Revisiting Cincinnati’s Loss To Illinois: What The Heck Happened And Where Do We Go From Here?

(Courtesy Writing Illini)

I’ve given myself about 48 hours before delving deeper into the monumental disaster that was Cincinnati’s loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini. I wanted to clear my head enough to try to make sense of the events that had me fuming for most of Saturday afternoon. As I went back over them in my mind I couldn’t understand just what happened. The Bearcats were favored to win by at least a touchdown against an Illinois team with major question marks at positions that was believed would play into Cincinnati’s strengths. For example, on defense UC will hang its hat on the front seven this season, boasting one of the best group of linebackers in the country and a young but active defensive line. At least that’s what we were led to believe.

But that front seven was terrible on Saturday. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. They allowed Illinois, a team that ran for just 49 yards the week prior against Southern Illinois, to put up 210 yards on the ground against the Bearcats. The front seven had zero penetration and horrible contain. Illinois’ offensive line moved them wherever they wanted allowing for the Illini ball carriers to pick up chunks of yards up the middle and along the edge. Additionally Nate Scheelhaase was given a lifetime to throw. He was sacked just once and the lack of pressure allowed him to pass for over 300 yards and 4 touchdowns. Overall simply a disappointing performance from two positions groups that were thought to be among the stronger ones on the team.

Still, despite what we had to witness on Saturday, I’m still incredibly confident in the abilities of the front seven along with other areas that appeared exposed against Illinois. That game was an anomaly. Let me explain.

The front seven is made up of active, hungry, and most of all angry players.

As upset as we fans are about how they played against the Illini, no one is more ashamed of their performance than the players themselves. Guys like Greg Blair, Jeff Luc, and Jordan Stepp know they’re better than what they showed on Saturday. Even 5 minutes after the final whistle, they likely placed the blame on their shoulders and vowed to carry the front seven from here on out. Lord help the next offense that is tasked at moving the football against these guys.

Now is the perfect time for this team to take one on the chin.

The Bearcats blasted Purdue last weekend and everyone from the fans to the players were probably getting a little big headed as result. Nothing is assured in college football and all of us know that now. So while this loss stings, it really couldn’t have come a better time. Better than in the middle of UC’s conference schedule, anyways. Picture this, the Bearcats are in week 10 and cruising along during an undefeated season with a #18 ranking. They’ve got the wind at their backs as they travel to Memphis on a Wednesday night and wind up laying an egg to a 2-win Tigers team. The loss strips them of their top-25 ranking as the staff scrambles to figure out what went wrong but can’t make the necessary corrections in time as Cincinnati loses 3 of its next 4 to close the season at 8-4.

Now that would obviously be a nightmare scenario (any involving a loss to Memphis usually are) but the point is, it’s better for a team to figure out their weaknesses earlier in the season rather than later. That way, when they are exposed, the coaching staff has ample time to make corrections going forward to ensure the mistakes aren’t repeated. Plus, as mentioned above, the players and fans know that we can’t take any game for granted. Football is played on the field, not on a piece of paper or in a Las Vegas casino (that I know of – but that would be amazing if someone could make this happen). With FCS lamb-to-the-slaughter Northwestern State coming up next Saturday the Bearcats will have an opportunity to improve in key areas and play better football from here on out.

Hopefully now the coaching staff will use Ralph David Abernathy properly.

What offensive coordinator Eddie Gran learned on Saturday was that Ralph David Abernathy is not a between the tackles runningback. That’s the hope anyways. RDA is a lot of things – elusive ball carrier, speedster, change-of-pace back – but a pound-the-ball type of runningback he is not. He’s best utilized in space working a defender one-on-one. The between the tackles running should be left to Hosey Williams and Tion Green, two backs who are built for that role and performed this admirably the week prior against Purdue. I’m not sure why Gran opted to try some role reversal at runningback and turn RDA into something he’s not against Illinois. Hopefully he’s learned from that and will return to the same type of rotation we saw in week 1.

Cincinnati’s offense has a chance to blossom with Brendon Kay at quarterback.

There’s usually never a positive takeaway from a player going down but if you were going to find some silver lining to Munchie Legaux’s injury it’s that Brendon Kay is now “the guy” at quarterback. No more rotation. No more quarterback controversy. From here on out, Kay is set to take 100% of the snaps with the first team offense.

In my opinion, that’s a good thing. Firstly, the rotation at quarterback was a nice theory and worked fine against Purdue but bogged down against the better defense of Illinois. The difference in cadence and playing style threw the offensive line and receivers out of whack. Overall they just couldn’t get into a rhythm and it showed on Saturday. Now with Kay as the entrenched starter the offense should be able to get back to doing what it does best, score oodles and oodles of points. Additionally, I’ve always believed the offense was hamstrung a bit with Legaux at quarterback. He’s incredibly athletic but a weaker passer than Kay, which should be the first and foremost determinant of who deserves the starting role. Cincinnati already boasts a strong running game and having an improved passing game to compliment it will only take the offense to new heights.

The offensive line is still the strongest unit on the team.

They had a whale of a time creating running lanes on Saturday and got barely any push when Cincinnati was near the goal line. Overall, like the rest of the team they just didn’t look like themselves which was especially evident with the three false start penalties in the first quarter alone. Under normal circumstances that just doesn’t happen to such a veteran unit. Their performance was an aberration and I’m sure we’ll see less games like this from the offensive line going forward. They’re just too darn good!