WVU@UC thoughts

Another game that was closer than it should have been, but a win is a win, and the Bearcats are 10-0 for the first time ever.  This is also the 3rd 10-win season in a row, after having only 1 prior to Brian Kelly's arrival.

• The fans arrived early, and Nippert was loud to start.  There were still times when the fans seem to sit on their hands when they should have been on their feet.  I frequently found that when WVU had a 3rd down, there were only a handful of people in my section on their feet screaming DE-FENSE. 
• I got a chance to sit in the student section for the start of the 2nd half and the energy there was incredible.  Hopefully the entire stadium will eventually be like that.
• I thought UC played their worst football of the year in the 1st half.  Turnovers, penalties, and missed opportunities abounded.
• Zach Collaros seemed off.  I don't know if its just that teams have some film and know how to defend him now, if its the pressure of having Tony Pike healthy and looking over his shoulder, or what, but he didn't see open receivers and made some bad throws, including a very uncharacteristic interception into double-coverage.
• I think the Isiah Peah stretch was a touchdown, but I'm surprised the call on the field was overturned.  The video replays that I've seen don't seem indisputable.  It was a stupid play.  It was 1st & goal early in the game.  No reason to risk a turnover as Pead did.
• Other than that, Pead had a FANTASTIC game.  He has speed and is shifty.  If the weather turns foul, UC will need to rely more on their running game.
• The defense didn't always look solid, but came up with the plays when they had to.
• I was impressed with the WVU fans at the game.  They had an excellent turnout and were very loud.  That being said, GO TO THE PITT GAME!!  Call 1-877-CATS-TIX to see if UC still has any of their allotment left, or buy tickets online thru Pitt.  Tickets are only $30 and its only a 4.5 hour drive.  A big turnout would help inspire the team and show the bowls that UC fans will travel.
• Extended highlights here:
  
  
  

The invasion has begun

I left work in downtown Cincinnati a little early today, and saw a lot of West Virginia fans checking into hotels and walking the streets wearing their WVU gear.

West Virginia fans travel well and this game sold out a long time ago, leading me to believe that many of those tickets were purchased by WVU fans. That was the case two years ago when the Mountaineers played at Nippert. I was at that game and would guess that at least 5,000 of the fans were cheering for WVU. Bearcat fans need to rise up and drown them out!

COME EARLY, BE LOUD, WEAR RED!!!

Some fan group are planning a "Brian Kelly" chant at the end of the first quarter. If you are there, join in!

Defensive Deficiency? I Disagree.

Alot has been made of the high score posted by Connecticut in Cincinnati's 47-45 win last Saturday. Varied sites are saying things like UConn "picked apart" the UC defense, and that the game "exposed the warts, moles and scar tissue on the Big East's beauty queen". It has led to one writer from Foxsports picking West Virginia as his "Upset pick of the week" at the end of this article.

I disagree.

The belief is that the large, physical UConn offensive line wore down the smaller, quicker UC defense with their grind-it-out style of play. That would probably mean a huge time of possession advantage for UConn (similar to the Fresno State game), right? Um no. Actually UC led time of possession 32:45 to 27:15. A few long, sustained UConn drives that wore down the defense? No again. Connecticut had only one scoring drive greater than 2 minutes in the 2nd half (6:42) and only 2 in the 1st half (4:36 & 4:25).

So what's the problem then? Very simply, UConn made some very big plays in the 2nd half. Jordan Todman had a 46-yd TD run, Robert McClain had an 87-yd TD punt return, and Zach Frazer completed a 52-yd pass to Khalif Moore that setup a 1-yd run by Todman. Those 3 drives took 0:41, 0:00, and 1:30, respectively. They accounted for 22 of UConn's 35 second half points. Without those big plays, UConn still might have scored, but it would have taken more time and prevented them from having the number of possessions needed to get back into the game.

The Cincinnati defense made mistakes, but it is not a hidden flaw that has been exposed. It's a few missed assignments that gave way to the big play and a couple of big plays often result in an upset. "Everything that happened can be fixed. It was just one guy out of position here, two guys out of position there." Bearcats linebacker Marcus Waugh said. The UC defense has generally not been burned by big plays prior to the UConn game. I am sure that the defense and special teams had a good week of practice and are eager to prove that last week's game was a fluke.

While a big, physical offensive attack isn't an ideal matchup for the Bearcats defense, they proved against Fresno State that they can win against it. This week's matchup against West Virginia features an offense that relies more on speed than power, which should be a more favorable matchup for UC.

Pike not ready, Collaros to start vs West Virginia

After stating on Monday that Tony Pike would start at QB for the Bearcats on Friday night against West Virigina if he was healthy, coach Brian Kelly announced today that Pike was not ready, so Zach Collaros will start instead. Since Collaros has played so well in relief, "it's allowed us now to set the bar a little bit higher for Tony in a sense that now we don't have to put him back there until he's 100 percent. He's not quite there yet." Kelly said.

Kelly said that Pike would get into the game is some capacity, but wouldn't disclose his role, saying he wanted to keep it a secret as "a tactical advantage." Regardless of who plays QB the Bearcats offense has operated at a consistently high level. For a team striving for a Big East title, undefeated season, and possible national championship game it's a nice problem to have.