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(Ohio State, in green from last week v. Indiana, needed a win against Bowling Green. Joan Shepherd photo)
By Alex Goff
Ohio State head coach Tom Rooney is also the College Competitions head for the Midwest RFU. So it was his decision to award a forfeit victory to Indiana over Bowling Green for a paperwork violation.
 The decision almost bit Rooney’s OSU team in the Buckeyes. What it meant was that going into this weekend Indiana was 3-1, not 2-2 (since they actually lost that game v. Bowling Green). IU played winless Michigan (pictured right, Joan Shepherd photo), and kept the Wolverines winless, taking the game, as expected, 48-5.
That meant that Ohio State, which lost to Indiana last weekend 13-10, had to beat Bowling Green Saturday night to have a shot at a home playoff game.
“I had to do it [make the forfeit decision],” said Rooney. “But it put us behind the eightball.”
Rooney’s players bailed him out, playing a very different game from last weekend’s effort to beat BGSU 43-19.
With scrumhalf Mickey Franco pestering the Bowling Green team and opening up space for his backs, Ohio State ran out to a 15-0 halftime lead, and weathered a torrid stretch where Bowling Green scored two tries in two minutes. Hooker Nick Altieri continued his scoring touch, running in from 40 meters, as he often does, while the OSU back three looked smooth in producing some impressive tries.
“We seem to have found our backline,” said Rooney. “And the biggest thing way, we didn’t drop the ball. We couldn’t hold onto it last week. This week we did.”
And Bowling Green didn’t. They missed penalty kicks. They had tries set up and the final pass just fall away, or down. It seemed like Bowling Green was snakebit. Whatever the reason, Ohio State finishes the league season 4-1 and in first place in the Midwest-East.
Indiana is 2nd, while Bowling Green drops to 3-2 and third.
Also of note, Notre Dame defeated Purdue and finishes 3-2 as well, making the Midwest playoffs for the first time since their program was re-started.
In the Midwest-West, Northern Iowa made a big move, upsetting Minnesota to move to 2-2. UNI is still owed a game with Illinois which could affect their playoff prospects. Wisconsin, UW-Stout, Minnesota and UNI are in the playoffs, we just don’t know in what specific order.
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