I love seeing how much fun Stevie Taylor has on a basketball court. Is he as good a player as D.J? No, but he has the irrational confidence needed to go into any atmosphere and play his game. This team battled their hearts out against some shady officiating (51-21 FT advantage for the Buckeyes) and proved they can play with upper echelon teams.
Hendershot: I think we learned that Ohio is a strong team, but major programs might present bigger challenges than in the past few seasons. At this early stage of the season, though, I think it mostly means there’s a few things the team has to work on.
Yost: They’re a tough team that can challenge anyone. It’s still too early to be certain how the season will go, but they worked hard and that should help them have another successful season.
Dermer: I think we learned that they are an aggressive team that will not give up. Ohio got in foul trouble early and that really impacted us later in the game. However, they were still able to cut the lead to five at one point in the 2nd half. This team shows a lot of strength and you really take away that 9-0 start, you’re talking about a different ball game down the stretch.
Backstreet Boys or *NSync?
Hider: It has to be the Backstreet Boys. Without Justin Timberlake, *NSync is just a bunch frosted tips and soul patches.
Medlock: This is a top five movie scene.
Hendershot: My friends and I used to pretend we were married to the members of *NSync. I think that says it all.
Yost: *NSync. They gave us Justin Timberlake, and since he’s still making incredible music today and some decent movies, I think that’s a pretty good reason they should be the top group. It’s a tough choice to make, though.
Dermer: Ain’t no lie baby bye bye bye.
