The Cincinnati Bearcats were again off last weekend for their second straight bye to begin the season. Luckily the same can’t be said about next weekend when they host the Toledo Rockets at Paul Brown Stadium on Friday night. After another week of tape, we’re starting to get clearer picture about what is facing Cincinnati in a few days, along with the other opponents on their 2014 schedule.
Toledo: L, 49-24 vs. Missouri
The Rockets allowing 49 points against Missouri isn’t unexpected but putting up just 24 of their own certainly was. The Tigers are an SEC team, sure, but Toledo was expected to run as efficient an offense as any in college football. But the Rockets’ offensive line couldn’t protect Phillip Ely at all, who threw for just 204 yards and zero touchdowns on Saturday. Runningback Kareem Hunt had another strong performance, though, running for 148 yards and a trio of scores.
Miami (OH): L, 17-10 vs. Eastern Kentucky
For all the progress the Redhawks seemingly made against Marshall, it looks like they are still a major work in progress as quarterback Andrew Hendrix threw three interceptions despite tossing for over 359 yards. He was sacked five times on Saturday.
Ohio State: L, 35-21 vs. Virginia Tech
OSU’s national championship dreams died on Saturday night in a crushing loss to the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Buckeyes’ offensive line allowed J.T. Barrett to get sacked a whopping seven times. No wonder he completed just nine of his 21 passes and threw three picks.
Memphis: L, 42-35 vs. UCLA
The good news: Memphis scored five touchdowns including a pick-six and lost by seven. The bad news: Memphis’ defense allowed 42 points. Now, UCLA runs one of the most potent offenses in college football and the Tigers sacked Brett Hundley four times. Overall, I think the good outweighed the bad for Memphis on Saturday.
Miami (FL): W, 41-7 vs. Florida A&M
The Hurricanes bounced back big time against a FCS sacrificial lamb but true freshman Brad Kaaya threw just 177 yards and a pair of interceptions. Those kinds of numbers aren’t going to take Miami very far in the ACC this year.
SMU: L, 43-6 vs. North Texas
My god, ‘Stangs.
South Florida: L, 24-17 vs. Maryland
The Bulls looked.. better against the Terrapins but still have major issues at quarterback. Marlon Mack was solid running the ball against Maryland, though. But still, Steven Bench and that passing game is awful.
Tulane: L, 38-21 vs. Georgia Tech
Playing Paul Johnson’s option-machine is no easy task so I don’t blame Tulane for giving up 334 yards on the ground to the Yellow Jackets. Still, Tulane looks like a bottom tier AAC team.
East Carolina: L, 33-23 vs. South Carolina
A loss to the Gamecocks isn’t surprising nor deplorable. ECU quarterback Shane Carden still threw for 321 yards on Saturday and a touchdown, although he was picked off twice. Plus the Pirates defense is still a major question mark for this team.
UConn: W, 19-16 vs. Stony Brook
The Huskies won, yes, but looked awful in the process. UConn put up just 223 yards yards and 12 offensive points. The other seven came by way of a Deshon Foxx punt return. I mean, quarterback Chandler Whitmer lead the Huskies in rushing yards. That shouldn’t happen.
Temple: L, 31-24 vs. Navy
After an extraordinary thumping of Vanderbilt on the road last week, Temple came back down to Earth losing to Navy by a touchdown at home. The Owls gave up 487 yards on the ground to the triple-option attack but P.J. Walker again looked comfortable at quarterback, both passing and running the ball. Temple’s trajectory in this conference appears to be upward.
Houston: W, 47-0 vs. Grambling State
The Cougars bounced back in week two, winning big time over a FCS opponent. But, like Miami (FL) above, we need to see much more consistency out of this team to consider them a real threat to Cincinnati this season.