Tulane has not been kind to many University of Cincinnati football coaches — the Bearcats have a 2-9 series record vs. the Green Wave — but especially not to current Rick Minter.

        In 1996, a fairly well-bally hooed Cincinnati team coming off its first winning season (6-5) under third-year coach Minter got blasted in its home opener 34-14 in what was Conference USA's first season.

        In 1997, UC's 8-4 Humanitarian Bowl season, the Bearcats went up 10-0 in the Louisiana Superdome, but the Green Wave, unveiling the wide-open offense of then-coach Tommy Bowden, starring quarterback Shaun King, scored two touchdowns in five minutes right before the half and went on to win 31-17.

        In 1998, UC got kicked in the teeth (52-34) in its season opener at Nippert Stadi um by a Tulane team that would go on to a 12-0 season. (It began a disastrous 2-9 season for UC.)

UC at TULANE

• Records: UC 2-2 (1-0 C-USA); Tulane 1-2 (1-0).   • Kickoff: 6 p.m. Saturday. • Where: Louisiana Superdome (69,967).   • Radio: WCKY-AM (1360).

        And now, this Saturday, a 2-2 UC team on the precipice of what could be either an exciting season or an incredibly disappointing one faces Tulane in the Louisiana Superdome.

        It would be overly dramatic to call it a make-or-break game — there are five more conference games after this one, and UC is already 1-0 in C-USA — but a victory certainly would do a lot to right UC's ship. It would give the

        Bearcats a head of steam as they return home to Nippert Stadium next week to play host to conference foe Houston after a three-week road swing.

        Conversely, a loss at Tulane would change the scenario considerably. Legitimate talk of a conference championship would deteriorate into questioning whether UC could muster the necessary six victories and top-four finish in C-USA to gain a bowl bid.

        Minter takes one look at Tulane's defense and points out that it will present the Bearcats' sputtering pass attack an even sterner test than did Indiana last Saturday.

        “It's an aggressive, eight-man front defense that plays a lot of "nickel' and "dime' with their defensive backs and linebackers,” Minter said. “When all your linebackers are (numbered) in the 20s and 30s, that tells you they came in as running backs and defensive backs. They keep their number — and their speed — when they move to linebacker.”

        Tulane's defense kept the Green Wave in the game for three quarters against Ole Miss, then smothered SMU last Saturday.

        Given that the Bearcats probably will be starting backup quarterback Adam Hoover (starting QB Deontey Kenner is still healing from an abdominal strain), Tulane probably will bring the heat.

        “They play a whole lot of "man' defense because they have a lot of faith in their coverage,” Minter said. “They'll play that deep man-to-man coverage on money-down situations. We're going to have to run the football to be effective.”

        Not even East Carolina (one of the better teams in C-USA) was able to knock out the Green Wave defense.

        “It took some big runs by (ECU's) option quarterbacks and some big deep passes by them to get up on Tulane,” Minter said. “Other than that, Tulane held them down. We're going to have our hands full.”

Bearcats have hard history with stingy Tulane

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