Cincinnati Bearcats Get A Wake Up Call In 34-26 Drubbing By Temple Owls

I hate to take a negative tone with the team that I pour hours and hours of time into and have a deep, unwavering loyalty for. The Cincinnati Bearcats are, like I’m sure they are to many of you, more than just a team to keep an eye on every week. I live and die with the wins and losses and tonight I’m basically in the coffin.

Trust me, you can take the final score for a grain of salt; this was a beatdown. UC outgained Temple 557 to 296 in total yardage and boasted more than three times as many first downs. So the offense was there tonight. And the Bearcats held quarterback P.J. Walker to just 81 yards passing so for the most part the defense looked respectable.

But let’s make on thing clear. This is a team that can make all kinds of strides defensively, boast about having all the offensive weapons in the world, but if they make a comedy of mistakes, it doesn’t mean a damn thing.

• Four interceptions, including a pass in which Gunner Kiel threw to what he thought was a player wearing a Bearcats uniform but was in fact at least three Temple players converging on the football. Essentially where you teach quarterback’s not to throw when they’re in high school.
• A costly fumble by Hosey Williams as Cincinnati was building momentum into the first half.
• Saving three (3!!!) timeouts as the clock expired to send the teams to the locker rooms at halftime. Tommy Tuberville does realize that they don’t get to save these for another game, right?
• An overall lack of urgency in the fourth quarter with the Bearcats down 22 points. To their credit, UC got within a possession, only to lose on one of Tyler Matakevich’s two incredible interceptions but it would have been nice to see this team get it together before it was too little, too late.
• Allow all-everything running back Jahad Thomas a wide open lane on a kickoff for him to take it to the house. I thought these problems were hashed out after Toledo’s Bernard Reedy burned the Bearcats three years ago but I guess that was a different staff.
• Another gaff on special teams, lining up on a kickoff unprepared for a surprise onside kick. Temple, of course, recovered it.
• In the first half alone, two dropped passes by Mekale McKay, another by Tion Green, and one by Johnny Holton that Kiel dropped perfectly into his arms. Had Holton kept his concentration on a pass he normally hauls in, he had no one but the student section in front of him.

There’s probably a few others I missed. To be honest, I hope there isn’t because I’m getting queasy just going back over that list.

At the end of the day this is a learning moment for the Bearcats. The coaches and players will undoubtedly pour over the tape and attempt to correct the issues that cost them a critical AAC game. But with this veteran staff in year three with this program as well as the talent and experience on offense, should these games simply be learning moments? Shouldn’t they be past this? Shouldn’t Gunner Kiel be better than a four-interception quarterback?

I would think so but maybe we’ve been overestimating this team all offseason.

Look, I have all the confidence in the world that Tuberville, his staff, and the players will put in the hours necessary to prevent tonight from occurring again this season. But after having witnessed what they put on the field against Temple, I can’t say that I’m confident those efforts will result in us avoiding this kind of disappointment sometime over the next couple of months.