Saturday, September 11, 1999
UC fears Trojan horse
I-AA foe comes into Nippert
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It is possible to find Troy State on a map, because even though there is no state of Troy, there is a Troy, Ala. You will not find Troy State, though, on a list of the 114 teams that compete in football in the NCAA's Division I-A.
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THE SKINNY
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• Kickoff: 7 p.m. today at Nippert Stadium (35,000), Cincinnati.
• Records: UC 1-0, Troy State 0-0.
• Radio: WCKY-AM 1360.
• Series: UC leads 1-0.
• Line: No line.
• What to watch: Cincinnati junior quarterback Deontey Kenner is the nation's No.4-rated passer after one game, and receiver Jason Collins-Baker will be shooting for a second straight 100-yard game. Troy State's best player is defensive lineman Al Lucas, a 300-pounder who had five sacks in 1998.
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This begs the question of why you will find Troy State in Nippert Stadium at 7 tonight to challenge the Cincinnati Bearcats. UC has an excuse for this but is much more concerned about not needing any excuses when the game is done.
Although UC (1-0) opened with a 41-3 victory against Kent last week, coach Rick Minter said: “We don't need to sit around and gloat about our performance. This team, I promise, will be so much better.”
Troy State is a perennial I-AA power that reached the NCAA playoffs five of the past six seasons under coach Larry Blakeney and has 20 starters back from last year's 8-4 team. Minter is impressed with the Trojans' team speed and with defensive tackle Al Lucas, whom he says is as good a defender as the Bearcats will play this year.
UC wound up scheduling this game because Arkansas State, one of the Bearcats' two victims in 1998, asked to postpone its visit to Nippert. At that point, there weren't many alternatives to playing a I-AA opponent.
“If I had my choices,” Minter said, “I'd rather stay with Arkansas State. We played those guys. We know exactly what they can do.
“Right now, if I'm Troy State, I wouldn't mind playing a young Cincinnati football team.”
That's because Minter knows how unstable his offensive line was in the win against Kent, and he knows Troy knows. The few who saw the opener noticed how regularly quarterback Deontey Kenner was under pressure despite completing 21 of 25 passes.
Minter said that even though the rushing game produced 230 yards, a lot more of that resulted from outstanding running by backs Robert Cooper and P.J. Mays than is preferable.
“We've never had as many missed assignments in the offensive line and bad technique,” Minter said. “That doesn't equate to our kids being bad, just inexperienced. It was as poorly played an offensive line game as I've ever had here.”
Although Kenner was ranked No.4 among NCAA passers with a 207.3 efficiency rating, Minter said his performance graded out poorly because of technique and “doing little things.” He was pleased, though, that UC caught so many balls, because it wasn't something they'd done consistently through spring practice and training camp.
Kenner was not bothered to be found wanting. “Things are never as good or bad as they seem,” he said, “especially in football, when there are so many things that go along with completing a pass or running a play.”
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