Well done, Rice. I knew those people down there were smart:
Bearcats News
Paul Dehner looks at the Bearcats’ achievements in the Austin Peay game versus some goals heading in. They went 3-for-4, allowing an AP touchdown (phooey!), but overall I’d say the game was a resounding success, at least compared to Indiana State last season where they only won 41 – 7 and were up a mere six points at half time. Paul also took some time to speak with Munchie Legaux who seems to have the poise and focus to take over the team if Zach ever went down. He also got some good quotes from true freshman #1 return man Ralph David Abernathy who has a long legacy and is a great representative of his hometown Atlanta.
IRU – Indisputable Role Understanding
Wayne Miller takes a look at the importance of the position coaches to developing the individual talent of the Bearcats into cohesive units and Butch Jones’ ability to form them into a single team. While Butch takes a lot of the public praise and criticism, it’s really up to those coaches to prepare their positions players. I think the heat this coming season is on Don Mahoney the offensive line coach. I assume he has a lot of sway in who starts and who doesn’t, so it made no sense for last year to continuously play C.J. Cobb at right guard and Alex Hoffman at tackle (when he’s much better at guard and the best lineman on the team), especially when arguably your best offensive tackle, Sean Hooey, was forced to ride the bench because of this. If the coaching decisions affecting the O-Line come into question this season, so will Don Mahoney’s employment.
Other UC News
The Week Ahead: Football Battles Tennessee, Men’s Soccer Opens at Gettler
Bearcats Fall To Wisconsin 2-1 + Photos!
Recruiting
Cincinnati Bearcats Football Recruiting Round Up: Week 3
Always a solid analysis from Matt over at Down the Drive. It looks like star quarterback Bennie Coney had a big game going 16 – 22 for 270 yards and 3 touchdowns. He looked much more improved over the preseason game the previous week. Norfleet also had a huge game rushing for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns himself. Deionte Buckley had another solid performance rushing for 146 yards and two touchdowns. Warren Central (basically a semi-college team at this point) obliterated Lawrence North 55 – 7. Check out more highlights from UC’s 2012 verbals via the link above.
BEast News
Former Bucs’ star, USF official Lee Roy Selmon dies
Really sad news out of Bulls country as former Buccaneer and Bull Lee Roy Selmon has died after sustaining a stroke yesterday. You couldn’t find another person who is a Tampa Bay cornerstone than Selmon. As a member of the South Florida athletic department, he helped bring the football program from the brink of death by raising a $5 million endowment. He was an ambassador for the program and really laid the groundwork for what South Florida has become today. If you look at any kind of athletic building around campus, you can thank Selmon for contributing to it’s construction. USF, the city of Tampa, the Buccaneers, and the Big East are all better off having been around Selmon
This was a stupendous weekend for the Big East. It was a clean sweep as all teams from Thursday to Sunday won all of their games. Let’s tally the wins: 2 over BCS schools (Wake Forest, Notre Dame), 2 over FBS schools (Buffalo, Marshall), and 4 more over FCS schools. Some of the wins weren’t clean (looking at you, Syracuse) but a win is a win and at the end of the season that’s all that most analysts care about. The biggest game of the weekend was USF-Notre Dame, which didn’t disappoint despite hours of thunderstorm delays. The Big East football school took the victory and the image of Brian Kelly erupting like a volcano on the sidelines was just gravy.
Around the Nation
College Conference Expansion Spiking
If the Big XII powerhouses Oklahoma and Oklahoma St tell the conference to take a hike, there’s a good chance that Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, and Iowa State could get swept up into the Big East. The conference truly is in a position of power over the Big XII (IX, really) and the ACC. For the former, there’s attrition all over the place as teams claw to get away from Texas. The latter hasn’t done much since growing to 12 schools six years ago and are locked into a media contract for over a decade. The money Big East schools are expected to make should surpass the ACC schools individually and really make the conference more protected against a raid.