By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Will East Carolina fumble away this chance to spoil the Bearcats' bowl hopes? (AP photo) | ZOOM |

In the long history of football at the University of Cincinnati, there probably never has been a game with more defined consequences than tonight's game at East Carolina.

"Win, and you're champions," UC coach Rick Minter said. "Lose, and you're nothing."

That's very blunt. But very true.

A win in Greenville, N.C., would give the Bearcats a share of the Conference USA title - their first league crown in 38 years - and a bid to the New Orleans Bowl. UC is 0-7 in Greenville.

A loss ends the Bearcats' season.

UC (6-6, 5-2 C-USA) is a half-game behind Texas Christian, which has completed its regular season. The Bearcats haven't won a conference title since they took the Missouri Valley Conference crown in 1964.

TCU already owns a berth in the Liberty Bowl, C-USA's top bid. There is no tiebreaker to determine the C-USA champ. The Liberty Bowl has the right to pick, and it selected TCU even though UC won their head-to-head matchup.

A bid to the New Orleans Bowl to play Sun Belt champion North Texas State on Dec.17 would be a nice consolation prize for a UC team that lost five of six games at one point.

"Everything is at stake in this game," said all-C-USA guard Kirt Doolin. "Unfortunately, we can't go to the Liberty Bowl. But we can still be conference champions. Nobody thought we could do that after our little skid."

Fortunately for the Bearcats, they followed the skid with an impressive streak. They've won four of their last five. The only loss in that span was the 20-19 debacle at Hawaii.

"I think this team is going in the direction it needs to," Bearcats quarterback Gino Guidugli said. "We're clicking on both sides of the ball. We're focused, and we're playing our best football."

ECU actually put UC in the position to earn a share of the C-USA title by beating Texas Christian on Nov. 13.

"We got a gift handed to us when TCU got beat," Minter said. "That made all the remaining games a championship game for us. We dodged a bullet last week against UAB."

UC pulled out a 31-23 win against UAB with two late touchdowns after falling behind 23-17.

East Carolina (4-7, 4-3 C-USA) isn't having one of its better seasons. But the Pirates have dominated UC over the years, with a 12-2 mark against the Bearcats.

Minter downplays that statistic.

"We're not going to dwell on it," he said.

The key, Minter says, is the Bearcats' defense. UC has yielded only 16 points per game over the past five, and has moved up to 16th nationally in total defense.

Over the past five games, the Bearcats have forced 18 turnovers. Those turnovers have resulted in eight touchdowns and two field goals.

"The defense has got to set the tone," Minter said. "They've risen to the occasion and helped us find ways to win games."

E-mail jfay@enquirer.com

UC at East Carolina

Kickoff: 7 p.m. today, Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium (43,000), Greenville, N.C.

Records: Cincinnati 6-6 (5-2 Conference USA); ECU 4-7 (4-3).

TV: ESPN2.

Radio: WLW-AM (700).

Series: ECU leads 12-2.

What to watch: UC never has won in Greenville, but the Bearcats have played well recently, winning four of their past five games. Sophomore quarterback Gino Guidugli has six TD passes and only three interceptions in that span.

UC		ECU
397.8	Offensive avg.	327.9
139.3	Avg. by rush	120.6
258.5	Avg. by pass	207.3
306.4	Defensive avg.	442.4
131.8	Avg. by rush	211.5
164.6	Avg. by pass	230.9
29.0	Avg. pts. for	28.1
23.3	Avg. pts. against	32.5