Memorable Bearcat Games: Cincinnati 26 West Virginia 23

This Memorable Bearcat Game took place during the magical 2008 season. It was a battle of 6-2 teams, Cincinnati and West Virginia. The Bearcats came into the game 1-1 in the Big East, but were coming off a huge win at South Florida the week before. West Virginia had been rolling since starting the season 1-2. At this point in the season, we didn't know for sure if the Bearcats were going to be contenders in the Big East. This was their big chance to show their stuff. Every year it seems that the conference champion has to go through West Virginia to the crown, and it certainly was the case in 2008. Pat White even had a championship belt.

 The stage was set. Morgantown, West Virginia. 60,00 crazy fans. A night to remember.

The Bearcats took advantage of the opening kickoff. By took advantage, I mean Mardy Gilyard returned the kick 100 yards for a touchdown. Here's a picture of Mardy running.

Suffice to say, that stunned the crowd. Also stunning the crowd was when WVU went 3 and out. Cincinnati couldn't do much on their possession and punted back. The Bearcats defense stifled WVU yet again, forcing a punt. This time Pat McAfee shanked it, setting UC up at the Mountaineer 33. John Goebel popped a 5 yard run on first down, but the drive stalled there. Jake Rogers calmly nailed a 46 yarder to make the score 10-0.

That score seemed to wake the Mountaineers up. Starting at their 23, Pat White took over. He busted a 15 yard run, and an 8 yard run around a 4 yard run by Noel Devine to get WVU to midfield. The Bearcats forced a third and long, but White hit Jock Sanders for 30 yards to the UC 19. White hit Alric Arnett on the next play for a touchdown and it was quickly a ball game at 10-7. The Bearcats drive went nowhere, ending in a sack. The defense would end up making a big play. Facing a 3rd and 1, WVU gave the ball to Devine, who tried to go up the middle, but was stripped. Brandon Underwood recovered for UC at the WVU 34. Tony Pike hit Dominick Goodman for 12 yards, John Goebel for 6, and ran for 11 getting the ball to the WVU 5. This was the first full game Pike played in after his broken left forearm. He left the previous UConn and South Florida games. The Bearcats ate a false start, and couldn't get closer, settling for a 31 yard field goal to make the score 13-7 to end the first quarter.

WVU started quarter 2 with a little drive, going from their 23 to their 47, before a holding penalty, and a false start forced them into long yardage plays. They punted UC back to the 21, setting the stage for maybe the biggest drive of the game.

Pike started things off by hitting Goodman once again for 25 yards, followed by a 6 yard run by Jacob Ramsey and another 7 yard pass to Goodman. That put the ball at the Mountaineer 39. But things went back on the Bearcats, getting hit with an illegal use of hands and a holding penalty to make it 1st and 30 at the UC 41. A pass to Ben Guidugli  for 7, and a 6 yard Ramsey run set up a 3rd and 17. Pike found Goodman yet again for 18 yards and a Bearcat first down. Pike hit Kazeem Alli for 6, another Ramsey run for 5 yards netted a first down, and another pass to Goodman for 9 put UC at the 8 yard line. Pike hit Marcus Waugh for a first down to the 5. After a 1 yard Ramsey run, Pike scrambled the last 4 yards on a looking left, looking left, run right play for the Cincinnati touchdown, capping a 12 play, 73 yard drive that took 9 minutes plus. It also made the score 20-7.

WVU went 3 and out on their next possession, punting to the UC 25. The Bearcats popped a 66 yard pass to John Goebel to get the ball to the 13. The Bearcats could only move the ball 2 yards, setting Jake Rogers up for a 29 yard FG. Unfortunately for UC, Rogers jaked it off the upright for his first miss of the season. That was lame, but the lameness makes you like it. Neither team did anything special to end the half. We went to the locker room with UC up 20-7.

The third quarter pretty much played out like this. Incomplete pass, short run, sack, penalty, punt. The first 4 drives the teams went 3 and out with their punters Pat McAfee and Kevin Huber drilling 50 yard punts. McAfee ruined it by hitting a 49 yarder, and Huber followed with a 33 yard punt. McAfee boomed his next one 56 yards however. Huber's leg must have been tired, because his next punt was shanked, going 28 yards to the WVU 47.

The Mountaineers got the first 1st down of the quarter, when following a 7 yard White run, White passed to Sanders, who did a lateral to Devine for 10 yards. Following a sack by Curtis Young that ended quarter 3, White hit Devine for 7 to set up 3rd and 8. White rushed for no gain, but drew a personal foul penalty on the Bearcats to keep the drive alive. Runs by Sanders, and Devine set up 1st and 10 from the 11. White threw the ball three times, 2 incompletions around a 5 yard pass to Devine, setting up a big 4th and 5. WVU decided to go for it. White tried to run to daylight on a bootleg left, but was pushed out of bounds shy of the first down, resulting in a turnover on downs.

Cincinnati took over at the 3. Brian Kelly decided to ride Jacob Ramsey. Ramsey picked up 4, 4, 2 (resulting in the first UC first down of the half), 5 and 2. The last 2 yards resulted from holding, making it 2nd and 13. Goebel couldn't run for those yards, setting up a 54 yard Huber punt that was returned 7 yards by Sanders to the WVU 40. The UC drive took 4:32, leaving WVU with 6:49.

West Virginia would drive again. White hit Bradley Starks for 24 to the UC 37. After an incompletion and 8 yard pass to Starks, Devine converted a 3rd and 2 with a 4 yard run. White hit Devine with 2 passes of 4 and 5 yards around an incompletion, setting up a 4th and 1 at the UC 15. Once again White ran, but this time, he got the first down. His next pass attempt drew a pass interference, giving WVU a 1st and goal at the 2. White threw an incompletion, ran for a yard, and ran for a loss of a yard, setting up another huge 4th down. This time, WVU went for a pass. White stared down Jock Sanders, threw, and was intercepted by DeAngelo Smith. Smith played White and the ball perfectly. It looked like WVU had just blown their best opportunity to come back.

UC had 3:22 on the clock, the ball at the 3, and 0 timeouts for West Virginia. The Bearcats gave the ball to Goebel twice, but he only got 4 yards. On 3rd and 6, Ramsey picked up 4. UC took a delay of game. Not wanting to risk a blocked kick, and playing for field position, Kelly did the smart thing and had Huber take a safety. That made the score 20-9 with only 1:11 remaining.

The free kick by Rogers was returned to the WVU 39 by Sanders. After an incompletion, White hit Sanders for 14 to the UC 47. The biggest play came on the next play. White hit Dorrell Jalloh for 23 yards, but UC was hit with a backbreaking personal foul putting the ball at the 9. White's first pass was incomplete. On second down, WVU had a false start, making it 2nd and goal at the 14. White hit Sanders for 11 to set up 3rd and goal at the 3. White's pass was incomplete. All UC needed was one more stop to finish the game. Instead, White converted with a pass to Jalloh. White ran in the 2 point conversion to make the score 20-17.

WVU got another break when Mortty Ivy recovered the onside kick. WVU's special teams made a big blunder to start the game, and a big play to save it. With 18 seconds left, White hit Jalloh yet again for 21 yard to the UC 35. An incomplete pass set up a field goal attempt for McAfee, which would tie his career high. The strong footed kicker made the pressure kick, sending the crowd into a frenzy, and sending the game into overtime.

Dustin Grutza was the starting QB for UC in 2008. He suffered a broken leg against Oklahoma, and watched Tony Pike turn into, well, Tony Pike. Grutza was the captain for UC on this day. His fateful call of I'm guessing tails, because tails never fails, allowed UC the option for overtime. UC took defense. At first, it didn't look good. Devine rushed for 9, 2, 3 and 4. That brought 3rd and 3 at the 7. Terrill Byrd made the biggest play for the defense, as he corralled White for a 3 yard sack. McAfee was true from 27, giving WVU a 23-20 lead.

UC took possession, and finally remembered that they were allowed to play offense. Pike hit Goodman for 10 yards and a first down, followed by a WVU personal foul that was half the distance to the goal. Jacob Ramsey busted for 5 yards. On 2nd and 2, Pike went play action. Every Mountaineer went left, Pike rolled right. Kazeem Alli was wide open. Earlier in the game, Pike overthrew a wide open Alli on a sure touchdown. This time, Pike was right on the money.

Pike for the game was 16-30 for 178 and the 1 TD. Goodman had 6 catches for 81 yards. Ramsey led UC in rushing, 18 carries for 83 yards. Aaron Webster had 13 tackles, and was big everywhere on defense for Cincinnati. On the WVU side, White was 20-38 for 219, 2 TDs and 1 INT. White had 41 yards rushing, and the conversion. Noel Devine led WVU with 58 yards on 19 carries, but fumbled. Jalloh was the leading WVU receiver, with 54 yards on 4 catches and a TD. Sanders had 52 yards on 5 catches. UC 260 yards, WVU 317. But WVU had 98 rushing yards, which was the first time they had under 100 yards rushing since 2001.

As you know, UC won this game and never looked back. This was the win that gave UC legitimacy. It was Brian Kelly's 5th win against a ranked team, UC had 4 it's entire history before him. It was the second win for UC ever over West Virginia. It was the win that gave confidence to the players, and especially fans, that UC was onto something special. That's why UC 26 West Virginia 23 is a Memorable Bearcat Game.

Oh Say Did UC?

My nephew had to have pretty serious back surgery yesterday. I say that because not only would I like for you to send good thoughts, but because it's why today there is no Memorable Bearcat Game. That could come tomorrow, but I'm pressed for time today. That means we go for the always entertaining oh say did UC link round up. Did I just google Cincinnati Bearcats and none of these things are in any kind of order? Yes

• The Bearcats baseball club played host to #22 Pittsburgh over the weekend. The Panthers took 2 of 3, with UC winning Sunday. The Bearcats are 26-27, 10-14 in the Big East. They host Georgetown to end the regular season this weekend.
• In a crazy, scary story, former Bearcat and current St Louis Ram Mardy Gilyard was robbed at gunpoint last night. It happened near UC. Gilyard was with his friend, and they had about $1,000 in chains, and $300 taken. Thank god nothing more happened and Mardy and friend left the situation relatively alright. I never trusted that BP on Corry. 
• In better news surrounding UC football, the kick off time for the Indiana State thrashing has been set. The game will be at noon. Better to get the 70-3 thrashings out of the way early so we have a whole day to enjoy ourselves. The game will be on FSN.
• Speaking of September UC football, someone on Bleacher Report ran down the tough start to the season UC faces. Bearcats Blog will break that down closer to the start of the season.
• Brad Jones, who started every game last season, was signed by the Baltimore Ravens. He participated in their rookie mini camp, and earned a contract. Congrats Brad.
• Bill Koch knows how hard it is to write about UC when nothing is happening, so he wrote about Nippert Stadium. Not in a boring way, but in how it's too small and how UC can make it bigger and stuff. Just read it.
• Vidal Hazelton has earned some attention coming into his first season at UC. The USC transfer impressed during the spring game, and has caught the attention of a couple of people. First, someone else on Bleacher Report ran down 10 transfers who will have an impact. I don't think that list is in any order, because Robert Marve is number 1. 
• Hazelton got more ink, or whatever that is for the internet, from the National Football Post. In their list of WRs who would be household names, they listed Vidal. I have to admit, I was pumped for Hazelton coming into the season, and now that we are getting closer, I can't wait. He, Binns, DJ and Thompkins are going to be a nightmare for secondaries. UC will be a ton of fun to throw with 50 times a game in NCAA 2011. 
• DJ Gallo at Page 2 wrote about livable and unlivable sports cities. He put Cincinnati on the list as livable, with the Bearcats being a strong part. 
• Finally, we wrap things up with some recruiting talk. The Bearcats added a new player for this season, DT Ty Phillips. Our pal(s) at Down the Drive wrote about him. They also write about other UC things. It's good. I read it. The Bearcats also locked down LB Robert Martin. 
• UC has 2 recruits locked down for next season. First, is OL Justin Murray. He goes to Sycamore. Second, but actually first to sign, is Patrick Coyne. Patrick is already my favorite UC recruit of all time, sorry Munchie Legaux, because he goes to my high school, Badin. Hail to the colors bright green and white. Badin's uniforms now are much cooler than they were when I went there. It was like Penn State, but green. Now they have all green uniforms with a big ass B on the side of their helmets. Just watching the video on whatever scouting site that is, takes me back to the days where I would trudge out to Hamilton High to watch my beloved Rams play. The time we beat Hamilton was awesome. It happened my sophomore year, and was still talked about at graduation. 

Oh Say Did UC?

The time for Cincinnati Bearcats links has come. This might not be your favorite bit, but it should be because it's very informative and fun for everyone.

Brian Bennett at ESPN has written a spring recap of every Big East team, or is going to, and yesterday he hit on Cincinnati. His biggest questions circle around the defense, especially the secondary.

Bennett also wrote a piece about the Big East's star being ready to shine, shine, shine. I know he said burn bright, but you can't write burn bright three times.

The Bleacher report did a slide show about the upcoming Big East football season. They put a familiar face as one of the 3 Big East Heisman candidates.

The great Ivan Maisel wrote a huge spring football recap, and at the very bottom, he mentioned Cincinnati. He said UC looked to have what it takes for a three peat. I like those words.

Mark Schlabach put up a post spring top 25. Top 5, Alabama, Boise St, Ohio St, Texas and Virginia Tech. Pittsburgh was the highest rated Big East team at 13. Cincinnati was 18. Spoiler alert.

Bengals.com did a nice write up about Mike Windt, the Cincinnati long snapper who signed to the Bengals as a free agent.

Mardy Gilyard had a piece written about him Friday by St Louis Globe Democrat about how he was wearing the great Torry Holt's #81.

There is also a more recent piece by some St Louis paper after the weekend OTAs saying that Gilyard and Sam Bradford had a nice rapport.

Switching to football recruiting news, the Bearcats have offered junior Jamire Westbrook. It's his first offer. He's actually going into his junior year, and is 16. The whole thing is kinda creepy. Recruiting is seriously getting out of hand.

The Bearcats have also made an offer to Zach Mettenberger. Zach was released by Georgia after getting charged for sexual battery.  He was expected to fight for the Georgia starting job this season. He was the 14th ranked QB by Scout a couple years ago, he redshirted last season, and is said to be a stud. I'm iffy on going after guys dismissed from teams for big things like sexual battery. Maybe Zach has turned his life around after that dark incident. He also has an offer from Louisville, and other schools are said to be interested.

Switching gears completely, let's hit up some baseball. The Bearcats are tied for 7th in the Big East, with an 8-10 record as of yesterday when the News Record wrote this. 8 teams make the BET. The teams behind the Irish and Bearcats are 5-13. The Bearcats get a tough challenge this week, as the Big East leading Connecticut Huskies prance into town. Good luck to the Bearcats. Try to make a game if you can peeps. They are free or cheap if they aren't free. I've been to one in my life. I don't remember who UC played, or who won, but it was fun.

Speaking of fun, this interview with UC 1B/Pitcher Kevin Johnson is. He may not have dunked over Hakeem Olajuwon, but he was drafted by the Florida Marlins and chose to come back to UC.

Former UC pitched Dan Osterbrock threw a 7 inning no hitter his last outing. That's great news in of itself, but he was named the Twins Minor League Player of the Week, Midwest League Pitcher of the Week, and was promoted to High A. Congrats a ton to Dan.

Moving to hoops, Bill Koch wrote a pretty alright piece about Sean Kilpatrick. Sean has a lot of pressure to take the place of not only Lance Stephenson, but Deonta Vaughn. With his admitted flat three point shot, he'll fit right in with the rest of the returning bricklayers. I kid.

I don't know much about the Cincinnati Commandos, besides the fact they have former UC players, but they are undefeated. This is a nice refresher. They are QB'd by Ben Mauk.

Also on the team is Dominick Goodman, and this is an interview with him.

We'll end with a couple of Big East links. Our good friends at Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician check to see if Doug Marrone losing 29 players since taking over at Syracuse has their program going in the right direction. And our best friends at Card Chronicle react about the news Samardo Samuels hiring an agent and turning pro.

Mardy Gilyard drafted by St Louis

Mardy Gilyard was the first pick of the 4th round by the St Louis Rams. He joins top pick Sam Bradford. Congratulations to Mardy for getting drafted. He will work hard and earn a spot on the Rams. I'm excited for him.

UC Notes and Bearcats Bowl Preview

There are quite a lot of bits of this and that flying around surrounding the Bearcats today. We're going to hit some quick notes, and then a preview of what's going down at the Bearcats Bowl. Like the events and what have you, not exactly a straight up preview of what to expect on the field. I'll mention some things I want to see, but I'm not going to get too in depth about the battle to be the back up SAM linebacker.

• The biggest news of the week was Isaiah Pead getting injured yesterday. Pead had a knee collision with a teammate, left the field under his own power, and is waiting an MRI to find out if there is major cause for concern. He's on crutches now. It's just a knee bruise. Isaiah will be ready to go for when things get serious. He's not going to play tomorrow.  Darrin Williams is going to get a lot of the touches from reports.
• The NFL draft is going down tonight at 6pm for rounds 2 and 3. Mardy Gilyard has been projected to be a late second-third round pick. It could be Mardy's big night, and we here at Bearcats Blog wish him the best. Hopefully, he stays in Cincinnati. He has seemed to want to, and I would like him to. 
• Tony Pike has also been talked about as a third round pick. 2 quarterbacks were taken in the first round, Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow, and I'm not quite sure how things are going to shake down. Tony is grouped on the, I guess third level, of QBs, after the previously mentioned first rounders, and Colt McCoy and Jimmy Claussen. I have no doubt Tony Pike will get drafted. I hope it's tonight. We also wish Tony Pike the best in his future NFL success. Hope you don't go to Cleveland.
• There will be posts up when the players get drafted. In case you have a life tonight, Bearcats Blog has you covered. 
• The following bits are a couple weeks old, sorry, but I haven't covered them in much detail, so they'll go here. Offensive lineman CJ Cobb had ankle surgery a couple weeks back. Everything went swimmingly for CJ. He got injured the first Saturday spring practice. He will return when fall practice starts, much to the delight of the Cincinnati offensive line. 
• Demetrius Jones, former Notre Dame QB, and linebacker, has left the program. There is no news on where he is heading. It could be a Division II school, or whatever they are calling it these days. It would be his third team. Too bad things didn't work out for him. Here's hoping he finds success and happiness on his next stop. 
• The following notes are from the hoops world. As you recruiting gurus have heard, Marquis Teague has spurned Cincinnati, Indiana, Louisville and Purdue, and is going to attend evil Kentucky. Teague said he almost chose Louisville a couple times, but waited. This would have been a huge get for UC, but they were never really in the race it seemed. Teague was going to play his ball in Kentucky, and now it's at Kentucky.
• The NCAA Tournament is expanding, but to 68 teams. Rush the Court has some great blurbs from other great writers about the expansion. The Tournament will be on CBS and Turner Sports. The weird part is that in 2016, the finals will be on TBS. They have playoff baseball now yes, but that's just fucking weird. The pregame show will follow Saved by the Bell reruns at 5:05. 

The Bearcats Bowl is tomorrow night. It's going to be televised by FSN Ohio for those of you who can't make it to Nippert. There is plenty of motivation to do so though. If you have kids 8th grade or younger, show up around 2 and register for the on field kids' clinic. It's free. Some UC players will be there to teach the youngsters a thing or twelve, as will the UC coaching staff. After that's over, the players will sign autographs from around 4:30-5. Starting at 5, the Family Zone opens up. It's what you normally get for pregame Bearcats entertainment. You only have to worry about that for half an hour, because the Nippert gates open at 5:30. The first 5K fans get a poster. The more important thing is to try and get behind the bench, because Coach Butch Jones will let a few fans call plays. I recommend a fumble rooski. The game starts at 7.

Here are a few things that are worth taking a look at. The defense is going to be rebuilt. It's going to be very interesting to see what they have in store for the, what should be, high powered offense. Zach Collaros and Chazz Anderson are competing for the starting job, more like 'competing' am I right, and that should be interesting to watch as well. Like mentioned up top, Darrin Williams is going to see quite a bit of the ball, as he is the last running back left standing it appears. The new look Butch Jones offense has me very excited. All in all, it should be an exciting day. It's our first look at the new Bearcats. It's our introduction to Coach Butch Jones. It's football.

Questions and Answers

There are many topics swirling around Cincinnati sports, and the best way to sort them out? Questions. The best way to sort out the questions? Answers. Yes, we've reached the point where it's questions and answers time. Unless you want to read a 43,000 word post about Mick Cronin's comments on why Yancy Gates didn't play at the end of the game Sunday.

Why didn't Yancy Gates play at the end of the game on Sunday?
If you listen to Mick, it's because he says that Marquette was exposing Gates and, to a lesser extent, Steve Toyloy. If you listen to Marquette head coach Buzz Williams, that was not the case. If you read Marquette blogs, like Cracked Sidewalks, they were happy that #34 took a seat on the pine. If you read any UC blog or message board, they are furious about this. As we should be. Every coach worth their salary goes offense for defense in those situations. It's no different than if Yancy was playing with 4 fouls. Yet, Mick was happy running pretty much a man down on offense. Ibrahima Thomas is good and getting better, but he only had 5 points at the end of regulation. He wasn't playing that well. Dion Dixon and Cashmere Wright went offense for defense down the stretch. It's baffling to me.

Is Deonta Vaughn the alpha dog of this team?
I'm going to surprise everyone, no. I don't think this team has an alpha dog. I think it could have been Lance Stephenson, but he lost whatever mojo he had after the first Connecticut game. Maybe he let the game winning points and praise get to his head. He's been pretty not good lately. I would like to see him get more minutes, but he's not doing much with the minutes he's had ever since he came back from injury. Besides the Notre Dame game, he played well then. Yancy Gates could be the alpha dog, but it doesn't seem like he wants to be. When he wants the ball and plays hard, he's nearly unstoppable. But, his play comes off as nonchalant at times. I'm not saying he's not trying, but it looks like he doesn't care much if he gets touches or runs back on d. Having said all that, it SHOULD be Deonta Vaughn's team, and the fact it's not has really hurt the Bearcats. We have needed a leader to step up since the let's say UAB game, but none has. I don't know what happened to Deonta. The past 3 years of Vaughn put this version to shame. I don't know if he wanted to get drafted so he started playing more point guard and distributing, or whether he and Lance Stephenson hate each other and can't play together. Deonta had his big alpha dog moment of the season Sunday, and I guarantee sophomore Deonta nails that 3.

What undersung player does UC need to be more consistent every game?
Rashad Bishop. In a way, Bishop signifies this team. He'll play great, not show up, play solid, play bad, and play ok. He played really well on Sunday against Marquette, he no showed Louisville, played solid against Providence, played badly against South Florida, and ok against UConn in Hartford. Rashad is the most improved Bearcat this season. In the games he hasn't shot well, he's rebounded well. I would like to see his assists take the uptick they did last year though. He seems more confident in his shot. He needs to work on the 3 ball still, and getting the 2% back up to the 60s where it was last year.

Are the guards coming off the bench finally back to playing like we know they can?
I really hope that Larry Davis, and Dion Dixon, who is my best friend, have started going out there and just played. Both played pretty significant minutes until Big East play started. Larry even started a few games. Both get their minutes yanked around, but I think Davis is rounding into form. After a horrible shooting slump, he's hit 8-17 from 3 the past 3 games he's played minutes in. Dixon has rebounded well in his time, but he needs to work on his jumper this summer. He shot 25% from 3 last year, and is at only 30% this year. He shot really well against Marquette, but I think that taking too many 3s is what gets him bench time. He can play d and be a pest, so we need him playing hard and well. I think that both are ready to step in again. Especially if Lance Stephenson has checked out.

What does the Big East tournament bracket look like right now?
Per our friends at Friar Blog.

Can we stop talking about basketball now?
Sure football fan.

Are any UC athletes on the twitter?
There are a few. On the Bearcats Blog twitter account, I have a list where you can see them all. It's quite fancy. My twitter is @ucbearcatsblog.

Any truth on Cincinnati playing at Tennessee in 2011?

Yes, that's absolutely true. It's just a one time deal with UC playing in Knoxville, but it's a good thing. I just found this out like 3 days ago, so I'm hoping you were all in the same boat as me. 

When is the Spring Game?

April 24. I've been promised that this is a different team than previously. I'm interested to see how the running back situation plays out. I really like Isaiah Pead, and I think Darrin Williams can be a stud. He's pretty fast, and I think he could be a gamebreaker. 

Where do draft analysts think Mardy Gilyard is going in the draft?

From everything I've seen, Mardy is being projected as a second round pick. People are worried about his weight, 185. Mardy has all the skills and drive, and I think if he has a good combine, starts Saturday, he could be a late first rounder. Maybe that's overly optimistic, but I believe in Mardy Gilyard.

What about Tony Pike?

Tony has been ranked as the 4th or 5th best QB in the draft. He has also been told to bulk up by the analysts. Whatever the dude's name on the NFL Network said he has Pike in the 4th round. Mike Mayock's his name. He is normally pretty right, and he's not Todd McShay, so you can believe him. 

Who is the coolest Bearcat football player?

That's a tough one. On one hand, I lean towards Travis Kelce because he once retweeted me. On the other, Reuben Johnson's nickname is Daddy. Plus, Reuben Johnson follows me on twitter, and that makes him the coolest Bearcat of this time, and currently, of all time. 

Questions and Answers

UC doesn't tip off until Saturday, and in the meantime, I'll answer all the burning questions about UC and other things. Mainly UC things since this is a Cincinnati Bearcats blog. Maybe THE Cincinnati blog. After all, former Cincinnati great DeJuan Gossett follows us on twitter. DeJuan is 9th in tackles in UC history, and 2nd in solo tackles. He has incredible taste in who to follow on twitter. What does this have to do with questions? Shut up jerk, we're getting to that right now.

What are the odds that Cincinnati goes to the NCAA tournament?

Look, it's only February. We have many more games left in the regular season, and the Big East tournament. Anything can happen in New York City. I'm at the point where I'm getting a little tired of the negativity. Instead of looking at the schedule and counting the losses, we are going to look one game at a time. We need to chill.

You have said that Mick Cronin has had the pressure start to build under him. Does he make it through the off season if UC doesn't play in the Big Dance?

I'm going to say yes. UC would have to finish .500 or worse for there to be any justifiable reason for Mick to go. He came to UC with nothing. He has built UC to a contender for the tournament. Some of the fan expectations are a little too high, because there was nothing here 4 years ago. That said, Mick hasn't won a single game in March, including a disgusting loss against DePaul in the Big East tournament. The offense is absolutely awful. It needs to be changed next season. Hell, it needs to be changed tomorrow. Some people are questioning UC's conditioning. But, I think if UC is close to the tournament and end up in the NIT, he deserves to come back.

Speaking of leaving, what are the chances Lance Stephenson hangs around next year?

I think Born Ready is 70-30 to coming back. His jump shot has been horrible, especially from 3. That type of thing is going to keep him a little low on draft boards. Lance passes really well, and has started vacuuming up rebounds. The big problem lately has been Lance not getting himself involved in the offense all 40 minutes. He disappeared against Louisville, and he disappeared yesterday. We need 33 to be the player we know he is the whole game.

What's up with Deonta Vaughn? 

Nothing, he's chillin. But really. It's interesting that you asked that, because coming tomorrow, we are going to break down what's up with Deonta Vaughn. It's your lucky day.

Are any Bearcats going to the NFL combine?

Yes. Tony Pike and Mardy Gilyard were invited, and you can watch them run, and catch and throw on the NFL Network in a couple weeks. I know I won't.

Are the Bearcats going to be on ESPN next football season?

At least once. The Bearcats are traveling to North Carolina State on Thursday, September 13 for a nationally televised showdown. In the last 4 seasons, UC hasn't lost on ESPN Thursday night. UC beat USF twice, and Oregon State once. Hopefully they are on more national games this season. They do play Oklahoma, so that will be on ABC or something.

It's Rivalry Week on the 4 letter, what do you think the best Big East rivalry is?

You have your Syracuse-Georgetown, Syracuse-UConn, your West Virginia-Pittsburgh, Seton Hall-Rutgers, Marquette-DePaul I guess, Louisville-Cincinnati, but I'm going to say South Florida-St John's. When I think of great Big East basketball, I think of those 2.

Be honest.

Syracuse v. Connecticut is my choice.

Back to football. How awesome is Zach Collaros going to be? 

Very awesome. Butch Jones has tons of weapons coming back on offense, with Vidal Hazelton, Collaros, Isaiah Pead, DJ Woods, Armon Binns, and what have you. The Brian Kelly Machine should roll on, but as the Butch Jones Awesome Squad. Yeah, I had nothing there, but from now on, the offense is going to be called the BJAS.

What do you think about Brian Kelly being named the Ohio football coach of the year?

Yawn, that's what I care. Why are these awards still going on? It's February. Even baseball doesn't stretch his award season as much as some of these football awards. Let's wrap this award stuff up in December, or after the national title game guys. Come on.

Was this very successful?

Hell yes it was.

Tomorrow we break down Deonta Vaughn and his up and down senior season. Thanks for reading.

UC Notes

Tomorrow is National Signing Day, so there are a bevy of recruiting notes flying around. I thought it would be prudent to post them here so we are all informed. Tomorrow will be a breakdown of all the signing action, and class ranks and what have you.

The first note is from basketball. On the heels of his outstanding performance against Providence, Cashmere Wright is the Big East Freshman of the week. Congrats out to Cash, let's keep it going.

A couple Senior Bowl notes to start. 

• Tony Pike started and was 5-12 45 yards. Tony also had 1 run for 6 yards. Not a great day. 
• Mardy Gilyard had a huge day with 5 catches for 103 yards and a touchdown. He also averaged 26 yards on kick returns, and 12 on punt returns. 
• Mardy's success was noted by CBS' Rob Rang. 

Recruiting news and rumors and news.

• Winton Woods product Dominique Brown made his collegiate decision, and it was Louisville. The sticking point between UC, Ohio State and UofL was playing quarterback. I guess he wasn't going to see action in Columbus or Cincy the next couple years, and Louisville's QB prospects are wide open after roughly half the state of Kentucky took snaps last season. 
• Former UC recruit Luke Massa ended up choosing to attend Notre Dame. This wasn't a surprise because he's in love with Brian Kelly, and he would follow BK through the gates of hell. Luke Massa is really dedicated. 
• North Ft. Meyers WR Tre Boston, such an awesome name, was going to attend UC, but has chosen to go to smelly North Carolina. I don't know why someone as cool as Tre would want to go to a place where you aren't allowed to wear shoes, and where there is so much tar lying around that it will get stuck to your heels. Seems like a bad place.
• In the 'maybe good news' department, the much more awesomely named Munchie Legaux has cut his choices down to UC, and CU. Munchie is a dual threat QB who plans on majoring in sports medicine. According to himself he has "good lower body mechanics, and looks to pass first." This kid sounds like a winner. I don't know much, but when the chips fall, I want Munchie Legaux on my side. (It's the second item here. Don't be fooled by the headline.)
• Let's wrap things up with some good news shall we? We shall, good call. WR Anthony McClung, from Pike HS and teammate of Dyjuan Lewis, had switched from Louisville to Cincinnati. Anthony is a do it all slot receiver, and I think he could make a big impact at UC. He was a Wildcat QB for his team, and it would be interesting to see if he would perform that role here. McClung chose UC after not being sure what was happening with Louisville. He said Louisville tried to switch his position and grey(red) shirt him. With McClung, Lewis and Vidal Hazelton joining the fray, UC looks to be loaded at receiver.

That's all for this Tuesday edition of UC Notes. I know you are all waiting for Lost tonight, and anything you can get your hands on to pass the time is gravy. I have no idea when national signing day ends, but I'll put something up right after, and I'll try my best to keep you updated through the day.

Oh Say Did UC?

With so much football news, and a little basketball news, it's time to hit the links for some Bearcats news. First some site news. Tomorrow is going to be a breakdown of the Big East. Friday will probably just be the Providence breakdown, but maybe a national look at things for the NCAA tournament. If you are nice, you will get both. Let us look at the news shall we?

It's Senior Bowl week, so let's hit those links first. Watch the game Saturday to check out the Cats.

• NFL.Com did a stock report from Day 1. They had Tony Pike as a Stock up, and Mardy Gilyard as a stock down. 
• The man Josh Katzowitz wrote about how the UC trio of players, Pike, Gilyard and long snapper Mike Windt, are trying to impress NFL scouts and coaches at the bowl. 
• Wrapping up the Senior Bowl stuff, an interview with Mardy Gilyard. It retells Mardy's story of he was off the team, came back and was awesome. 
• Mardy is also on twitter, @MardyGilyard. You can follow Bearcats Blog on twitter as well. 
• One other JK item, we linked to part I of his interview with Bearcats coach Butch Jones last week, and here is part II.
• Some recruiting news as we head towards Signing Day. First, the bad. Defensive end from Wyoming High Jibreel Black switched his commitment to Michigan. First he committed to Indiana, then UC, now Michigan.
• Winton Woods standout Dominique Brown lead his team to the State championship and was the division 2 player of the year, but he might not stay in Cincinnati. He's due to visit Louisville this week. He's also visited Ohio State as well as UC.
• Good news, QB Cody Kater is coming to UC. He was a Central Michigan recruit who decided to follow Butch Jones. Kater was the QB for 2 Michigan state champs, and is the first D-1 scholarship player from his high school. There is video on the site if you want to check him out.
• The great Brian Bennett has a Big East recruiting scoreboard. UC has only 16 recruits, 8 of which are 3 star and above.
• Dennis Dodd of CBS ranked the coaching hires. Dodd ranked Butch Jones at #7. The top 6 were USF's Skip Holtz, Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville, that new coach in South Bend, Mike London of Virginia and Charlie Strong at Louisville. 

Slow week for basketball news, as evidenced by

• The top UC basketball story being that Kahla Roudebush was named to the Big East weekly honor roll. Roudey as her friends call her, put up 20.5, 5 boards and 2.5 assists. She had 25 against Georgetown, a season high. The ladies are 9-9 (2-4) and play tonight at DePaul. 
• Former Bearcat guard Devan Downey helped South Carolina knock off top ranked Kentucky 68-62 last night by scoring 30. The Bearcats Blog curse is in full effect. Downey has stamped his name into South Carolina history according to Ron Morris. It was the first time in the 102 year history of USC basketball that they beat #1. 
• Former Cat great, and #2 best Cat of the decade, Steve Logan has backed out of the Bearcats Hall of Fame Inductions for next month. That has nothing to do with his non-existent NBA career, and more to do with the rape charges. Going into the Hall, Brad Jackson former football player. Also, a bunch of other nerds. Just kidding, they are Andrew Keen (soccer, really for soccer) and Mary Danner Wineberg (track and field mainly the track part). 

Since that last bit was depressing, here is a hilarious celebration video from Syracuse blogger HoyaSuxa after their win over Georgetown Monday. Until tomorrow, thanks for reading. Especially the person in Luxembourg.

Oh Say Did UC?

Time to hit up the Cincinnati news on this Friday afternoon. Just a quick site bit, the Louisville preview for the game Sunday afternoon will probably go up tomorrow. If it somehow doesn't, it will be up Sunday morning well before noon. Quick fact that will be be in the preview. The Bearcats have played the most, and won the most at Freedom Hall more than any Louisville opponent. Plus, the Cats won the 1962 National Title in Freedom Hall. Let's hit some news.

• I can't find anything on the status of Lance Stephenson. Since Born Ready was labeled day to day, I expect him in the lineup Sunday at noon.
• Speaking of Lance, here is an SI article that (coughhackcough) Paul Daugherty wrote. This is like a week old, but I'm pretty sure I didn't post a link and I know you get all your UC news here. Right? Say yes for my fragile ego. 
• This article from CNati questions if Jaquon Parker is the missing piece. I hope that he can step in and play the point, and that would be huge. I'm not totally against giving Cashmere Wright another look in spurts. I'm all for Parker starting Sunday.
• Louisville was taken down by Seton Hall last night in a nightmare scenario. There was some controversy at the end. Jerry Smith made a 3 with .7 remaining. As Seton Hall was set to inbound, there was a whistle and the player with the ball took 2 steps on the court. All the players turned towards their benches, so that could be chalked up to confusion. However, Seton Hall's inbounds pass was tipped back out of bounds. The inbounder would run the line, an absolute clear violation, and Seton Hall would inbound and make free throws. Youtube: here. 
• The Wall Street Journal decided to have their yearly piece about how awesome the Big East is. Worth a read, or otherwise I wouldn't have linked to it. 
• Luke Winn writes a great Power Rankings on SI every Thursday. UC isn't mentioned, but it's one of my favorite reads of the week. Good job Luke.

That about does it on the basketball news. Let's hit the gridiron.

• Another SI bit. Stewart Mandel, from Cincinnati, did a report card of the coaching hires. Spoiler alert: Butch Jones got an A-. Louisville's Charlie Strong got the best grade, A+, and South Florida's Skip Holtz received an A-. Big East AD's are hitting it out of the park this year on paper.
• Dyjuan Lewis, a 4 star receiver from Indianapolis, recommited to Cincinnati. Nice job getting him back Butch Jones. Great decision Dyjuan.
• Here is a slightly dated Big East recruiting breakdown. Lewis answers a question asked in the piece, and is UC's best recruit. 
• QB recruit Luke Massa is being wooed by Notre Dame. The St. X star said "Then (on Thursday) Notre Dame offered (a scholarship). I was definitely pretty excited. Who wouldn't be excited about an offer from Notre Dame? I'll be visiting there Jan. 30, and then make my decision after that." Great. Sounds like he might be going.
• Alex Daniels and Aaron Webster were named to the Texas vs. The Nation all star game. Good for them. 
• Mel Kiper has his rankings up. They are insider so no link. Tony Pike fell out of his top 5 QBs. Mardy Gilyard is his 4th best WR. Armon Binns is 2 on the list for next year.
• Our main man Josh Katzowitz has an interview with Butch Jones up on GoBearcats. 

Finally, Brian Bennett at ESPN's Big East blog has a shit load of UC related things. You should read his blog, but then forget about it when I link to stuff about it. The following bullets are all his.

• Big East games of the Decade: UC v. Pitt #3. UC vs South Florida from October 2007 #9.
• Coaches of the Decade: #1 Brian Kelly. Don't boo or get angry, just let the last BK mention be a good one.
• Programs of the Decade: UC #5. Top 4: Miami, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.
• Half Decade Team: WR Mardy Gilyard, OG Trevor Canfield, CB Mike Mickens and P Kevin Huber.
• Big East Game of the Year: 

1. #7 Cincinnati vs West Virginia. 
2. #5 Cincinnati vs Connecticut
3. #1. Cincinnati at Pittsburgh

That didn't end confusingly at all. Thank you so very much for taking the time to read the blog. Shout out to whoever read this in Belgium. Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the Louisville preview. It won't be up in the morning, probably the afternoon. There will be the normal quick result post and the full reaction Monday. As for the rest of the week, I'm not sure. The Cats don't play until the next Saturday, so if you have any ideas for what you want me to write about, leave a comment. 

Oh Say Did UC?

Hi there and welcome to the feature sweeping the nation, Oh Say Did UC? If you missed the electric first version, it's pretty much a gathering of Cincinnati Bearcats news put in one place. It's probably the greatest thing since chocolate milk. We've had a busy couple weeks with Bearcats playing in the Sugar Bowl last Friday, and the basketball team playing 5 games in 11 days. There will probably only be a Seton Hall result post Sunday, with a write up coming on Monday. Let's do the football news first, and the basketball news second. Alright? Alright.

• The final polls of the season came out last night after Alabama beat Texas to win the BCS National Championship. There should be a playoff or a plus 1, because after watching last night, teams like Boise State could absolutely hang. But if there were a plus 1, they probably would have been left out because they were #5. Anyway, the Broncos somehow finished 4th which is bullshit by the coaches and AP. Get your heads out of your asses. They went undefeated and you have them behind Florida? Behind Texas? McCoy didn't play, but Texas still lost and Boise didn't. End rant.
• The Bearcats finished 8th in the AP Top 25 and 9th in the Coaches' Poll behind Penn State. Florida was 3rd.
• Former Bearcats defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, and passing game coordinator and receiver coach Charley Molnar are leaving the school to go to Notre Dame. This isn't surprising in the least. The Bearcats already announced new coordinators. Also going to Notre Dame are defensive line/assistant head coach Mike Elston and running backs coach and recruting coordinator Tim Hinton. Everyone else but Kerry Coombs is going to Buffalo. Most of the UC coaching staff next year will be from Central Michigan. Typical coaching change stuff. 
• Butch Jones was interviewed at halftime of the Cal State Bakersfield game. He didn't say anything really important. He said Zach Collaros will be the point guard of the offense, and the team will still attack. He said the defense at Central Michigan was good this year, and it will be at UC next year. I think he was freaked out by Michael Reghi's hair. Just go gray dude.
• Brian Bennett had these 2 nuggets of information about next year. First, he says don't be that worried about next season. He is critical of the team in the Sugar Bowl, so you can skim past the first couple of questions.
• BB also has a list of who's returning next season for the Big East so far. The Cats have 12 starters coming back, 7 offense, 5 defense. The offense also has USC transfer Vidal Hazelton to look forward to next year. 
• Someone not returning is South Florida coach Jim Leavitt. South Florida corroborated reports that he grabbed by the throat, and smacked player Joel Miller at halftime during a game with Louisville. On top of that, Leavitt lied during the investigation numerous times. Leavitt was the only coach in USF history and raised the program from the ground. He also was a gaping asshole apparently. 
• 3 Bearcats were invited to the Senior Bowl. Quarterback Tony Pike, Wide Receiver Mardy Gilyard and Long Snapper Mike Windt. The first 2 were locks, but what about Mike? Congrats big man. Don't throw one over the punter or holders head with the pro coaches watching. 
• Here is a great piece by Andy Staples that you should read about last nights game. 
• Despite the football teams success and 18,000 fans buying tickets for the Sugar Bowl, Cincinnati is facing a big deficit. The Enquirer reports the school will need $11 million a year to support being in the Big East. There is some doubt that the practice fields and bubble and basically everything Brian Kelly wanted, will be financially do-able. 

Now let's hit the basketball side of things.

• The game tomorrow will be on Fox Sports Ohio and ESPN 360.com at 6. If you are watching the Bengals game and don't have a dvr, I hope you can see it on 360. It will probably not work in Cincinnati or whatever city is unfortunate to have Seton Hall. 
• The great, great, great Basketball Prospectus ranked the Top 25 Freshmen of the year. Cincinnati's own Lance Stephenson finished 8th. It's a great list, check it out. 
• Here are where some great sites have the Bearcats ranked. Basketball State: 49. Team Rankings: 43. Real Time RPI: 52. Cal State Bakersfield killed our RPI there. Sagarin: 50 
• Basketball Prospectus has former Cat Tony Bobbitt as one of the top players in the NBDL who could get called up by the NBA soon. 
• CollegeHoops.net has a list of the top 100 players of January. The list has 2 Cats, 47 Lance Stephenson and 91 Yancy Gates. 
• Finally, let's cap the day off with some way too early bracket predictions that someone guessed. CollegeHoops.net has UC as a 11, SI a 12, playing Washington. I wish that was real. And finally ESPN's Bracketology has UC an 8 playing Texas Tech with Kentucky in the second round. 

Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting the blog. If you have any links that you want to send, shoot an email or leave a comment. If you want me to link your blog in the blogroll, simply shoot me a link and I'll add you. The Seton Hall preview will be up either tonight, or tomorrow morning.

Florida 51 Cincinnati 24

All photos from the Enquirer

When I wrote the preview for the Sugar Bowl, I said that one of the 3 possibilities for the outcome of this game was a Florida blowout victory. Sadly for the Cincinnati Bearcats and the fans, that was the case. The Florida Gators curb stomped the Bearcats all over the SuperDome to win the Sugar Bowl 51-24. In case you missed it, relive it in the live blog.

The story of the game was Tim Tebow.

And Tim Tebow.

And Tim Tebow.

Did I mention Tim Tebow?

In his last game in the blue and orange, the 1 time Heisman winner and 3 time finalist put a whopping 533 yards of offense on the Bearcats. 533! Tebow was phenomenal through the air going 31-35 for 482 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also ran for 51 yards and a touchdown. It was all out domination by Tebow and his teammates. It was like you were playing NCAA 10 on easy mode, or against a DII school. I've never seen a quarterback dominate so much. In fact, no player has put up that many yards in a bowl game ever. His 31 completions and 482 yards are Sugar Bowl records. It was his last game as a Florida Gator, and it was great to be a Florida Gator Friday night.

The Bearcats had nothing going on Friday night. After a penalty stopped the first drive, Florida marched down the field and scored on a Tebow touchdown to Aaron Hernandez, who had 9-111 and torched UC all night. The Bearcats blocked the extra point. That was the only first half highlight. After the second drive failed, the Gators got a field goal. UC needed to do something here down 9-0, and when they didn't Tebow and the Gators marched down the field and got a TD pass to Deonte Thompson. The first quarter ended with Florida having 159 yards and UC 19. A 3 and out, and Florida would score in about a minute as Emmanuel Moody walked in from 6 yards out. Down 23-0, the Cats had a scoring drive. Jake Rogers, who did a wonderful job punting putting 3 inside the 20 with a 42 yard average, hit a 47 yard field goal to get the Cats on the board. The UC 'comeback attempt' didn't last long. Tim Tebow hit Riley Cooper (7-181) with a 80 yard touchdown pass where Cooper blew by whoever was supposed to be covering him, and the rout was on in full. Tebow was 18-20 297-3 TDs in the first half. It was a show.

This was an utterly disappointing effort on the biggest stage of the season. The Bearcats had a magical 12-0 regular season, and ended in a way that will sadly tarnish the season. You can blame Brian Kelly. You can blame Jeff Quinn. You can blame Butch Jones for not coaching. You should not blame the players. They tried the whole game, they just didn't have the talent, or the game plan. There were no adjustments by the offense. There sure as shit weren't any adjustments by the defense. The Cats played the same way all 4 quarters, and you really have to blame the coaching staff for not setting things up better. The same goes for the offense. We all knew Brian Kelly had a lot to do with the offensive machine, and it showed Friday night. Jeff Quinn was in over his head going up against Urban Meyer. After UC was shut down the third time, it was over. The Bearcats couldn't stop the Gators, and falling behind 23 was the death knell. It was a terrible, terrible way to go out. Andre Revels said this after the game. "Don't take anything away from our credibility. Our record speaks for itself." I agree with that statement. People are going to say, "how were they #3?" "This team could have played for the National Title?" And to that I say fuck you. The Bearcats had a great, great regular season and their worst game in years against an elite team who took advantage of every failed drive, who had a QB have the game of his life, doesn't change that. I think they wouldn't have gotten so disheartened after 3 drives in the National Title game. They definitely wouldn't have had a lame duck coaching staff. Some of that, ok most of that, is anger about the outcome. But, I don't think you can discredit going undefeated because of 1 game. A game that everyone decided meant nothing beforehand. I doubt Iowa, or Georgia Tech, or Boise State, or TCU is going to take this much a beating if they get blown out, but oh well. We had a great season, and we'll always remember it.

A final note on things. I kind of liked the white helmets. They did give off a stormtrooper  look, and that's never a good thing. Stormtroopers weren't good warriors. Isaiah Pead ran hard. He had 48 yards, and he earned every one. Tony Pike was alright. He a couple of drops hurt, and he didn't have a game from hell like the Orange Bowl. Tony went 27/45 170 3 TDs. There was nothing going downfield. Would have liked Tony to be more accurate. 3.8 an attempt is bad too. Armon Binns made a spectacular touchdown catch. He was running towards the corner of the end zone, Pike threw it to the pylon. Binns leaped left and turned all the way  around to his right to pull it in. Great catch. Binns had 5-29. Mardy Gilyard set a Sugar Bowl record for return yards with 209. He also tied the school record for catches. He may have broken it, I'm not sure, I didn't see anything official. He had 7-41. Mardy took a lot of hits. He also laid out Florida stud linebacker Ryan Stamper on a nice block. Tough way to go out 1. The defense played in the game. 659 yards, a Sugar Bowl record, is fucking embarrassing. I blame the system more than the guys on this one though. Florida took advantage of every opening and there was always someone open. This one made me, and Tony Pike, a sad Panda.

Sugar Bowl Preview: #3 Cincinnati Bearcats vs. #5 Florida Gators

There will be a live blog starting at 8:30. Check back all night. What else do you have to do?
I'm pretty tempted to write "it's Florida, you know who they are," but that just won't do. The mighty Florida Gators storm into New Orleans' SuperDome to play the Cincinnati Bearcats. Some are calling it the Urban Meyer Bowl since he attended UC. But, it became the Urban Meyer Bowl with the news last week that he was quitting, and then staying at Florida. Throw in the fact it's Tim Tebow's last game in the orange and blue, and it's going to be a symphony of Florida blowing on Fox tomorrow. The Bearcats lost Brian Kelly after it was announced they would play in the Sugar Bowl. New coach Butch Jones decided to stay out of coaching and let interim coach Jeff Quinn handle things. But, Quinn took the Buffalo job making things more confusing. With the Meyer stuff the last week, no one has talked about UC. So why even show up ya know? That was in sarcastic font because I think the 13 point underdog Bearcats can show the world something tonight. Let's compare the foes after the jump.

UC Game of the Decade

(Credit: The great, great Warming Glow)

First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this blog. Thanks for reading. This post is going to combine some news, and a preview of what's to come on the site for the rest of the year. This one has flown by hasn't it? Let's hit this with bullet points, because everyone likes them right?

• New Cincinnati football coach Butch Jones has hired his offensive and defensive coordinators. Offensively it's Mike Bajakian, who last held the job at Central Michigan. There are co-defensive coordinators, Tim Banks and John Jancek. Banks was also at Central Michigan a season a go. Jancek was at the University of Georgia, where he was also a co-ordinator. Nice to see Coach Jones getting some quality people in here. 
• Current Cincinnati interim coach Jeff Quinn has taken the head coach job at Buffalo. He will still coach the Sugar Bowl. The Sugar Bowl is being a big clusterfuck coach wise. With Brian Kelly leaving, and Jones not having much of anything to do with the game, and now Quinn is out getting other jobs. It's a very weird situation. And it's one that I don't think is going to have the best of benefits for the Bearcats. Although, an article was written here about how the team is staying focused with all the turmoil. 
• There will be a Sugar Bowl preview on New Year's Day. Depending on my fluctuating plans, there may be some live blog action. 
• The basketball team is done for the next week, but there will be a preview on Wednesday and a write up of the UConn game either Wednesday night or Thursday. Best idea, just click refresh a whole lot. 
• Speaking of hoops, the school announced a reward system for students who attend games. Depending on the attendance on some of the conference games, there is going to be an attendance article. 6,000 fans is pathetic. Get out there students, you can win season tickets for football next year. 

I'm going to do a little something special the next week. I'm going to roll out a list of the best players of the decade for basketball. Why not one for football? Because the list would be everyone from the last 2 seasons. I remember going to Nippert and running around the area around the stadium and not caring about the game. My friends and I would always move close to to the bench of the visiting team, because our tickets were always on the visiting side. But all that changed. The past 3 seasons, the Nip has been full. It was remarkable watching UC-UConn get top billing on ABC on a Saturday night over Oklahoma-Nebraska. UC played a prominent game the day after Thanksgiving. And a road game at Pitt that the whole nation watched. It was truly the best time to be a UC fan ever. Here are the winners for coach, player, and team of the decade.

Football coach of the Decade: Brian Kelly

Football player of the Decade: Mardy Gilyard

Football team of the Decade: 2009.

Finally, the game of the decade. Not just for football, but for all Cincinnati sports. The 45-44 win over Pittsburgh to win the Big East title.

Oh Say Did UC?

The day of the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati de facto Big East championship game, some Big East bloggers came up with names for fake UC blogs. One of them, was Oh Say Can UC. In this post where I link stories from around the world about UC, I'm going to take that name and tweak it. Will I come up with a better name soon? Maybe. 


Today was a slow news day, so every sports site came out with their All American teams. Mardy Gilyard landed on a bunch of these lists. The AP had him second team. The Sporting News had Mardy on the 2nd team and linebacker Andre Revels on the 3rd team. Rivals had Mardy 2nd team WR and kick returner. Jeff Linkenbach was 3rd team at offensive line. SI had Mardy 1st team as All Purpose.

Jeff Quinn had a Sugar Bowl press conference today. Some highlights (from Lance McAlister's twitter) Picture courtesy of the AP.

• All scholarships offered will be honored...nobody has reneged that i'm aware of
• message doesn't change...just comes from different voice
•  I stand before you as the next man in.....this is the senior's football team..we need them to step up and lead, be mature...i trust them
• nd came looking for bk...he wasn't searching out other places
• we gave brian the menu and he had a feel for what he wanted to do...that sheet is the work of me and the off coaches

In that same vain, Brian Bennett at ESPN conducted an interview with Quinn. Here is part 1. And part 2.
Cory Giger wrote an article about the Big 10 expanding. His suggestion: Cincinnati. Nippert Stadium is really small by Big 10 standards. They would probably have to build a new stadium, or play at PBS or something. I'm not really sure how that would work. 
Rounding around to basketball, the Bearcats ranked 25 in the AP poll and fell out of the ESPN/USA Today top 25, but were the top team receiving votes. 
The great, great, great Rush the Court blog was at the Crosstown Shootout Sunday. Along with their excellent game coverage, there was this fantastic article by John Stevens about his experience. I recommend this highly.
Also, the very, very good Pat Forde wrote about the game on ESPN.com, calling it one of America's great rivalries. 
There was a very handsome man who wrote about the Shootout as well. 
That's all for today. Look for the UAB breakdown tomorrow, and then a write up on Wednesday night/Thursday. Thanks for reading. 

Bearcats represent on Big East Awards day

The Bearcats had a strong representation as the all Big East teams and awards were given out today. Brian Kelly was the coach of the year for the 3rd, and last, time. It was to be expected since he was the national coach of the year. Mardy Gilyard won his second straight Special Teams Player of the Year award. If he didn't have it sewn up before Saturday, he wrapped it up then. The Offensive Player of the year was Dion Lewis of Pitt, Defense was a tie between Greg Romeus and Mick Williams, also of Pitt. Lewis was also rookie of the year. Jasper Howard was the Honorary Captain of All Teams.

The All Big East team was filled with the following Bearcats. Congrats sirs

1st team

QB Tony Pike

WR Mardy Gilyard

C Chris Jurek
S Aaron Webster
RS Mardy Gilyard
Big East 2nd team
WR Armon Binns
OT Jeff Linkenbach
OG Alex Hoffman
OG Jason Kelce
TE Ben Guidugli
DL Ricardo Mathews