Sunday, October 24, 1999
SOUTHERN MISS 28, UC 20
Buried early, Bearcats come up short
BY STAN CALDWELL
Enquirer contributor
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — It was the same song, second verse for the University of Cincinnati.
For the second straight week, the Bearcats dug themselves a hole they could not quite get themselves out of Saturday, as 21st-ranked Southern Mississippi held on for a 28-20 Conference USA victory before a crowd of 24,012 at Roberts Stadium.
The Bearcats fell behind 28-0 before staging a furious second-half rally. UC had a chance to pull out the win in the final minute, but a last-second Hail Mary attempt was knocked down by Southern Miss.
UC's fourth consecutive defeat dropped the Bearcats to 2-5 overall and 0-3 in C-USA, while USM climbed to 5-2 and remained alone in first place in the conference at 4-0.
“That's been our M.O. all season,” UC head coach Rick Minter said. “It seems like we expend ourselves getting back into games, then we don't have anything left to get over the hump.”
Last week, the Bearcats overcame a 21-0 first-half deficit, then came back to tie, only to lose to UAB on a last-second field goal.
“In the first half, we were stopping ourselves,” Bearcat quarterback Deontey Kenner said. “We weren't making the right plays at the right time. But when we put our minds to it, we're capable of playing with anybody.”
Bad luck dogged UC from the opening coin toss, which the Golden Eagles won. They promptly chose to defend the north end zone, from which a brisk wind was blowing.
UC went nowhere on its first possession, then gave USM excellent field position at the Eagle 43. USM immediately drove 57 yards on nine plays, with Derrick Nix getting the touchdown from 5 yards out.
The Bearcats then drove to the Eagle 49, but Robert Cooper fumbled, and Adalius Thomas recovered for USM. The Golden Eagles wasted no time, as Jeff Kelly hit a wide-open Sherrod Gideon for a 51-yard scoring strike on the first play.
“It's the same thing that happened the last time we played here,”Minter said. “The wind is always a factor here late in the year, and whoever wins the toss has the advantage in the first and fourth quarters.”
Jason Mammarelli had two kicks blocked the first half and the Bearcats also botched the snap on a PAT.
“I'd comment on our kicking game, but it'd be X-rated,” Minter said. “Our punting game was solid, but we got nothing out of our return game, our kickoff coverage was horrible and our field goal-point after game was horrible. That's seven points we lost because of mistakes in the kicking game, and that might have been the difference.”
Or the difference might have been a questionable offensive pass interference call late in the first half that wiped out an apparent UC touchdown from Kenner to LaDaris Vann from 21 yards. Vann was ruled to have pushed off on the play.
“That was big,” Kenner said. “We could have scored in the first half if we hadn't had that call. But a football game is a game of a lot of plays, and you can't put it all on one play.”
The rout appeared to be on when Southern Miss made it 28-0 on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Kelly to Todd Pinkston.
However, from that low point, the Bearcats suddenly a decisively turned the game around. Kenner suddenly began finding the range.
Before he was through, Kenner would complete 35 of 59 passes for 407 yards. The attempts set a new school record, the completions tied a school record and the yardage tied for the second-most in UC history.
“The numbers don't mean anything to me,” Kenner said. “I'd rather throw for 90 yards and win. You have to compete the whole game, and we didn't do that.”
Kenner's chief target was junior Antonio Chatman, who had a breakout game, with nine catches for 130 yards and a touchdown.
Trailing 28-0, Cooper got the tough yards on UC's first scoring drive, capped by a 9-yard touchdown pass from Kenner to Chatman.
The Bearcats then forced Southern Miss to punt for the first time, and swiftly drove 69 yards in seven plays, with Lloyd Garden getting the score from a yard out.
Garden then made it 28-20 on another 1-yard plunge with 2:02 to play.
UC forced USM to punt on its last series, and with 49 seconds to play, the Bearcats had a chance to pull the game out. Kenner was able to get UC to the Bearcat 42, but could not find a miracle at the end.
Cincinnati ....... 0 0 7 13—20
Southern Miss ....... 14 7 7 0—28
First Quarter
USM—Nix 5 run (Hanna kick), 8:47
USM—Gideon 49 pass from Kelly (Hanna kick), 5:21
Second Quarter
USM—Gideon 12 pass from Kelly (Hanna kick), 2:51
Third Quarter
USM—Pinkston 41 pass from Kelly (Hanna kick), 7:27
Cin—Chatman 9 pass from Kenner (Ruffin kick), 2:53
Fourth Quarter
Cin—Garden 1 run (kick failed), 13:28
Cin—Garden 1 run (Ruffin kick), 2:02
A—24,012.
Cin USM
First downs ....... 28 17
Rushes-yards ....... 37-122 33-115
Passing ....... 407 237
Comp-Att-Int ....... 35-59-0 12-17-0
Return Yards ....... 13 00
Punts-Avg. ....... 2-29 5-44
Fumbles-Lost ....... 1-1 1-1
Penalties-Yards ....... 5-46 8-44
Time of Possession ....... 37:36 22:24
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Cincinnati, Cooper 27-93, Kenner 3-19, Garden 6-14, Mays 1-(minus 4). Southern Miss, Nix 22-82, Francis 4-24, Woods 4-15, Kelly 3-(minus 6).
PASSING—Cincinnati, Kenner 35-59-0-407. Southern Miss, Kelly 12-17-0-237.
RECEIVING—Cincinnati, Chatman 9-130, Cooper 9-46, Olinger 5-63, Smikle 5-45, Mays 3-43, Keith 2-13, Vann 1-44, Hunt 1-23. Southern Miss, Gideon 5-105, Pinkston 3-93, Mills 3-36, Nix 1-3.
Bearcats Stories
Rose, Bench on century stage
All-Century team voting
Gehrig top vote-getter on All-Century Team
McKeon deserves better but lacks leverage
Vaughn's agent: Market not set
Akili has new No. 1 motivation
Akili may lead, but will Bengals follow?
Colts have Bengals in a corner
Bengals-Colts by the numbers
Who's got the edge?
Players to watch
O'Donnell's success begs: Why not here?
Muskies court high school big men
Mistakes make winners of Yanks
Yankees 4, Braves 1
OHIO STATE 20, MINNESOTA 17
GEORGIA 49, KENTUCKY 34
Hanover 29, Mount St. Joseph 25
THOMAS MORE 28, MERCHANT MARINE 0
Redhawks dismiss low expectations
Reese can fill OSU void
Falk takes inside track to state tennis title
Hall fades to fourth in state golf
St. Ursula wins sectional volleyball title
A first: Kings wins cross country title
CINCINNATI OHIO HIGH SCHOOL RESULTS
Colerain girls blow away field for district title
Elder runners beat La Salle; St. X cruises
Fresh blood runs Bacon to victory
ND, Campbell Co. win regional volleyball titles
St. Xavier 50, Cle. St. Ignatius 33
Badin 28, Meadowdale 12
Bellevue 37, NewCath 23
CovCath 39, Scott 7
Indian Hill 28, Wyoming 14
Smith, Lorenzen happy to bide time on UK bench
A little goofiness does a lot of good
Grand Rapids 2, Cyclones 1
ROCHESTER 4, MIGHTY DUCKS 1
