Ohio University’s football team now owns the longest home win streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision, at 17 straight victories at Frank Solich Field at Peden Stadium in Athens, according to reporting by The Columbus Dispatch. The Bobcats inherited the top spot when Ohio State beat Indiana 19-15, ending the Hoosiers’ run, The Dispatch reported.
The Hoosiers had owned a 19-game home win streak that began with a season opener against Florida Atlantic on Aug. 31, 2024, the first of head coach Curt Cignetti’s Indiana tenure, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Indiana’s home loss moved Ohio, which has not lost in Athens during its current stretch, to the top of the list.
Ohio sits on top of the Mid-American Conference at 6-2 overall with a 4-0 record in conference play, The Dispatch reported. The Bobcats’ only losses were on the road against nonconference opponents Nebraska and South Alabama, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The streak’s roots run deep in Athens. After Ohio University named the field at Peden Stadium for legendary coach Frank Solich in 2022, the Bobcats won their next 10 home games, The Dispatch reported. After losing to Miami on Oct. 28, 2023, Ohio bounced back two weeks later and beat Central Michigan 34-20 in Athens, kicking off the current 17-game stretch — meaning the Bobcats have won 26 of 27 home games on Frank Solich Field, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
John Hauser, who took over as Ohio’s interim head coach last December, has the Bobcats allowing the third-fewest points per game in the conference at 21.6 while scoring the second-most at 29.6, The Dispatch reported. Ohio is also averaging a conference-high 192.4 rushing yards per game, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The Dispatch noted the Bobcats are still far from the historical record: Miami (Florida) won 58 home games in a row from 1985 to 1994. Ohio’s mark is the longest active streak in the FBS, not an all-time record.
The Bobcats are off this week and play back-to-back road games after the break — at Akron on Nov. 3 and at Miami (Ohio) on Nov. 10 — before returning home on Tuesday, Nov. 17, for a matchup against the Ball State Cardinals, according to the schedule published by The Columbus Dispatch. They close the regular season at home against Toledo on Nov. 27.
For Athens, the streak puts a national spotlight on Peden Stadium heading into November. Every home win from here extends a mark no other FBS program currently holds, and the next test of it comes when Ball State visits on Nov. 17.