That's just Ohio University borrowing the playbook of the University of Hawaii's old offense. Relax. You didn't go back in time.
"It's going to look a lot like what we ran at UH when I was an offensive line coach," Bobcats offensive coordinator Mike Sewak said. "I just hope we can run it as well as we did when I coached here."
Ohio did a commendable job in its 44-14 season-opening win over Mid-American Conference counterpart Akron. Led by quarterback Kareem Wilson, who rushed for 107 yards and three touchdowns, the Bobcats scored 31 points in the second quarter to secure the win.
Fullback Steve Hookfin added a pair of touchdowns of his own. He carried the football 10 times for 67 yards. In all, the Bobcats rushed for 250 yards while passing for only seven to win the first night game ever played on the Ohio University campus.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, home is something they won't see often enough. Second-year coach Jim Grobe has the dubious task of preparing his team for eight road trips in their 11 remaining games.
The Bobcats play at Hawaii this Saturday at 7 p.m., then go to Army the next weekend and to defending Big Ten champion Northwestern after that.
"We're a young team, so we pretty much have to take them one at a time," Grobe said yesterday after his team arrived in Honolulu. "This will be a really tough football game for us.
"Hawaii basically attacked Boston College and we're very impressed with what they're doing right now. The trip has certainly been tough on us.
"And we've got a lot of young kids, so we'll try to get them out of that vacation mentality and hopefully get their feet on the ground and try to play a football game."
Grobe is no stranger to the islands. As an assistant coach at Air Force, the Falcons were 6-3-1 against the Rainbows. He believes being here before will help him prepare the Bobcats for the perils of Waikiki.
"I've played over here seven times with Air Force, so we've got the routine down," Grobe said.
"But we had some kids at Air Force who were pretty experienced players and had been over here a few times. That made it a little easier to get those guys ready to play."
Unlike Boston College, Ohio didn't race off to Aloha Stadium to get in a last-second practice before the sun went down. Instead, the Bobcats had a light stretching session. They held their first workout at the stadium today.
Part of Grobe's challenge is keeping his young team focused. Last year, the Bobcats started seven freshman and two redshirt freshmen in their opening game.
This season, no freshmen started against the Akron Zips, but Grobe used 10 freshmen before the night was through. Ohio's youth is not just on the field.
The coaching staff is the youngest in the nation, averaging 35.3 years of age. The University of California is second at 35.5. Grobe believes his young staff relates well to his predominantly teen-age lineup.
"We're trying to grow together," Grobe said. "Naturally, with youth and inexperience, there are going to be some mistakes. But we feel like we made some good strides from last season to this one."
Grobe concedes that Hawaii will be a tougher opponent than Akron. The fact the Rainbows once ran this offense also widens the gap between the two teams.
"A lot of the kids still playing for them have defended this offense," Grobe said. "I think that definitely gives them an advantage.
"The key to stopping an option offense is not always knowing what to do, but being able to react to what you see and make plays. They'll certainly be better at that than most teams we see."