8) East Carolina Pirates – (W) 19-16
Ok, I know what you’re thinking here. Cincinnati beat East Carolina and if you’re using your basic mathematics skills, we’ve only talked about five of UC’s six losses thus far.
But when we look back at this win over the Pirates, was it really that much different from any loss? Ok, Mr/Mrs Smarty Pants, they won. But they also threw put up 427 yards of total offense with just 19 points that came out of it. Cincinnati lost the turnover battle again, did next to nothing on the ground, and squandered several opportunities to not only put solid drives together but finish them in the end zone. Plus they needed a 42 yard field goal from Andrew Gantz to seal it.
So while this was a win in the history books, it sure as heck felt the same as the BYU or San Diego State loss. Cincinnati beat ECU, sure, but it’s not like they blew the 5-6 Pirates team out of the water. The Bearcats struggled just getting a three point lead over a team that lost three of their previous four games, including 31-13 to UConn. It was great UC got their seventh dub but it’s not like they proved they had shaken their bad tendencies from the previous 11 games, as we had the displeasure of witnessing in the bloodbath that was the Hawaii Bowl.
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