Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Bearcat Football on Display for the Nation


              Thirty-eight thousand Bearcat fans piled into Nippert stadium Thursday night to watch the Bearcats take on UCLA.  The Bearcats opened the season on ESPN, in a nationwide broadcast.  Though they made a bunch of mistakes, they mostly played dominant, physical football throughout.  From UCLA’s first turnover until the final snap of the game UC was more physical, better positioned and just plain better.  The defense picked up where it left off last season, making the Chip Kelly offense look like a Bob Diaco UConn offense.  The Bearcat’s passing efficiency defense was the best in the country last season and if week one was any indication that could continue this year.  Thompson barely completed 30 percent of his passes and other than one long run UCLA struggled to get anything going on the ground.  The Bearcat offense was plagued by mistakes but controlled the game moving the ball through the air and on the ground.  The potential of this team was on display, despite the mistakes. 
                There’s nothing like a night game at Nippert.  I’ve been to over 30 stadiums across the country and Nippert is a unique experience.  (A now incomplete ranking of the stadiums I’ve been to can be found here:  https://bearcatmark.blogspot.com/2014/09/football-stadium-rankings.html) Last night was incredible.  The crowd was there on time.  The student section was overflowing and they stayed.  The crowd was raucous and invested in every snap.  It’s the kind of crowd that makes it so difficult on teams that come to Nippert.  It gives the defense a big advantage and I’m sure the team feeds off the energy.  When Nippert is electric it truly is special. 


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                As was the case this year, the 2009 season started with UC getting to play in front of a National TV audience.  Their first game was on Labor Day in Piscataway, New Jersey to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.  Many, including Kirk Herbstreet, had picked Rutgers to win the conference.  The Bearcats were defending conference champions but had some real questions on defense.  I made the trek with two of my good friends.  We spent the weekend near campus, sitting by the hotel pool and frequenting college bars.  One of my friends had to be back at work that Tuesday, so win or lose, I would be driving overnight after the 3:30 game to get back to Cincinnati.  I was optimistic UC was going to have a big season.  I thought we would win.  I never expected the performance I witnessed that would set the tone for the greatest season in Bearcat football history. 



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                The tailgate lot was rocking when we arrived Thursday.  The Martinos lot has shrunk as apartments have built up behind it, but the spot we have tailgated for years has more space than ever due to the back of a building being ripped down and nothing having been built there yet.  Only a small portion of my group made it down, but several of the groups we’ve tailgated near for years were right there.  I was greeted with a jello shot from one of them and some New Riff Whiskey from another.  It was great being back on campus. 
                We made sure to get to our seats on time.  It was a slow start and one that grew worrisome as UCLA put themselves in scoring position.  However, UCLA fumbled, UC recovered it and really never looked back.  A few plays after the fumble Ridder connected with Alec Pierce for 52 yards, setting up a 15 yard touchdown pass to Josiah Deguara.  The rest of the half the Bearcat defense was basically a microcosm of last season.  They were stifling from play to play, but allowed a big play to give UCLA some hope.  Throwing out UCLA’s lone touchdown drive of the half the Bearcat defense was on the field 5 times, forcing a three and out 3 times, a 6 play drive one time, and a one play drive to end the half.  On those 5 drives they gave up NEGATIVE 9 yards.  However, UCLA took a 3rd and ten play 75 yards for a TD on the other drive.  The big play plagued UC a ton last season.  It’s something I expect them to still give up, because of how aggressive they are defensively, but if they can limit those and just be decent at preventing explosive plays, the defense should be dominant.
                Despite UC being utterly dominant for most the first half, they were incredibly close to trailing going into the locker room.  The offense made too many mistakes all half only putting it in the endzone the one time.  They had a great opportunity late in the half, but Ridder through an ill-advised pass that was picked off around the goal line.  The first play Coach Fickell mentioned post game was Deguara’s chase down tackle to save a TD at the end of the half.  The play cannot be praised enough.  He ran from the right side of the field on a dead sprint for the tackle.  I was sure from my seats that was going to be a pick six.  Going into the half up 10-7 was disappointing, being down 14-10 would have been devastating.  The Bearcats should have been up more but their physical dominance was evident all half and it was nice to at least be rewarded with the lead going in.


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                The Bearcats were dominant in the first half of their 2009 opener as well, but in this case, they didn’t waste their dominance.  The Bearcats started the season with a 9 play, 81-yard touchdown drive that didn’t even take 2 minutes.  They never looked back.  Rutgers responded with a 20 play, 78-yard TD drive, really their only response of the day.  That drive chewed up 10 minutes of clock and was the only way Rutgers prevented UC from scoring all half.  UC had a nice drive for a field goal (10 plays 62 yards in 3 minutes), then the two teams traded interceptions before UC poured it on.
                UC scored touchdowns on their last 3 second quarter drives.  They scored 24 second quarter points, taking a 31-7 lead to the locker room.  Those drives were 6 plays, 63 yards in 2:15; 7 plays, 71 yards in 2:04; and 3 plays, 58 yards in 52 seconds.  In mere minutes UC had dismantled Rutgers.  Going into the half UC fans were fired up, but more than that there was a feeling that this team was going to be something we had never seen before at UC. They were explosive and they hit Rutgers in so many different ways. This was truly one of the best halves of football I had ever witnessed. 
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                I think the ultimate story of the UC v. UCLA game was that whenever UC made a mistake and something went wrong, they responded.  They had avoided near disaster at the end of the first half but were still only up 3 despite dominating the action and UCLA was getting the ball to start the second half.  But the defense came out and did its thing, shutting down UCLA on first and second down then intercepting the ball on third down to give UC a short field.  This time the offense took advantage of the short field going 30 yards in 5 plays, all Michael Warren runs, including a 12 yard TD to finish the drive.
                Then a couple drives later when UCLA struck back with a TD of its own, the Bearcat offense got the ball back and went on its most important drive of the day.   They deftly mixed Ridder passing with runs of Warren and Doaks, taking the ball 75 yards on 10 plays.  Though the touchdown drive only got the game to 24-14, the game certainly felt over at that point.  The rest of the game was a bit of a sloppy mess, but UCLA never really threatened.  What stood out at the end of the game was how much UC controlled the action despite the mistakes.  They had 242 passing yards to UCLA’s 156 and 175 rushing yards to UCLA’s 62.  UC had the ball for 38:27. They were the better team from beginning to end. 



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                The Bearcats picked up where they left off in the second half against Rutgers.  They started the half with two long touchdown drives (11 plays, 92 yards and 9 plays 85 yards) and before you could blink they were up 45-7.  Those two touchdown drives made 5 straight touchdown drives, all at least 58 yards.  UC took their foot off the gas the rest of the way, though it forced a safety in the fourth quarter and finished with a 47-15 win.  We left the game completely jacked up.  We had an overnight drive ahead of us (me specifically as I was the driver), but were too excited to be bothered.  The drive ended up including a torrential downpour in eastern Ohio in the middle of the night, which I blew through.
                It was past 5:00 a.m. when I walked into my door, having not slept in nearly 24 hours.  I remember lying in my bed completely unable to sleep.  I’m sure part of it was the red bull from the drive home, but mostly I remember thinking about this Bearcat season and what it could soon be.  Was there anyone on the schedule that would beat them? If UC played like this they could legitimately be National Championship contenders.  After lying bed for a while, I finally got up and went for a run.  I hoped the run might drain me the rest of the way and I would finally sleep.  I thought about the season to come and all the possibilities.  In one game, the Bearcats had blown through the ceiling on what was possible.  At this point anything could happen.  Anything was possible. 
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                The opener against UCLA didn’t quite give that same feeling of brilliance to come, but it didn’t temper any expectations either.  It is clear this Bearcat team can be elite defensively.  They certainly were against UCLA.  The Offense showed flashes against a talented defense, but also showed inconsistency and made a penchant for mistakes we need to hope is an aberration.  I take far more positive from the game than negative, but still view what is to come as an unknown.  Next week the Bearcats head to Columbus to play the Buckeyes.  It’s a game that feels like they are playing with house money.  A loss is expected and shouldn’t stop them from achieving their season goals. A win would blow the doors off of all expectations and bring incredible possibilities into play.  As talented as they are, there are unknowns with the Buckeyes as well. They have a new coach and new QB playing in their second game. Their defense while talented, could be exposed last season.  If the Bearcat defense can force mistakes and the offense can protect the ball, there is an opportunity to do something historic.  I know I can’t wait to see what happens next. 

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