UC spoils Orange Senior Night with offensive outburst in ‘07

Heading into the final game of the 2007 season—Brian Kelly’s first at the helm of the Cincinnati Bearcats—the ‘Cats were 8-3, looking at sewing up a berth in the Sun Bowl. Or so we were told. On the day after Thanksgiving we boarded our Delta charter flight and made the short trip to upstate New York where there was a layer of snow on the ground. Good thing the Syracuse Orange play indoors.

My first trip to the Carrier Dome, which might be more famous right now for the basketball team which plays in it than the football team, was a learning experience to say the least. I’ve never been to a domed stadium, and I got a crash course in domes when I walked into the facility. In order to get to the field, and steps to my endzone filming area, we needed to walk through a hallway where we had to open one door (which was tough because of the air pressure difference) and let it close before proceeding through the next door.
Needless to say, it was a learning evening.

That game between an 8-3 Cincinnati and a 2-9 Syracuse was played at 7 P.M. televised on ESPNU. Tell me about a game very few people had an interest in. I’m willing to be more people tuned in than appeared in person to watch UC play the ‘Cuse though.

The final listed attendance was 30,040, but for some reason I remember far less folks than that actually showing up. After all, the Carrier Dome holds about 50,000 fans for football games and I doubt the place was even half full for that game. If it was it would have been a much louder environment and more interesting game.
The final score that evening read UC-52, Syracuse-31, but the game was a little tighter than the score might show. With eight minutes left in the third the Orange scored to make it 35-31 UC with the lead. After receiving the kickoff the Bearcats ran three plays that gained eight yards and took less than a minute before Kevin Huber had to punt.

Syracuse, with a chance to actually go ahead in the game, faced heavy pressure from the UC defense and Corey Smith knocked sophomore quarterback Andrew Robinson to the turf. Robinson dropped the ball and Angelo Craig returned it sixteen yards to the house, putting the Bearcats up 42-31 with six minutes left in the fourth.

The ‘Cats never looked back.

Putting up 52 was no easy task, and quarterback Ben Mauk had a career day indoors. He threw for 431 yards and four touchdowns, three of which went to Marcus Barnett, who caught 11 passes for 127 yards on the night. Mauk’s 431 yards ranked second in UC history for passing yards in a game and his 436 all purpose yards also ranked second in UC history, behind Greg Cook’s 1968 performance against Ohio where he threw for 554 yards.

That finished the season for UC and Syracuse, one has gone straight to the top of the Big East while the other has fired that head coach and hired a former player. Can Doug Marrone’s new look Orange with former Duke guard Greg Paulus at quarterback defeat the Big East’s best team? We’ll find out in a little over 24 hours when UC steps back into the Carrier Dome for the first time since the drubbing that Ben Mauk and company put on the Orange on their senior night in ’07.

Pictures to follow sometime next week. Enjoy your weekend and tune into ESPNU tomorrow at noon to watch UC continue their bid for a BCS bowl game and Big East title when the ‘Cats go to battle with the Orange in Syracuse.