The Cincinnati Bearcats face the Virginia Tech Hokies in the Military Bowl on Saturday at 1 pm. On Monday we previewed the UC offense against the VT defense, the most intriguing matchup heading into this game. Today we’ll review the less publicized matchup between Virginia Tech’s offense and Cincinnati’s defense.
KEY NUMBERS
Virginia Tech’s offense is reeling from the departure of Logan Thomas to the NFL. The 6’6″ mammoth of a quarterback made questionable decisions with the ball in his hand but now that they’ve turned to junior Michael Brewer, who has thrown for just 6.2 yards per attempt and 14 interceptions this year, the Hokies have regressed on offense. Despite being very experienced, Virginia Tech is awful up front, surrendering 2.6 sacks per game, which is 99th in the country. The offensive line struggles to generate running lanes for the Hokies’ running backs, who are reeling off just 3.7 yards per carry (also 99th nationally).
Cincinnati Bearcats
Conversely, the Bearcats are an above average team at getting after the quarterback, totaling 32 sacks in 2014 (29th in the country). Plus, while they were giving up yards in bunches on the ground to begin the year allowing a whopping 242 yards per game, they’ve stiffen up in AAC play allowing just 121 per game. Cincinnati now ranks 82nd in the country in rushing defense, a far cry from the embarrassing 128th they were slotted for the first several games.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
While the Virginia Tech passing attack is nothing to lose sleep over, the Hokies are equal opportunity distributors of the football. Like the Bearcats, no one receiver stands out, so as a defensive coordinator you have to account for all of them on every play. The Hokies are paced by a trio of freshman; two wide receivers and a tight end. Senior Willie Byrn (#82, 8.5 ypc, 374 yards, 0 TDs) rounds out the main threats on the outside but the focus should be the freshmen.
Isaiah Ford (#1) paces the Hokies with 53 receptions for 12.6 yards per catch, 665 yards, and 6 touchdowns. Then there’s tight end Bucky Hodges (#7), who sounds like a character out the DC Comics universe, but has a 6’6″ 244 lbs frame that’s hauled in 42 passes for 577 yards and a team leading 7 touchdowns this season. Finally, Cam Phillips (#18) has caught 4o passes for 498 yards and 3 scores in 2014. All three could eviscerate a still suspect Cincinnati secondary if not kept in check.
BEST MATCHUP
Laurence Gibson (#63) v. Terrell Hartsfield: Virginia Tech’s senior left tackle will be going up against Cincinnati’s best edge rusher for most of the game. Hartsfield piled up 8 sacks during his last season as a Bearcat and should play a big part in the game. Plus, considering the Hokies struggle to protect Michael Brewer as it is, this will be the most critical matchup in the game between UC’s defense and VT’s offense. If Hartsfield has a big game, chances are his team will be on the winning side on Saturday.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Virginia Tech’s offense isn’t all that explosive or imposing. Their struggles begin up front. Despite loads of experience along the offensive line, the Hokies have a difficult time protecting their quarterback and generating running lanes for their backs. Even though Cincinnati had major problems stopping anything that moved in the first half of the year, the defense has improved incredibly of late. They should be able to handle anything Virginia Tech throws at them. But that’s all dependent upon the offense staying on schedule against the stout Hokies defense they’ll have to face.