It was the beginning of a new era in 2012 when Tim Doup accepted Otterbein’s head coaching position after nine seasons as the offensive coordinator.
A fiery start to the 2012 season, Otterbein won the first five games and, despite back-to-back losses to number-one ranked Mount Union and then Heidelberg, continued to win three more. An 8-2 season gave hope to a tournament bid but eventually fell short of a NCAA Division III playoff game.
Doup was later named OAC Coach of the Year for the 2012 season.
With success in last year’s team, the Otterbein community looked forward to an exciting and successful 2013 year.
An anxious Cardinal team took the field this past September 7 looking to start the new year with a win. But after a 28-0 loss to St. John Fisher, the team was beaten both physically and mentally, and they continued to struggle to find a consistent rhythm.
Then, another loss was followed by a pair of wins. After a third loss the team continued to struggle to find balance. Whispers of a disappointing season began to circle among Otterbein as they questioned, “What happened to the 8-2 team we saw last year?”
“This is the first season that we’ve had since I’ve started playing where we began the season with a loss,” said Zack Grieves, senior captain and defensive end. “But it’s the fact that we didn’t let that first loss get to us and we kept going.”
Grieves, a sports management major, was a returning three-year letter-winner, former 2012 OAC Player of the Week and All-OAC second team.
“There’s something lacking,” Grieves said. “I don’t know if it’s just one thing. Last year we made a lot of big plays and this year we haven’t had those big plays.”
The lack of these big plays could be attributed to the multitude of injuries the team suffered. Key players such as Josh Gebelle, Lance Langel, Brick Davis and Pat Seesholtz left Doup scrambling for replacements who were ready to play.
“I’ve missed three starting offensive linemen at times and it seems like every time I turn around, we’re missing somebody,” Doup said. “Four senior offensive linemen last year played and understood what we were doing (on the field). Coming into this season, I only had two returning starters.”
These injuries cost the team in the long-run. With more experienced players loading the bench, Doup had to put fresh faces on the field. During a string of three games, Doup started seven sophomores and two freshman and the team had a problem filling the voids left by key players.
The loss of players this year due to injuries added to the loss of many starters from last year. Otterbein’s 2012 team had 152 players, compared to only 120 on the 2013 roster. Eighteen players graduated last year — 15 were starters. These included four offensive linemen, six defensive players, as well as the starting quarterback and starting punter.
“Last year we were older (as a team) in a lot of different positions, (we had) more experience,” Doup said. “It’s just the lack of experience this year that we have compared to last.”
The team however, is looking at this season in a positive manner. “We’ve lost to four teams that were ranked in the top 25,” Doup said. They finished 5-5 on the season. Four of those losses were to teams ranked in the top 25 by D3football.com, (1) Mount Union, (25) St. John Fisher, (9) John Carroll and (18) Heidelberg.
Graduate assistant and former Cardinal quarterback Aaron Kingcade continued to stay optimistic about the final games of the season. “It comes down to desire,” Kingcade said. “As a team, we have to want it more than the other team and go take it.”
