March 14, 2007

2007 Schedule

ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio football team will begin its defense of the MAC East Division championship when it hosts Kent State on Saturday, Sept. 29 in the first of eight Mid-American Conference games announced on Wednesday, March 14.

The conference portion of the schedule completes Ohio's 12-game slate for 2007. The Bobcats open the season on Sept. 1 versus Gardner-Webb at Peden Stadium before traveling to Louisiana-Lafayette on Sept. 8 and Virginia Tech on Sept. 15. The non-conference portion of the schedule concludes at home versus Wyoming on Sept. 22.

The Bobcats will play their final eight games against MAC opponents. In addition to the home game against the Golden Flashes, Ohio will play home games against Eastern Michigan (Oct. 13), Temple (Friday, Nov. 2) and Miami (Nov. 24).

The Bobcats play their first MAC road game on Oct. 6 at Buffalo. Ohio will also travel to Toledo (Oct. 20), Bowling Green (Oct. 27) and Akron (Wednesday, Nov. 7). The match-up with the Zips is slated for a national television broadcast on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m.

With the addition of Temple as a member of the East Division, the MAC will have 13 teams for the 2007 football season. As was the case in 2000 and 2001 when the league had 13 members, the MAC will play an unbalanced conference schedule. As mandated by NCAA legislation regarding conference championship games, each team will play every member of its own division. Seven of the 13 teams (six in the East, one in the West), including Ohio, will play eight total MAC games, while the other six will play seven total MAC contests. The win-loss record within the division will be the primary factor in determining the divisional champions with crossover games serving as part of the tie-breaking procedures in the case of a multiple-team tie.

The MAC Championship Game will be held at Ford Field in Detroit on Saturday, Dec. 1. The game will be televised nationally on either ESPN or ESPN2.

Kickoff times will be announced as soon as they become available. The dates for Parents' Weekend and Homecoming will be announced by the University on Friday, March 16 via www.ohio.edu.

The Bobcats finished the 2006 campaign with a 9-5 overall record, including a school-record seven MAC wins, and an appearance in the GMAC Bowl. Ohio begins its spring preparations on Monday, March 26 with the annual Green & White Game taking place on Saturday, April 21 at 2 p.m.