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A 27 – 0 win should have caused me to walk away from yesterday’s game pretty encouraged heading into a bye week. The Bearcats brought home the Victory Bell trophy for the sixth straight year. In over a hundred years of playing the rivalry game, no team had done that and it’s quite an accomplishment. To the on field play, Cincinnati’s defense was, in one word, dominant. So much so that it might force me to dive into the numbers a little bit sometime next week. It was the first shutout of a Bearcats opponent in five years and the first time Cincinnati blanked Miami in Oxford since 1898. Despite the signs of one of the best UC defenses in years, the offense left much to be desired. Let’s take a look at it by the numbers and why I came out of the game with a sour taste in my mouth:
- 4 – The number of turnovers on offense. Collaros fumbled twice on potential scoring drives in Miami territory. Thank goodness the defense bailed them out as Zach also threw 2 picks. Three of these turnovers occurred at the Miami 14 and in their endzone twice. Each nullified at least 9 points (3 FGs) right off the scoreboard.
- 0 – The amount of receivers that went over a hundred yards receiving yesterday. The strength of Miami’s defense is the secondary but I fully expected at least one of Woods-Thompkins-McClung to eclipse that mark. But I guess it doesn’t help when they are dropping every other pass thrown their way.
- 0 – Receptions by D.J. Woods. To piggyback off of the previous stat, Cincinnati’s primary receiver (with apologies to KT) didn’t have a single catch despite having some opportunities.
- 49 – Isaiah Pead’s rushing yards. Coming into yesterday’s game, UC’s stud was running at 7.85 yards per carry and had amassed 424 total yards through four games. Against Miami he ran for only 2.7 yards a clip which definitely didn’t help balance the offense. Some of this, however, can be attributed to the play of the offensive line.
- 3 – Sacks given up by the offensive line. With the way the unit was playing coming into this game, it was a disappointing performance. Plus they weren’t helping Pead get his yardage on the ground.
- 22.5 – The point differential between what Cincinnati was averaging coming into yesterday’s game (49.5) and what they scored (27).
Ok let’s get glass-half-full. Despite the turnover troubles, Zach showed why he’s still one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the Big East. He ran for 89 yards on only 15 carries and was the leading rusher on either team. Some of his scrambles were in key situations that got Cincinnati past the first down marker. He also displayed some shifty moves juking linebackers and even players in the secondary left and right. Adrien Robinson made one hell of a circus catch on a 72 yard bomb that saw him reach over the defender to tip the ball between his legs then snare it for the catch. It was really indescribable and the way I tried to explain it really didn’t do the catch justice. Not to be outdone, Anthony McClung, despite having a case of the dropsies most of the afternoon, made one heck of a catch over a Miami defensive back across the middle of the field. And to that point, Zach threw a beautiful floater to tight end Travis Kelce over the middle for a 30 yard touchdown. It’s amazing what happens when you a.) use your tight end more and b.) throw between the hash marks.
The shining moments of the game generally came out of the defense. Just the goose-egg on the Miami side of the scoreboard should indicate to you how well they played. They held their opponent to negative rushing yards for the second straight game (-26 vs. NC State, -3 yesterday), outright blowing up the offensive line multiple times. Cincinnati’s defensive coordinators dialed up a good array of blitzes to keep Miami’s offensive line off balanced. Even without the blitzes the Bearcats’ front four was dominant against Miami’s smaller offensive line. On one play in particular deep in Miami territory, I noticed defensive end Monte Taylor standup the Redhawks’ offensive tackle and push him 15 yards into the endzone. That just shows you the kind of physicality the entire unit was showing. To the linebackers, J.K. Schaffer continues to be a machine notching another sack under his belt and recovering a fumble for a touchdown. Believe it or not but that’s his first touchdown as a Bearcat.
The secondary played pretty decently if you don’t count any pass thrown to Nick Harwell, who absolutely burned Cincinnati more than a few times. On one play, Drew Frey (yes, him) allowed Harwell to get behind him enough to make the catch. Frey was still in position to tackle him, though. He didn’t and it allowed Harwell to run all the way to the Bearcats 1 yard line. I passed out a couple of #FreyShots for that gaff. On a positive note, Deven Drane continues to show why he’s the best cornerback on the team. He had tight coverage all day long and even had an interception. The pick wasn’t anything special (Dysert threw a prayer that landed in Drane’s lap) but the run back was very impressive. Drane caught the ‘pass’ on the goalline and managed to dip and duck threw traffic all the way to Cincinnati’s 43 yard line.
Finally to special teams. Tony Miliano made three of four extra point attempts. I was screaming when he missed the first point after but quickly calmed down by reminding myself that he’s only a freshman and is actually a pretty talented kicker. Speaking of guys with the golden foot, I can’t say enough about Pat O’Donnell. Forget the All-Big East talk, this kid’s an All-American. O’Donnell consistently placed the ball inside the 20 (and a couple inside the 5), flipping the field to force Miami’s offense, that was struggling all day to get anything going, to drive the entire length of the field. Overall, I thought the entire special teams unit played well and the kick coverage was pretty stout.