I haven’t had time to write the last few weeks and the games
were all “should win” type games, so I thought I’d just cover these similar
stretches in the 2019 and 2009 season with brief thoughts on each game. Both stretches of the schedule focused on
conference matchups against the bottom of the conference where the Bearcats
were heavy favorites. Both featured some
tests (this year more than in 2009) and in both stretches the Bearcats made it
out unscathed for the stretch run. This
will also allow me to play with the schedule so that the game at Pitt coincides
with a potential conference championship game in the AAC. So here we go, lightning round as to how the 2009 and 2019 Bearcats took care of business against the bottom of the conference and put themselves in position to win the conference and make a major bowl game.
2019 Tulsa at Cincinnati
It was
a beautiful day for Bearcat football one which I celebrated by bringing my 1.5
year old daughter down for her first tailgate.
The day started at the Zoo then we picked up some Adriaticos and
tailgated behind Martinos. My wife and
daughter stayed for a bit than went home while I stayed for a great tailgate
and a hard fought win.
Though
the Bearcats were in control for most the game, it never felt like they played
close to their best. This will be a
theme in this stretch of football. The
Bearcats lead throughout, but it was a one score game for most of the second
half. Ultimately, the defense forced a
critical turnover (they forced 5 on the day) and put the game away with a quick
touchdown on the next play, moving the Bearcats to 6-1 on the season and 3-0 in
the AAC.
2009 Louisville at Cincinnati
Louisville
had owned the rivalry for several years prior to 2008, when UC won at Louisville
on their way to their first Big East Championship. In 2009, the Bearcats had little trouble in
dispatching the Cardinals at Nippert.
Zach Collaros made his first career start throwing for 263 yards (on 15
of 17 for 14.9 yards a clip) and running for 52 more. Isaiah Pead only ran 6 times, but had 88
yards and 2 touchdowns. By the end of
the game both Chazz Anderson and Brendon Kay saw action as the Bearcats won 41
to 10.
2019 Bearcats at ECU
ECU had
been a disaster all season and everyone expected this to be a complete
blowout. Though the ECU defense proved
as inept as expected, the ECU offense found itself and a sure victory suddenly
looked like a defeat. Instead of making
the trip to ECU, like I’d probably have done in 2009, I traveled to Washington
DC to meet my new nephew and visit my sister.
ECU and Cincinnati traded scores in the first quarter (ending with UC up
21 to 14), then ECU ran off 17 straight in the second quarter to take a 31 to
21 lead into the locker room. It’s easy
to blame the defense when a team moves the ball and scores like ECU did that
night, but it shouldn’t be lost that Ahlers and his receivers were unbelievable
all night. Ahlers delivered strike after
strike on time and on target, often with pressure in his face. The ECU receivers seemed to catch everything
around them. It was an unexpected
performance from them.
However,
ECU struggled to stop the UC running game and by the time we reached the middle
of the 4th quarter UC had cut the lead to 5. ECU again drove into Cincinnati territory
when for the second time this season Ahmad Gardner made an enormous, game
swinging type play, jumping the Ahlers pass and taking it to the house. You felt like the Bearcats had to have a
defensive score to win the way ECU was playing and that is what happened. ECU would tie it on a late field goal but
Crosa would hit one of his own as time expired and the Bearcats completed a
miraculous escape from East Carolina.
2009 Cincinnati at Syracuse
The
game was set to be played at noon on a Saturday, so after my friend got off work
we hopped in his car and drove overnight to Syracuse. We pulled into the hotel parking lot at about
5:00 a.m. and slept for a couple hours in the car before heading to Campus to
tailgate. It was a wet, chilly day. The lot was a bit muddy, but we found some
Bearcat fans, grilled some sausage and cheese sandwiches and had some fun. Given the weather outside, the Carrier Dome
wasn’t a bad place to watch a football game.
The Bearcats paced themselves scoring a TD every quarter. Collaros threw for four TDs on the game and
only 6 incomplete passes. It was another
game where the Bearcats never trailed and behind another solid defensive effort
UC left with a firmly controlling 28-7 win.
2019 UConn at Cincinnati
UConn is
terrible. I mean really terrible. I mean, horribly, incredibly, historically
terrible.
2009 UConn at Cincinnati
Talk
about two entirely different UConn programs. About the only thing that UConn
team and the 2019 UConn team had in common was Randy Edsall. UConn wasn’t great by any means in 2009, but
they weren’t bad either. They won at
Baylor. They lost by 2 to number 19
UNC. They won a double OT game at Notre
Dame. UConn came to Cincinnati having
lost two close games in the conference.
Cincinnati would be their last loss of the season and the game would be
one of the most memorable of 2009. The
game was in prime time on ABC and Zach Collaros had maybe the greatest game
I’ve ever seen a Bearcat quarterback play.
Collaros
threw for 480 yards and ran for 75 more, for 3 total tds. The UC offense marched up and down the field
all night. However, this was the game
where the Bearcat defense, which had been solid for most of the year, began to
really fall apart. The Bearcats ran out
to a 30 to 10 lead, then after a UConn Td, extended the lead back out to 37 to
17. UConn returned a punt for a TD, then
after a UC field goal they had a quick TD drive to cut the lead to 8. UC had a rare punt and UConn scored again
with 5:03 left to cut it to 2. They
failed on the two point conversion.
UC got
the ball back up 2 with 5 minutes left.
Collaros again marched UC right down the field completing 4 straight
passes. UC was stopped after 3 runs and
had forth and 1 from the UConn 14.
Instead of kicking, Kelly left the offense on the field. Pead beat everyone for a 14 yard touchdown to
put the Bearcats up 9 with just under 2 minutes to play. UConn would score another TD with 13 seconds
left, but UC recovered the onside kick and escaped Nippert with the win.
2019 Cincinnati at USF
It was
ugly. God was it ugly, but UC escaped USF
with another last second win on a Crosa field goal. Based on SP+ factors UC had about a 20%
chance of winning that game, going by how it was played. However, the USF kicker seemed to want UC to
pull it out. The first half was an utter
disaster salvaged by the defense not allowing TDs and USF missing field
goals. The second half UC ran the ball
mostly well and doing just enough on offense to tie the game. With the game tied late, USF again missed a
field goal. UC picked up two huge third downs on the final drive before Crosa
kicked another game winning field goal at the gun.
Where we stand
The
Bearcats head to their final home game with a chance to clinch the American
Conference East Division. They’ll have
to do so against a Temple team that has beaten the Bearcats four straight
years, including a brutal loss last season where UC blew a second half
lead. What scares me right now is the
staff does not seem to have any confidence in the passing game (and Ridder hasn’t
really given them a reason to have confidence).
Last season UC lost the Temple game largely because Temple loaded up
against the run in the second half and dared Ridder to beat them through the
air. The staff all but abandoned any semblance
of trying to pass and UC couldn’t put it away on the ground. UC nearly lost to USF in a similar way…abandoning
any hope of moving the ball through the air.
They don’t need to be a great passing team, but they need to find a way
to attack down field and loosen up really good Temple defense.
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