5 Keys To The Cincinnati Bearcats vs. The Miami (FL) Hurricanes
By Chris Bains
The Cincinnati Bearcats face the ACC Miami (FL) Hurricanes at noon on Fox Sports Ohio and ESPN3 tomorrow. It will be their first meeting since 1998 when The U was in the Big East and UC was in their first stint in Conference USA. Cincinnati lost that game 38-12 and have beaten Miami (FL) once in 11 tries.
Will number two come this Saturday? Eh.
As one of the final preps, here’s the 5 keys to the game. I post one of these segments every week and in the last two I noticed that they’ve basically mirrored each other perfectly. Yet Cincinnati continues to do maddening things on both sides of the ball that force me to write effectively the same post over and over again. So until the Bearcats deem it wise to try something new on offense, defense, and special teams, I decided to just create the following template and see how far it takes us.
1) Control The Line Of Scrimmage
I’m talking both sides. The Bearcats reeled off just [LAUGHABLY SMALL NUMBER] yards per carry on Saturday. To keep the defense fresh, UC’s offensive linemen need to control the line of scrimmage and help get the rushing attack going. Speaking of the defense, the tackles and ends need to improve as much as any unit. They were manhandled by [INSERT LAST OPPONENT HERE] last week and [INSERT NEXT OPPONENT HERE] will probably attack them the same way. If Cincinnati’s defensive linemen don’t start getting off blocks and plugging the gaps, the [INSERT NEXT OPPONENT HERE] will run all over UC.
2) For Goodness Sake, Swarm And Tackle Somebody!
If Cincinnati wasn’t getting out-schemed last Saturday, they were getting flat out bulldozed by [INSERT LAST OPPONENT HERE]’s ball carriers. The [INSERT LAST OPPONENT HERE] averaged [A NUMBER ILLUSTRATING A CRAP TON] on the ground in large part because the UC defense couldn’t stick their tackles. If the first guy even got to the ball carrier, many times he bounced off or was dragged several yards. It was as embarrassing a performance as they come. The Bearcats need to shore up their gang tackling this week as [INSERT NEXT OPPONENT HERE] focuses on the run game as much if not more than the [INSERT LAST OPPONENT HERE].
3) Spread [INSERT NEXT OPPONENT HERE] Horizontally
As much as I hope Cincinnati’s offensive line improves in creating holes for the running backs, it won’t be easy going tomorrow. The Bearcats need to spread [INSERT NEXT OPPONENT HERE]’ defense out as wide as possible with 4- and 5-receiver sets to take pressure off the linemen up front and create numbers that are in Cincinnati’s favor. UC will likely lean on the pass against the [INSERT NEXT OPPONENT HERE], as they have all season even with [WHATEVER WARM BODY IS PLAYING QUARTERBACK] in place of Gunner Kiel but this offense is built to be balanced. That’s how Cincinnati was so successful on both sides of the ball last year, dispersing the defense horizontally then gashing them with the rushing attack.
4) Still, Go For The Throat If You Want
Tommy Tuberville wants to sustain longer drives. It would probably be better for the defense is UC sustained longer drives. In general, longer scoring drives are better for the team as a whole. That being said, Cincinnati’s receivers are really good at getting open and [WHATEVER WARM BODY IS PLAYING QUARTERBACK] should try to get them the ball. So if the Bearcats want to throw in a few 3 play, 77 yard drives in which Mekale McKay makes a [INSERT NEXT OPPONENT HERE] defensive back look like a fool tomorrow, I can probably get on board with that.
5) My Kingdom For A Punter
Tuberville put his faith in freshman Sam Geraci this season, who’s been shaky in the starting role in 2013. He’s had his fair share of shanked punts and quite honestly senior John Lloyd has only been marginally better. If UC’s offense isn’t effective enough to score every time they touch the ball like against [INSERT LAST OPPONENT HERE], I’m not incredibly confident in the Bearcats’ punting game flipping the field and giving the defense some much needed help.