By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Is the University of Cincinnati football team that good or is East Carolina that bad?

That's the obvious question in light of the Bearcats' season-opening 40-3 win over the Pirates on Monday. UC coach Rick Minter is as curious as anyone to find out.

"We're not too inflated about ourselves," Minter said Tuesday. "Trust me."

But the Bearcats will have to wait another 11 days to get a better read on exactly what their win over East Carolina meant.

They don't play again until Sept. 13 at West Virginia.

"Having an open date this early in the season is not always good," Minter said. "You get much better between your first game and your second game than your second to your third. Your upside for a young team like we are is much greater early on in the season. The learning curve is higher."

West Virginia, which lost its opener to Wisconsin 24-17 last week, will play Saturday against the same East Carolina team that UC just trounced.

Minter was still raving Tuesday over the play of his offensive line and the running of junior Richard Hall and redshirt freshman Derrick Eddington, both of whom gained more than 100 yards. As a team, UC rushed for 361 yards.

"We still haven't seen all of our guys," Minter said. "Kyle (Koester) played his first college game and it showed. He's not anywhere close to where he will be someday. We've always been blessed to have two or three guys. I would rather not run a guy until he drops and just keep them all fresh."

Hall, despite fumbling twice basically running out of gas in the first half, showed flashes of what he can do. "I still don't think we've seen the very best of Richard Hall," Minter said. "That's a lesson to him that you've got to run to win every day in practice. I believe he's special."

Bearcats quarterback Gino Guidugli, who averaged 34 passes and 253 yards a game last year, attempted only 25 passes for 121 yards.

UC had so much success running the ball that there was no reason to expose Guidugli and the offensive line to the variety of pass-rushing schemes for which East Carolina coach John Thompson is well-known.

Even Guidugli was a rushing threat, gaining 45 yards on eight carries. But the junior from Highlands High School made it clear that he prefers to make his contribution with his arm, not his legs.

"I'd rather throw it," Guidugli said. "But if that's what it calls for and what the game plan is, I'm willing to do it."