Ohio Dominican takes the field for the second half against Hillsdale last week. (photo credit: Ohio Dominican Athletics website)
By Brice Burge
Managing Editor
NMU's Homecoming opponent this year is Ohio Dominican. They are from Columbus, Ohio and are a recently new addition to the GLIAC and NCAA Division II.
Last week, the Panthers defeated the Hillsdale Chargers 37-20 to go 2-0 on the season. A stringy defense held Hillsdale to just 2.9 yards per carry and five sacks. The dominance in the field position battle and a safety resulting from a blocked punt shows that ODU has a real special teams presence as well.
Managing Editor
NMU's Homecoming opponent this year is Ohio Dominican. They are from Columbus, Ohio and are a recently new addition to the GLIAC and NCAA Division II.
Last week, the Panthers defeated the Hillsdale Chargers 37-20 to go 2-0 on the season. A stringy defense held Hillsdale to just 2.9 yards per carry and five sacks. The dominance in the field position battle and a safety resulting from a blocked punt shows that ODU has a real special teams presence as well.
Watch out for Brandon Schoen and Mark Nichols. The backfield pair both had 100+ yards rushing and will keep NMU's defense honest as they have to defend Abe Johnson. Johnson is the GLIAC's third-best wide receiver in yards and touchdowns. This offensive balance kept Hillsdale off balance last week to allow the Panthers to really dominate the pace of the game.
Northern will have to hold onto the ball two ways to win. A solid backfield shows that Ohio Dominican can run a lot of time off the clock and out of the hands of Cody Scepaniak and the rest of the high-powered NMU offense. The 'Cats will have to do this especially in the second and fourth quarters where ODU has outscored their opponents 45-7 combined.
NMU will also have to limit turnovers. ODU has recovered five fumbles in two games. ODU also leads the conference in sacks with 11.
Don't give up yet though Wildcat faithful. Ohio Dominican does not have the offensive strength or ridiculously good secondary that Ashland did last year, blowing out NMU at their homecoming last year. Between dual-threat quarterback Scepaniak -- who led the Wildcats in both passing and rushing-- and an experienced defense, the Wildcats have a better chance of victory this year. However, the game is still a toss up according to the GLIAC pick'em thread on D2football.com's forum: the group was equally divided in who would win the game at 17-17.
MQT Social Scene thinks that NMU won't forget about a personal record performance by ODU quarterback Mark Miller. Miller threw for 296 yards and four touchdowns in the Panthers blowout of the Wildcats last year. Expect a tipped pass on fourth and long with less than two minutes to go, as NMU survives another scare. NMU 33 ODU 28
Northern will have to hold onto the ball two ways to win. A solid backfield shows that Ohio Dominican can run a lot of time off the clock and out of the hands of Cody Scepaniak and the rest of the high-powered NMU offense. The 'Cats will have to do this especially in the second and fourth quarters where ODU has outscored their opponents 45-7 combined.
NMU will also have to limit turnovers. ODU has recovered five fumbles in two games. ODU also leads the conference in sacks with 11.
Don't give up yet though Wildcat faithful. Ohio Dominican does not have the offensive strength or ridiculously good secondary that Ashland did last year, blowing out NMU at their homecoming last year. Between dual-threat quarterback Scepaniak -- who led the Wildcats in both passing and rushing-- and an experienced defense, the Wildcats have a better chance of victory this year. However, the game is still a toss up according to the GLIAC pick'em thread on D2football.com's forum: the group was equally divided in who would win the game at 17-17.
MQT Social Scene thinks that NMU won't forget about a personal record performance by ODU quarterback Mark Miller. Miller threw for 296 yards and four touchdowns in the Panthers blowout of the Wildcats last year. Expect a tipped pass on fourth and long with less than two minutes to go, as NMU survives another scare. NMU 33 ODU 28
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