At least the banquet won’t be uncomfortable this year. My, what a difference a year makes.
The team that Kelly left in the Queen City for Butch Jones seemed stacked offensively, and while another Big East title seemed slightly out of reach for the third head coach in five seasons, a good bowl game certainly wasn’t out of sight.
Injuries piled up, turnovers and penalties killed the Bearcats, and a less-than-experienced defense meant that the team that one year ago was celebrating a perfect season, would be home for the holidays at 4-8.
But I offer this solace to Bearcat fans, it could have been worse. Statistically speaking, UC and Texas both tied for the worst turn around. UC’s eight-game drop tied Texas’ (who went to the BCS National Title game last year) meteoric fall.
The only team that experienced a bigger fall from last season? Central Michigan, where Jones left last year. The Chippewas went 12-2 last year and 3-9 this season, a nine game turn around.
So, here’s a look back at the season, as unmemorable as it might have been compared to the past few seasons…
Part 1: (@Fresno State, vs Indiana State, @ NC State and vs Oklahoma)
The first third of the year was rather tough, and any expert could have predicted a 1-3 start for UC. However, it would have been tough to predict what happened late on a Saturday evening in Fresno, Calif. On a kickoff return in the third quarter, senior wideout Vidal Hazelton, a transfer from USC, tore his ACL, a season-ending injury.
Fresno State was the sight of more than one loss for the UC football team this season. The game was a loss and the loss of Hazelton impacted the season remarkably.
Already short on wide receivers (freshman Dyjuan Lewis and transfer Kenbrell Thompkins were both declared ineligible before the start of the season), Butch Jones and staff had to scramble to figure out how to deal with the Hazelton injury.
During practice for the Indiana State game, running back Isaiah Pead went down with a slight leg injury, rendering him out for the game against the Sycamores.
Needless to say, UC was in need of some good luck, and none could be found. The offensive line struggled early on too, and Zach Collaros was often running for his life against Fresno and NC State.
The atmosphere at NC State was unbelievable. The game, however, was, well, not so much.
Even though UC lost 31-29 to Oklahoma at Paul Brown Stadium, the team seemed to be turning a corner. DJ Woods and Armon Binns were very productive at wide receiver and John Goebel and Darrin Williams had subbed nicely for Pead.
So, even with a 1-3 start, the UC Bearcats were looking good headed into the first bye week of the year.
Part 2: (vs Miami (OH), @ Louisville, vs USF, vs Syracuse)
Two rivalry games opened up the second portion of the UC season, and these two games started the progress back to where most experts thought the Bearcats would be. Isaiah Pead rushed for nearly 200 yards in one half against Miami, and Armon Binns made the future MAC champion secondary look silly. UC kept a strangle hold on the Victory Bell with a 45-3 win.
The road trip to my favorite stadium in the Big East, Papajohn’s Cardinal Stadium, one week later also proved to be a good one for UC fans. The Friday night showdown in Louisville was a shootout between two first-year head coaches, Jones and Louisville’s Charlie Strong. The Cards jumped ahead early but were unable to hold on to the lead and Armon Binns once again led the UC brigade, scoring three touchdowns. DJ Woods added two of his own, and UC won 35-27, keeping the Keg of Nails for the third straight year.
The newly renovated Papajohn's Cardinal Stadium
Then came the downfall. After two big wins against two rivals, the wheels began to fall off for the Bearcats. Facing a South Florida team at home and a resurgent Syracuse team at the end of the month, the UC Bearcats began a plunge that would ultimately prove too costly to overcome.
The USF game was close, even to the end, but Zach Collaros ended up hurting his leg on one of the final possessions of the evening for UC and backup Chazz Anderson couldn’t lead UC down the field in the closing seconds. The 38-30 loss snapped a 13 game Big East winning streak, and was the first UC loss in Nippert Stadium since Nov. 17, 2007.
Anderson had to start against Syracuse one week later and the surging Orange won big. UC had trouble holding onto the ball, giving Syracuse short fields to work with offensively, and the Orange, who have been in the cellar of the Big East the past few years, beat the two-time defending Big East champs 31-7 in front of a less-than-enthused home crowd.
A record of 2-2 in the second session of the season dropped UC’s record to 3-5, and meant that in order to make a bowl, the Bearcats would have to win three of their final four matchups.
Part 3: (@West Virginia, vs Rutgers, @UConn, vs Pitt)
A tall order faced the UC football squad after their last bye week of the season: go to Morgantown, West Va., and beat the WVU Mountaineers. Easier said than done, but if anyone knows what gameday is like in Morgantown, it is former WVU wide receivers coach Butch Jones. Now, on the opposite sidelines for a game against the school he spent two years coaching, Jones was overpowered.
Butch Jones was on the opposite sideline of the West Virginia sideline where he spent two years under Rich Rodriguez as a wide receivers coach.
West Virginia forced the Bearcats to put eight times and the UC offense was horrid, going 0-for-13 on third downs. West Virginia took down the Bearcats 37-10. But, a bumbling Rutgers squad came to Nippert one week later, and offered some relief for UC fans.
An offense that sputtered against WVU clicked against Rutgers. Zach Collaros threw for 366 yards and four touchdowns, while Pead racked up 213 yards and four scores on the ground. It was a total offensive blowout, and UC doubled up Rutgers 69-38. One down, two to go to make a bowl game for UC.
Unfortunately, the trip to Hartford, Conn., spelled the end of the hopes and dreams of UC fans for going bowling anywhere. The eventual Big East champs rolled over the Bearcats at Rentschler Field, winning 38-17. Although UC had chances to score and pull close, the defense couldn’t stop running back Jordan Todman, who ran for 175 and three scores. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” was the theme song of the moment, and what awaited UC and Pittsburgh the next week was a true winter wonderland.
The Rent: Home of your Big East BCS representatives in 2011
Snow fell at Nippert for the final game of the season between Pitt and UC. The matchup decided the Big East’s BCS berth one year earlier and this year was nothing more than a fight to see if UC could end the season on a good note. Dion Lewis wouldn’t let that happen.
Lewis, the star sophomore, ran for 261 and four scores in the snow, but was overshadowed in the game by the UC mascot. The UC mascot was detained for throwing snowballs into the student section, and a backup mascot (a “Next Mascot In,” if you will) was in place for the second half of the game.
What a way to end the season. The 28-10 drubbing wasn’t enough to keep Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt’s job, as I wrote about yesterday, but it was more than enough to leave a horribly sour taste in the mouths of UC fans who were sucking down packets of Sugar one year earlier.
What a turn around, what a season. Injuries, turnovers and inexperience all translated to a 4-8 record, worse than even the most negative side of yours truly could have imagined. But, I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts on what a season it was as the month goes on. This was just an on-the-field look at what occurred. For more musings and thoughts about the season and my career (so far) check back.
I’ve got plenty of blog posts planned for this month. Follow me on Twitter for all the postings (@adamniemeyer). Have a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment