By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati Bearcats center Josh Shneyderov and his football teammates are approaching today's game at Tulane as the opening game in a new season.

Which, in effect, it is.

Starting with this afternoon's kickoff (3:30 p.m. Eastern) at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, seven of UC's final eight opponents are Conference USA foes. Five of these final eight games are on the road.

GAME DAY

UC at Tulane • Kickoff: 3:30 p.m., Louisiana Superdome (70,000), New Orleans. • Records: UC 2-3 (1-0 C-USA), Tulane 3-3 (1-2). • Radio: WLW-AM (700). • TV: None. • Series: Tulane leads 10-3. • Line: UC by 5. • Who to watch: Tulane's J.P. Losman, who had 4 TD passes last week. UC Team stats TUL 414.6 Offense avg. 334.8 104.4 Avg. by rush 123.5 310.2 Avg. by pass 211.3 380.6 Defense avg. 375.8 173.2 Avg. by rush 186.3 207.4 Avg. by pass 189.5 29.6 Avg. points for 25.5 28.0 Avg. pts. against 25.3

"We look at it as a clean slate. We're back in conference play, where we are undefeated (1-0)," Shneyderov said.

This "second season" is in marked contrast with the just-completed first season, when four of UC's first five games were at home. Opportunities abounded: opening-game conference foe Texas Christian came in, as well as big-name West Virginia, perennial power Ohio State and rival Miami. The Bearcats squandered all but one of those opportunities - and it took a huge fourth-quarter comeback/overtime to beat TCU. UC also rallied for a fourth-quarter win at Temple.

The Bearcats (2-3) need five more victories in their 13-game season to become bowl-eligible.

Today, UC might be able to outscore Tulane, which figures to fricassee the Bearcats' run defense, just the way West Virginia's and Miami's spread offenses did.

UC has to hope its defense can keep the Green Wave's scoring in the 30s, and that the Bearcats' powerful - but, as of late, interception-prone - pass offense can get the score into the high 30s or low 40s.

It happened last year at Nippert Stadium.

"They (the Green Wave) brought a high-powered offense in here with a No.1 draft choice at quarterback (Patrick Ramsey) ... and they put some yards and points on us," recalled UC coach Rick Minter. "But our offense answered every one of those challenges and we put 45 points on the board."

But Tulane's defense is better this year.

"The row to hoe for our offense isn't going to be as easy as it was last year," Minter said. "But it doesn't mean the challenge isn't the same: to score one more than we give up."

Just don't look for Minter to suddenly transform the Bearcats into the Flying Karamazov Brothers. UC isn't going to throw the ball 60 times per game. It already has the seventh-ranked pass offense in the country, but those yards haven't brought enough wins.

"How much more can we open it up, than to throw the ball 50-plus times?" asked Minter. "I don't know how much more open you (the media) want it. We're (ranked) last in the conference in rushing. We're throwing for more yards than anybody in the conference - by far - and we're 2-3. How much more do we want to throw the ball?"

When it was suggested to Minter that the answer to that question was in his statement earlier in the interview - "enough to score one more point" than the defense gives up - the coach responded:

"The solution isn't in throwing the ball more, I promise you. The solution is in not turning the darned thing over three times in the fourth quarter," he said. "Our three turnovers by our offense (against Miami) were all because we were trying to throw the football.

"We didn't protect him (quarterback Gino Guidugli at the end of the first half) and we took a sack-fumble.... And we threw two picks (in the fourth quarter).... How many turnovers have we had this year due to our running game? I don't think we've had any, maybe one."

Minter was on a roll.

"Everybody says, 'Open up,' but we're throwing the ball 50 times a ballgame; we're not winning, we're not protecting our quarterback, we're turning the ball over. So tell me why we should open it up more.... How about running the ball to make everybody come to the box to stop the run and then the passing game goes right back to being a lot easier."