By Bill Koch
Enquirer contributor

When Louisville lines up against the University of Cincinnati tonight, look for ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso to rave about the way Cardinal quarterback Dave Ragone, at 6 feet 4, 255 pounds, takes on tacklers when he scrambles out of the pocket.

Ragone's toughness is his trademark, more so than even his highly productive passing arm, and TV analysts aren't the only ones who love that aggressiveness. UC's Rick Minter practically salivates when he talks about it.

"He's not looking to dodge bullets," Minter said. "He loves contact."

Minter believes in another year or two, after adding a few pounds, his own quarterback prodigy, sophomore Gino Guidugli, might develop the same mentality.

No thanks, Guidugli says.

"He plays more like a linebacker," Guidugli said of Ragone. "I play like a quarterback. I ain't trying to get hit. I take enough hits as it is. I don't need to take any more."

The Bearcats (3-5, 2-2 Conference USA) are trying to climb into contention for one of the league's five automatic bowl bids. Louisville (5-3, 3-1) was the preseason favorite to win the league title. After beginning the season ranked in the Top 25, the Cardinals have stumbled with losses to Kentucky, Colorado State and TCU.

UC has lost four straight to the Cardinals in this rivalry for the Keg of Nails, which dates to 1929. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Louisville's Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

"Louisville traditionally has been a hard team for us to play," said UC offensive lineman Kirt Doolin. "We've spent a lot of time to make sure we know Louisville better than we know ourselves."

To know Louisville is to know Ragone, a fifth-year senior and a two-time C-USA offensive player of the year. He's the focal point of everything the Cardinals do on offense, just as Guidugli, last year's conference freshman of the year, is for UC.

But this year has been a struggle for Ragone. He has been sacked a league-high 28 times. Still, he leads the league in total offense (averaging 268.9 yards a game) and is second in quarterback rating (136.1), passing average (250.6) and touchdown passes (17).

Guidugli, too, has found success more difficult to come by this season. Through eight games in 2001, he had completed 150 of 251 passes for 2007 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

This year, through the same number of games, he's 168-for-301 for 2,164 yards, 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He leads C-USA in passing yardage with an average of 270.5 yards a game, but his rating of 119.6 ranks only seventh.

"His year has been solid," Minter said of Guidugli. "But with his experience, maybe he thinks he can make any throw and therefore forces a few of them in there. But a couple of the picks he didn't get much help with. The one at Tulane was not a finished route. One against Ohio State was a missed assignment by a receiver. And the one at Miami the defensive back just made a great play."

Guidugli concedes there have been times when he has forced the issue.

"Sometimes I try to make plays when the play's not there," he said.

Last year, neither Ragone nor Guidugli had an outstanding game when these two teams played each other. Ragone was just 12-of-28 for 154 yards, one of only four times in 33 career starts that he failed to complete at least half of his passes. Guidugli was 19-of-46 for 295 yards and was intercepted three times.

Guidugli and the Bearcats are just hoping for a victory, but Guidugli admits he'd like to best Ragone in the process.

"He's a big, old Italian kid just like myself," Guidugli said. "He's a tough guy and I look forward to going down there and playing against him. All I really want to do is get out of there with a win, but if I beat him in statistics, that would be great."