Bearcats Escape Oxford With 37-33 Win Over Miami Redhawks

Well, the Bearcats certainly don’t make it easy on us, do they?

A week after doubling up the Temple Owls in offensive yards, nearly tripling them up in first downs, and losing by eight points, UC need a one-yard touchdown run from their backup quarterback Hayden Moore to survive the Redhawks and secure the Victory Bell for the 10th straight year.

For the second straight game Cincinnati was sloppy in a number of areas and if Miami (OH) was a hair more talented, they would have broken their losing streak against the Beracats today. UC turned the ball over four times, all of which were came in the fourth quarter with one of the interceptions thrown late in the period, Cincinnati down three, and in the red zone. Part of that was on the play caller, namely offensive coordinator Eddie Gran.

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Gunner Kiel was lost midway through the game after getting beaten around by the Redhawk defense, forcing Gran to turn to his young backup Hayden Moore. But his management of the redshirt freshman raised more than a few eyebrows. For whatever reason Gran called over a half-dozen read-options for Moore. Not unsurprisingly he fumbled an exchange with Hosey Williams and it was recovered by Miami (OH). Then there was that red zone interception I alluded to above.

It’s clear Moore wasn’t ready for a live game situation, as you might expect from a redshirt freshman, and especially when he’s tasked with the monstrous responsibility of rallying the Bearcats to a win. Under the extreme circumstances, the young quarterback played well enough, completing 50% of his passes for 118 yards. But for whatever reason Gran kept throwing complicated schemes at Moore.

Sure, the read-option seems like a simple play but it requires a split-second decision from the quarterback on whether to give the ball to the running back or keep it himself. If he hesitates, fumbled exchanges can occur, like what happened today. Plus as the field condenses near the red zone, even veteran quarterbacks find it difficult to throw on defenses. Why Gran didn’t call for simpler passing plays such as slants, curls, running back dump offs, and slip screens I’ll never understand.

Oh, and the defense. Woof, you guys, the defense.

The Redhawks scored more points against Cincinnati today (33) than they have in both of their games this season combined (26). Sure, one of those was Wisconsin, where Miami (OH) was shut out, but the other was Presbyterian. That’s right, the Bearcats allowed more points against the Redhawks than a FCS team. Yep, they’ve got a ways to go still.

You would think that new defensive coordinator Steve Clinkscale would have, at the very least, implemented a better scheme to mask the what look like a multitude of deficiencies on that side of the ball. UC has certainly improved on defense. They’re bigger and faster, that’s for sure, but are still a year away from fully transitioning from a liability to a strength for the Bearcats. Clinkscale needs to play more aggressively, sending the nickelback off the edge and calling more A-gap blitzes. Cincinnati isn’t going to consistently shut down opposing offenses on skill alone. They need to send five or six to force quarterbacks into making poor decisions and ball carriers running into an onslaught of defense.

But Clinkscale opted to rush with his defensive linemen alone and drop the rest into coverage. As you might expect, Cincinnati didn’t record a single sack today, allowed 448 yards of total offense, including 220 yards on the ground, and 33 points, the most during the Bearcats’ 10 game winning streak.

It could be worse, I suppose. UC could have, of course, lost to the Redhawks, slipping to 1-2 on the season with the hope for the Access Bowl but a distant memory. Even worse, they could have lost to FCS Furman at home. Right, Central Florida? Things could always be worse, folks, even if the daunting task of taking down Memphis on the road potentially without Gunner Kiel looms over us.