Southeast Missouri State gears for rematch with Cincinnati

Two seasons ago the University of Cincinnati opened their first season with Brian Kelly as head coach by defeating Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) by an astounding score of 59-3. Kelly—a relatively lesser known head coach for a newer BCS football team in the lowly Big East—brought a new style of play into town. He dubbed it the “Cat Attack,” and often referred to his style of play as the “Coast to Coast” offense.

Kelly brought in former Wake Forest quarterback Ben Mauk, who transferred to UC under a since rescinded rule, and Mauk lit the scoreboard up that season, throwing for 3121 yards and 31 touchdowns in Kelly’s pass happy offense.

But, he had to start somewhere, and that was the season opener against the Football Championship Subdivision’s (formerly D-1AA, and the division also known as FCS) Redhawks of SEMO.

Mauk, who had broken his arm in harrowing fashion one year earlier in a game against Syracuse, took the reins of the new no-huddle, spread attack and threw for 244 yards and two scores in the opener. He showed the 20,223 fans that showed up that day that Kelly—and the rest of the Bearcat team—were for real.

His opening game was also my first game as a video guy, and it was an interesting day to say the least. Gameday in college football is so much different than gameday was in high school. Not to mention, my job had changed slightly, but my job was relatively easy at UC, so I sat back and soaked in the gameday environment.

In two years, however, it has changed dramatically. Last year, on November 22nd a Nippert Stadium record 35,098 fans showed up to watch UC battle it out with Pittsburgh. Two seasons ago on opening night tickets were easy to come by, and in just two short seasons Kelly has changed the mantra in Cincinnati.

During last season's titanic tilt with Pitt, over 35,000 fans stuffed into Nippert Stadium

It’s a school that was most known for its 1990’s basketball success before Kelly showed up and changed what was thought to be an also-ran football program into a league champ and national contender. Last year’s first game brought in 26,000 plus fans, and tomorrow’s home opener might just sell out.

I’ve been there for the upswing, and although many writers and experts feel Kelly is on his way to a bigger name program, I just have a feeling that he’ll ride out his stay at Cincinnati until he finds an easier route to the national title. Of course, if every game this season goes the way Monday afternoon’s beatdown of Rutgers did, we could be well on our way to a national title this year.

Tony Pike saw action against SEMO in 2007 as the backup quarterback to Ben Mauk. This time around the senior QB will get the nod as the starter.

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