Before Cincinnati opens up the 2011 season this Saturday against Austin Peay, I just wanted to take a moment to share my thoughts with Bearcats fans. Overall, 2011 should be a much better year for the Bearcats (8 – 4 seems about right). Just having the entire team playing cohesively in the same system for the second straight year should make Cincinnati better by itself. This is especially true when just about many other coaching staffs in the Big East undergo some form of turnover this offseason. Let’s take a look at some of reasons for excitement and concern for 2011. First, for you glass half full people:
- Zach Collaros is better than his TD-INT ratio last season – Another year in the Butch Jones system (which is much different from Brian Kelly’s) should improve his decision making.
- The -15 turnover margin last season is an anomaly – I fully believe the price of perfection in 2009 was paid for in 2010. Look for those numbers to even out this season.
- Isaiah Pead and D.J. Woods have worked hard this offseason to focus on holding onto the football.
- The defensive line should be much improved. Similar to the turnover margin, the D-Line’s play wasn’t reflective of how good they can and should be. Added experience from the starters and backups, which has lead to better depth, and placing Walter Stewart back to a permanent role at defensive end should make the entire unit better
- The entire linebacker unit should be improved – Maalik Bomar and J.K. Schaffer are fixtures and should play better with more rest from the added depth of Pooler, Blair, Tentman, Jackson, Temple, and Mason.
- The secondary, and the pass coverage in general, should improve due to a better pass rush from the defensive line.
- There is some real depth and talent at the cornerback positions.
- Kick and punt returns should get a boost with the additions of Isaiah Pead and dynamic freshman Ralph David Abernathy and Akise Teague. D.J. Woods and Anthony McClung provide experience at this position as well.
But, there are still some major question marks as the 2011 season approaches. They are:
- The offensive line has some solid pieces in Hoffman, Hooey, and Martinez but there are still major questions here with Evan Davis who lost his starting job at center last season for not being physically capable of handling the position. Rumor has it that Martinez has actually split reps with him this fall.
- Swapping Hoffman and Hooey at the offensive tackle positions is but one of a many moves on the offensive line that have raised a lot of eyebrows the past two seasons. This began with benching the more talented Hooey in favor of C.J. Cobb and the replacement of Evan Davis with Jason Kelce one week before the Fresno State. Needless to say, Don Mahoney has not made a believer out of me.
- The wide receivers are extremely young with D.J. Woods and Anthony McClung the only players with FBS level experience. They are extremely talented but there are going to be some growing pains this fall.
- Pray Zach doesn’t get injured (especially with those questions on the O-Line) as the backup spot is far from locked down.
- The linebackers, while having better depth than last season, is still a full year away from having the depth it should. It’s essentially a hodgepodge of a couple of seniors, a transfer, a JUCO, and a bunch of freshman/redshirt freshman with little college level experience.
- Drew Frey and Wes Richardson are still the starting safeties and did little to make me excited for those positions this fall. I was frankly looking forward to seeing them jumped on the depth chart. I guess it’s still early though.
- The starting kicker is far from locked down despite Tony Miliano named that guy for the Austin Peay game. Typically an under-the-radar position, experience here is critical and the Bearcats have little of it.
2010 didn’t go the way anyone of us predicted. It was actually as about as hard to watch as 10 minutes of Jersey Shore (Sorry, Rutgers but you should have offed those useless wastes of space when you had the chance. Now they’ve gone international. Thanks for helping us out on that). Going from watching a 12 – 1 team get beaten up and embarrassed in a 4 – 8 campaign had many fans jumping off of a cliff, or at least the bandwagon. I know I had my moments of pulling out my hair and screaming at the secondary as they got burned by the 78th wheel route. It was just as annoying reading preview after mind-numbing preseason preview give the Bearcats zero respect heading into 2011. Through all this, I still caught myself going on ESPN and watching the 10-15 second highlights of UC plays throughout the 2010 season. Even as early as bowl season, I missed watching the Bearcats play and it inspired me to put together a list of the best moments of the 2010 football/basketball season I posted on Down the Drive:
[#1 Larry Davis’ dunk vs. Mizzou]
[#2 Binns’ game winning TD vs. Louisville]
[#3 J.K. Schaffer’s pick vs. Oklahoma]
[#4 The 2nd Half vs. Georgetown]
[#5 Isaiah Pead’s almost run vs. Oklahoma]
[#6 Collaros-to-Woods TD vs. Louisville]
[#8 D.J. Woods’ Touchdown vs. Oklahoma]
[#9 UC’s drubbing of Xavier/Dayton]
[#10 UC’s final drive vs. Louisville]
The point of this entry isn’t to force you to shy away from screaming at a blown coverage, covering your eyes when Zach throws a pick, or cringe when you watch a string of defenders miss tackles. That’s perfectly all right and is what makes the game of football so great. But the football season is so damn short. If you’re like me and suck up any and all Cincinnati-related football news as fast as you can, this past offseason was unbearable. So when the dusty settles in December (or hopefully January) remember to appreciate actually watching the Bearcats play. Remember those snazzy new Adidas Tech-fit jersies the Bearcats wore. Remember a beautifully thrown pass from Zach Collaros to D.J. Woods. Remember the 50-60-70+ yard runs by Isaiah Pead. Remember the sacks and interceptions of the defense. Don’t worry about the national talking heads or Mr. Pessimistic Bill Koch has to say. Just have fun simply watching them play because while it’s only September, the end of the season is only 4-5 months away.
So enjoy it while it lasts and cheer on the Bearcats as a loud as you can this season!