From The Other Side..

[dehayes35]

A few stories from the Cincinnati Enquirer...

news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071113/SPT0101/711130405/1064

As if Saturday's game against West Virginia didn't already loom as the biggest in the history of the University of Cincinnati football program, coach Brian Kelly underscored its importance Monday when he claimed that "anything less than a Big East championship now would be a disappointment."

No. 21 UC (8-2 overall, 3-2 Big East) has rallied the past two weeks with back-to-back victories over Top 25 teams South Florida and Connecticut.

A win over No. 5 West Virginia (8-1, 3-1) Saturday at Nippert Stadium would keep the Bearcats in the hunt for the Big East title and BCS bowl berth that goes with it, with one game left on Nov. 24 at Syracuse. A loss would eliminate them.

Even if UC does win its final two games, it needs help to claim the league championship. Like the Bearcats, Pittsburgh has only two losses and owns a victory over UC, so if Pitt wins out and finishes in a tie for first place with the Bearcats, Pitt wins the league title.

If UC, Connecticut and Pitt all finish with two losses, the team with the highest BCS ranking would win the Big East title.

UC will face a Mountaineer team this week that leads the league in scoring offense (40.4 points per game), rushing offense (288.8 yards per game) and total defense (275.4 yards per game).

Running back Steve Slaton (98.3 yards per game) and quarterback Pat White (89.2) both rank among the league's top four rushers.

"It's a one-shot deal," Kelly said. "We don't have to play them five times. That's the nice part about it."

The Bearcats are second in the league in rushing defense behind the Mountaineers, allowing 98.8 yards per game.

"Eventually the great players are going to rise to the top and they're going to make plays," Kelly said.

"At the end of the day the defense is going to have to play a huge role in stopping the run on both sides of the ball," Kelly said.

West Virginia has developed a reputation for coughing up the ball, but in reality has lost it only 14 times this season. Only Connecticut has committed fewer turnovers. Still, UC has forced 35 turnovers, which leads the country.

"I know Cincinnati is one of the best in the country at forcing turnovers," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. "We can't afford to have any if we're going to win the game."

UC has never beaten a team ranked in the Top 5, but did prevail just last season at home against No. 7 Rutgers, which is the highest-ranked team the Bearcats have ever beaten.

Last year, West Virginia blew past UC 42-24 in Morgantown. The Mountaineers lead the series 13-1-1, with the Bearcats' only victory coming in Morgantown in 2003, 15-13.

But this isn't last year. And the UC program certainly has changed both in terms of self-image and execution from those teams that have lost to West Virginia so frequently in the past.

"They're very athletic and they're playing with a lot of confidence," Rodriguez said. "They've completely bought into what coach Kelly and his staff are doing. It's going to be a tough atmosphere at their place. We've got to be ready to go."

[dehayes35]

Physical play = emotional win
League title, BCS bid within UC's reach

The last time the University of Cincinnati football team won eight games during the regular season, the Bearcats weren't even invited to a bowl game.

That was in 1993, back when the program was an independent and considered such a non-entity that coach Tim Murphy left at the end of the season to become the head coach at Harvard.

The Bearcats hit the eight-win plateau again Saturday with a convincing 27-3 victory over No. 16 Connecticut before 30,943 fans at Nippert Stadium.

This time the reward could be a trip to a BCS bowl game if UC wins its last two games against No. 6 West Virginia and Syracuse.

"From the beginning of the year, that was the statement we made whenever we worked out, through everything we did," said senior free safety Haruki Nakamura. "We talked about winning a Big East championship. Now we're in that position next week against West Virginia."

UC (8-2, 3-2 Big East Conference) thoroughly dominated a UConn team that entered the game as the only team in the Big East without a conference loss.

The Huskies (8-2, 4-1) managed only a second-quarter field goal against the swarming UC defense.

The Bearcats held UConn to 204 yards - just 22 on the ground - pressured Huskies quarterback Tyler Lorenzen all day and produced the only turnover of the game, an interception by defensive tackle Adam Hoppel after defensive end Anthony Hoke tipped Lorenzen's pass at the line of scrimmage.

"We just wanted to get after them," said Hoke, who also had three sacks. "I was just beating them around the edge. That's what we did all night."

UConn, which entered the game ranked third in the Big East in rushing at 174.8 yards per game, featured two running backs who had accrued five 100-yard rushing games between them this season. But against UC, they found yards almost impossible to come by.

"They won the physical battle," said Lorenzen, who completed 18 of 37 passes for 182 yards.

UC scored on its first possession of the game, moving 55 yards in seven plays to set up a 1-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ben Mauk to tight end Connor Barwin.

The Bearcats' second touchdown was set up by Hoppel's interception, which gave them possession on the UConn 6.

Mauk then connected with Charley Howard on a 6-yard touchdown pass that gave UC a 13-0 lead with 22 seconds left in the first quarter after kicker Jake Rogers' extra point attempt missed wide left.

UConn's only points came on a 22-yard field goal by Tony Ciaravino with 2:03 left in the first half after the Huskies had driven 74 yards to the UC 5-yard line.

The Bearcats, who led 13-3 at halftime, put the game away with two second-half touchdowns, their first second-half points since the Oct. 13 Louisville game.

"We needed to play physical football tonight," said UC coach Brian Kelly. "We had to force Connecticut to throw the football and then offensively find a way to close it out.

"We knew going in that Connecticut was not going to give us big plays. They've been up in most of their games early, so it was important for us to get off to a good start, stop the run and play physical. I thought we brought all of those three things tonight."

UC, which has struggled this season when not producing a spate of turnovers, forced only one against UConn.

But the way the Bearcats played defense, that was all they needed.

"Lorenzen is a very good decision-maker," Nakamura said. "We knew we had to get pressure on him. Basically all we did is we played fast. We didn't do anything special.

"I guess you could say we just physically outplayed them."

[WVUfanPHILLY]

Second time this year we've been the biggest game in a program's history!

[dehayes35]

Let's hope it ends different than the last time.

[mountaineerinpa]

As long as we take care of the ball we will take care of business.