After the UC Bearcats beat Ohio State on the way to a 12-1 record, a national ranking and a trip to the Liberty Bowl, Cincinnati city council gave Rick Minter a key to what's left of the city and proclaimed Dec. 31, 2002 George Murray Day.
"If George's fingers had been butter instead of glue, he wouldn't have made that great catch in the end zone on third down," mayor Charlie Luken said, "and our town would still be groveling in shame beneath the overwhelming stench of the Bengals." Luken praised Murray and UC for saving the financially strapped city from having to provide gas masks to every Bengals fan with a personal seat license.
"We had a chance for the biggest win in school history," Minter said to the overflow crowd jamming Fountain Square, "and we took it."
Well, not quite.
Murray let that third-down pass slip from his hands, UC finished 7-7 and the Buckeyes are unbeaten and playing Friday for a national title. What Rick Minter really said was: "We had a chance for the biggest win in school history. We let an opportunity slip by that we might regret."
You don't get many chances of a lifetime. There is never a day when you tell your grandchildren about things you almost did, so Minter tries not to spend time thinking about how his team nearly beat Ohio State on Sept. 21.
The Buckeyes rallied to beat UC 23-19 in front of the biggest crowd in Cincinnati sports history. The game foreshadowed perfectly the rest of the season for each school. UC lost all its close games and the Buckeyes won all theirs. One-in-a-million came and went. What remained for UC was pats on the head from a well-meaning public.
"The perception makes you sick sometimes," Minter said. "You know: You made it so close, you should feel good. A lot of people have said to me, `If you'd just won the Ohio State game, think what you'd have done.' We could have gained many, many things by winning."
What if the Bearcats had won? Would Gino Guidugli be wearing the Greg Cook hero suit? Can you imagine UC football being the talk of the town, zealous fans hosting Liberty Bowl parties, Antwan Peek bobbleheads going for $500 on eBay?
Look at the extended party we threw the Elder football team. The Panthers won a state title and we were so hungry for any jock triumph, we honored them like firemen in New York. What if UC had finished the regular season 12-1?
What about the Buckeyes? What if Matt Wilhelm doesn't tip Guidugli's fourth-down pass and Will Allen doesn't pick it off? What happens if Murray's fingers really are glue?
Does OSU rebound to win all those close games? No team was tougher mentally or more resilient than the '02 Bucks. Some of that character was forged at UC's expense. If UC wins Sept.21, do the Buckeyes beat Purdue on fourth-and-1? Do they escape in overtime at Illinois? Character isn't assumed, no matter how good you are; it's earned.
If UC wins, does Ohio State lose one or two of the five other games it won by a touchdown or less? Do the Buckeyes play in the Rose Bowl consolation game and bring home second-place prizes chosen just for them? Or do they slide all the way down to the Capital One Bowl, formerly the Citrus Bowl, formerly OSU's home away from home?
"Ohio State has the basic ingredients all good teams have," Minter said. "They stop the run, they don't give up a lot of big plays, they don't make the mistakes that lose you close games, they don't ask their quarterback or anyone else to do anything they're not capable of doing. Really, Ohio State is what we want to be."
No one is saying UC will ever be OSU, especially not Minter. But the Bearcats outgained the Bucks, 415 yards to 292; they led 19-17 until OSU scored with 3:44 to play. They drove to a first down at the Ohio State 15 with a minute left.
"Looking back now, when I talk with our offensive coaches, we didn't have to throw four straight times into the end zone," Minter said.
They did, though, and they missed them all. The key to the city remains in city hall. Rick Minter hopes once in a lifetime happens twice.
E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com
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