Like Bearcats Nation on Facebook. Follow BN on Twitter.
Human nature is to react to a sudden unexpected change in the most extreme ways- denial in a mostly positive sense or unequivocal, end-of-the-world negativity. The latter emotion seemed to spread through Bearcats fans after Saturday’s loss to West Virginia. In all honesty, I can’t really blame them. Cincinnati is down their senior leader at quarterback Zach Collaros who led a magical, game-winning drive against South Florida and understands this offense inside and out. But by the numbers Collaros has regressed as the year has gone on- 10 TDs to only 3 interceptions in the first five games and only 4 TDs to 5 picks in Big East play. It’s the same pattern we saw in 2010 when he barely threw a pick outside of conference play then threw 13 when Cincinnati started playing Big East teams. He’s also made some of the most mind-numbing decisions I’ve ever witnessed like the 20 yard pitch that got intercepted during that same USF game and the two picks against Miami when he got greedy in the redzone. He seems uncomfortable in Coach Jones’ offense that requires the quarterback to sit in the pocket and read defenses as defenders crash around him. Collaros is more adept at rolling out of the pocket and reading defenses on the run as he a.) gets flustered way to quickly when the pocket breaks down, b.) when it does breakdown he scrambles backwards and not side-to-side and/or makes boneheaded decisions instead of throwing it away, and c.) has trouble seeing over the offensive lineman if the pocket is clean.
Collaros’ replacement if he is kept out for a significant amount of time is Munchie Legaux the 6’5″ all-name team signal caller from N’awlins, Louisiana. He’s extremely green only having attempted 7 passes in his college career before Saturday. And boy did he look inexperienced when he stepped in for Collaros near the end of the 2nd quarter. His first 8 passes resulted in 3 completions for 6 yards and a pick. After that, Legaux completed 7 of his final 13 passes for 138 yards and nearly led Cincinnati to a victory on a game-winning drive. His improvements in the 2nd half can be attributed to a couple of things. First of all, it’s clear that Munchie’s play is improved inside the pocket than outside. That’s good news because the Coach Jones/Bajakian offense works best when the quarterback can evaluate the defense from within the pocket and see the entire field. In that sense, Legaux actually has a leg up on Collaros as he is theoretically a better fit for this offense. The main knock on him is his inexperience but as we saw Munchie looked much more comfortable running the show as he got more snaps. That bodes well for the rest of the season.
Also bolstering the backfield is Isaiah Pead who is as healthy and dangerous as ever. He is 36 yards short of his 2nd straight 1,000 yard rushing season and is running at about 6 yards per carry. He’s also a threat catching the ball out of the backfield as we’ve seen time and time again. Even with Zach Collaros in the lineup, Pead is by far the best player on this team. It will be interesting to see how the coaches use him in the coming weeks as he will be leaned upon to carry this team as he has all year. Cincinnati’s final regular season games are against Rutgers, Syracuse, and Connecticut who rank 57th, 37th, and 8th in rushing defense. Rutgers’ numbers are probably legit. They have a lot of returning starters this season much like the Bearcats and are playing very well up front. But I think Cuse and UConn’s numbers are skewed a bit. The Orange and Huskies rank 102nd and 112th respectively against the pass. I follow the philosophy of ‘why run when you can pass?’ and apparently coaches have thought the same thing in their game plans against Syracuse and UConn.
And let’s not forget about Cincinnati’s defense that just held the West Virginia Mountaineers to 17 offensive points. The Bearcats boast the best defensive line in the Big East that is only getting the more games they play together. Derek Wolfe, who leads the conference in tackles for loss, and Walter Stewart have been on fire the past few games. They should be licking their chops heading into the final three games of the season against teams whose offensive lines have been less than stellar. Rutgers ranks T-72nd in sacks allowed (21) with Syracuse right behind them at T-79th (22). Connecticut outdoes them both having allowed 34 sacks this season and coming in at 118th in the country. Only Pittsburgh claims a worse O-Line in the Big East than the Huskies. The offensives of these three teams also feeds right into UC’s strengths. Each are run-based teams that try to pound the rock before passing. With weapons like Mohamed Sanu and Mark Harrison, it might be argued that Rutgers can throw the ball more (which they do) but the Scarlet Knights are still a pro-style offense. Cincinnati’s defense should eat these offenses alive.
So while most fans are discouraged and a little upset at the Zach Collaros injury, there are still PLENTY of reasons to not give up on this team just yet. Munchie Legaux is physically the perfect quarterback to run Butch Jones and Mike Bajakian’s offense. The best player on the Bearcats, with or without Collaros, is Isaiah Pead and he’s sure as hell not going to call it quits. Plus Cincinnati’s defense is still among the best in the Big East and will be playing three teams that feed right into UC’s strengths. It won’t be easy down the stretch but Cincinnati still has a very good chance of winning out and claiming their third Big East title in four years.