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Three down • Tulsa: On Saturday, this didn’t look like the team USA Today’s Paul Myerberg ranked 26th in his annual preseason countdown. It could be that Bowling Green is just that good, or it could be that Tulsa laid an egg on the road against a team it was supposed to beat. The Golden Hurricane won 11 games in 2012, and this is their final season in Conference USA before they move to the American in 2014. Coach Bill Blankenship has plenty of issues to address, starting with the running game, which averaged just 2.1 yards per carry. Tulsa will work on that against Colorado State before traveling to Oklahoma on Sept. 14. • Ohio: The advanced numbers were on Ohio’s side entering its matchup with Louisville, but a couple of suspensions and an absolute buzzsaw of an offensive performance from the Cardinals buried the Bobcats out of the gates. This was as bad a performance as Ohio could have possibly had, and it’s likely not indicative of what we’ll see from the team in league play. The Bobcats were simply overwhelmed by a superior opponent: Still, Sunday’s effort was not a good look for Solich’s team, which upset Penn State to open the season a year ago. • Boise State: Maybe Washington really is that improved in 2013. If so, the Pac-12 race just got a whole lot tougher. Regardless, a lot of eyes were on Boise State after it beat Washington in the Las Vegas Bowl in ’12 and won 10-plus games for what felt like the 20th straight season, and the Broncos flopped: The Huskies rolled them 38-6. Boise looked thoroughly outmatched. Quarterback Joe Southwick was inaccurate even when he did have time to throw the ball, and the running game was held in check. This was the worst loss Chris Petersen has suffered as Boise’s head coach, and it actually seemed worse than the lopsided final score.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A day filled with excitement and hope quickly took a turn for the worse as Ohio trailed Louisville early in the game on Sunday on the way to a tough 49-7 loss, but the Bobcats aren't letting it get them too down. "Every year that I've been coaching in this business, as a head coach, we've never made one game so big that it was devastating if we lost," said Ohio head coach Frank Solich. The Bobcats went down 21-0 to the Cardinals before getting a shot to score during the second quarter in the red zone, and when it came, kicker Matt Green missed a field goal wide left. "Anytime you get in a hole like that, it's hard to climb out of," said Ohio quarterback Tyler Tettleton. "Especially against a team like Louisville." The Cardinals were everything that they were advertised to be, and then some. Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater proved that all the Heisman hype was valid. He finished the day by going 23-of-28 through the air for 355 yards and five touchdowns. "They're a great football team," Solich said. "I think they were hitting on all cylinders. Bridgewater's precision was perfect." Unfortunately, Ohio was on the other end of the spectrum, as Tettleton explained. "We understand that we were playing a very good football team," he said. "We just weren't clicking today and that happens sometimes." Louisville was ranked ninth in the nation, and they lived up to it. The offense moved with vicious fluidity and the defense was stout. "I definitely believe that they're a top 10, maybe even a top five team," Tettleton said. Ohio would have liked to perform better, but the loss was not all for naught as the team can grow from this. "We understand what we have to do, we'll get through the corrections and get back on track," Tettleton said. Redshirt senior cornerback Travis Carrie was doing just that, getting back on track. He was playing in his first game in nearly two years after missing all of last year with a shoulder surgery, and while it wasn't the best welcoming back party, it felt good for him to get back out there. "It was definitely exciting, but I just need to to control my techniques and do a few things better," Carrie said. One positive thing to take away from the game was the play of redshirt sophomore Devin Bass as a kick returner. He had five returns for 124 yards, and one of those was an explosive 41-yard burst that featured a cartwheel to avoid defenders. "I thought he displayed great effort on some of those returns, no question about it," Solich said. The Bobcats will go back to Athens and regroup, because that's what fundamentally sound football teams like Ohio do. The team's next game is the home opener at Peden against North Texas on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. Read more: http://www.ohiobobcats.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/090213aaa.html

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