Tuesday, September 12, 2000UC's reward: No. 6 Wisconsin
Road gets tougher for 2-0 Bearcats
By John Erardi
The Cincinnati EnquirerThe University of Cincinnati's football schedule ratchets up another notch again this week as the 2-0 Bearcats travel to No.6-Wisconsin.
Having beaten Army (Conference USA opponent) in the opener and Syracuse (ranked No.24 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll) last Saturday, the Bearcats now confront a physical football team with a score to settle — avenging last year's 17-10 upset at Nippert Stadium.
What gives UC a shot this Saturday against Wisconsin (2-0) is a stingy, opportunistic defense that has been keeping the Bearcats in the game until its slow-starting offense can get rolling.
“Rick Smith (UC's defensive coordinator) and the fellas on defense are just working their tails off, got the kids believing, playing hard, flying around, and playing together,” UC coach Rick Minter said.
The challenge Saturday will be to keep Wisconsin from opening a big lead early, because it would be difficult for UC to catch up.
“Potentially, Wisconsin has an even better offense than they had with (running back) Ron Dayne because if Michael Bennett breaks into the open, he's even faster than Dayne,” Minter said. “And they're more diversified because they now have a seasoned good young quarterback in Brooks Bollinger. A year ago, you knew the freight train was coming at you. Now, they run the option a little more, put some big plays on the back of Bollinger and if Bennett gets a crack, he will not be brought down from behind.”
The Bearcats have demonstrated the ability to produce clutch drives to win games, but they've not been able to generate offense in the first half or produce touchdowns once inside the 30-yard line. These are things they'll probably have to do to upset Wisconsin.
Minter said UC's slow starts are not a result of conservative play-calling. One would think that the Bearcats — with strong-armed senior quarterback Deontey Kenner and a veteran receiving corps — would be able to blend some passing into the early offensive game plan.
But, as Minter noted, the passing game is not yet operating efficiently. Against Syracuse, there were nine missed assignments among the wide receivers and five dropped balls. There were seven missed assignments by the offensive line.
Kenner was only 16-of-35 for 188 yards, but he had no turnovers and threw good passes when he had time. He also came up large in UC's final drive.
Also, UC has confidence in its defense and is apparently concerned about giving away the football early on offense and having to play catch-up.
“Somebody was asking me the other day how you win games when you're the underdog,” Minter said. “I've always believed you find a way to win those games on defense.”
UC NOTES: Jason Mammarelli, who hit the 47-yard game-winning field goal to beat Syracuse 12-10, was named Conference USA special teams player of the week. Senior linebacker Troy Evans (Lakota), who had a team-leading 13 tackles against Syracuse, was named C-USA's defensive player.
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