15 days until graduation

The countdown is getting smaller, and it’s hard to not think of one of the best moments in recent UC football history when you think of the number 15.

With less than a minute left on the clock at Heinz Field, Tony Pike, a hometown kid from Reading High School, stood behind center Chris Jurek with four wide outs to his left, and then-junior Armon Binns alone to his right.

Tony Pike (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

A perfect season was on the line.

Pike throws (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

I never, never say this before the ball is snapped, but I quickly glanced away from my camera screen and said to myself, ‘This is a touchdown.’

Binns lays out to make the catch (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

Pike got the snap, lofted the ball toward the goal line, and the rest is history.

Pike celebrates (Cincinnati Enquirer)

I hope to come up with a top-ten list of college memories, and I’d have to tell you that this moment might be really, really high on that list.

So here’s to No. 15, Tony Pike, as a Bearcat, and the fact that in 15 days, I’ll be able to walk across the stage and call myself a graduate of UC.