via TampaBay.comBetter late than never for a recap of one of the most dramatic victories in Bearcats history. Cincinnati is large and in charge in the Big East race, and bowl eligible at 2-0, 6-1. The Bearcats play with first place on the line next Saturday night at Pittsburgh, who is 2-1. South Florida has dropped all 3 Big East games, and after some high hopes sit at 4-3, 0-3. They are practically eliminated from the Big East race. Kind of shocking. Instead of doing a full blow by blow recap, we are going to do the bullet points. Maybe this game will get written about after the season fully. We will still go over the good and bad with clapping and sad Butch Jones.
Tony Miliano started the game off by doing something he had never done before, missing a field goal. He has had 2 blocked, but before he pushed a 33 yarder to close the opening drive, he hadn't missed one. Tony has been solid his freshman year, but has had a problem missing some close ones.
Tony drilled a 43 yarder to give UC a 10-7 lead. See, I said solid and I meant it.
Remember when I said that Tony had 2 kicks blocked? He had an extra point blocked with 9 minutes left that kept the score at 30-27. That would end up being a huge deal when USF marched down the field and scored. The kicking game hasn't been bad this year, but 3 blocks and some short misses means they haven't exactly been great either.
Monte Taylor doesn't play a ton, he's mainly just a rush end. He's making the most of his time on the field. He ended the first USF series deep in USF territory with his third forced fumble of the season. Dude goes hard.
Another guy who doesn't play much, but goes hard is Travis Kelce. 2 catches, 41 yards doesn't sound like a ton, but they were both big gainers that set up scoring drives. Dude also goes hard.
Zombie Zach Collaros threw a red zone INT. He's thrown 4 by my count. Zach looks like he's turned the corner from trying to do too much in 2010, but sometimes he can't stop trying to make a play. I would even bet that if we looked at the Miami and NC State INTs that they came on 3rd down, like this one did. Being aggressive and trying to score on every play is good, but getting a field goal is scoring too. Just chill.
The other INT Zombie threw was when he was flushed deep out of the pocket, scrambled left and tried, for the second time in the game, to shovel pass the ball 10 yards downfield. He said after the game he was trying to get it out of bounds, but he didn't have enough on it and the pass was picked by Jerrell Young. It was face palm material. It only added credibility to the report Collaros was
stolen by ghosts. Collaros came to grips with the zombification by taking over the second half. He powered an 80 yard drive with a 39 yard pass to Kenbrell Thompkins, followed by a 21 yard strike to Adrien Robinson for a score. He threw perfect deep passes, he punched it in on short yardage plays. He was clutch at the end. There was not a lot of doubt among UC fans that 1:21 was enough for Collaros to make something happen. 12 yards to Thompkins, 3 to Pead, 33 to Thopmkins, 21 to McClung, 2 yard run. Zach was nails. Zach was Zombie.
Alex Chisum 3-73-1 TD. Skinny Binns did the damn thing. You have to love seeing him step up the past few weeks. Lots of people thought that Shaq Washington was going to be the standout freshman, but it's been Chisum. UC can spread you out 4 wide and do anything. They can throw, run Pead, run Collaros, it's unpredictable.
Kenbrell Thompkins 6-114. Anthony McClung 4-47. Thompkins was huge all day, but never bigger than when he caught a short pass and took it 33 yards with under a minute left. That was helped by a HUGE block by Anthony McClung that sprung Thompkins around 10 more yards. McClung then caught a 21 yard pass to get UC to the 6. The receivers made plays.
The secondary is the biggest defensive issue, and lord were they against USF. Daniels hit passes of 21, 22, 34, 37, 26, 36, and 30. Gashed all day long for big plays. The biggest flaw of the 2011 Bearcats is that you can sit back and pick them apart. Doesn't look like there is a ton to do about it.
That said, Deven Drane made a huge play by picking off a BJ Daniels overthrow. That allowed UC to run some clock, and Pat O'Donnell pinned USF back deep. Deven Drane has gotten all of his picks in the UC red zone I believe. Don't throw his way inside the 20.
The UC defense gave up the lead in 6 plays, allowing USF to go 83 yards in 2 minutes. It was horrible to watch. Daniels hit Marc for 17, Welch for 30, Murray for 19, Landi for 4 and a fade to Andre Davis for the score. USF had a run mixed in there. It was horrifying when USF scored though.
BJ Daniels was 13-17, 287 last year, 31-47, 409, 3 TDs, 1 INT this year. He is going to throw for 500 yards next year. He owns the Bearcats secondary. Daniels also ran for 54 yards.
While Daniels ran for 54, Darrell Scott 11 carries 29 yards, Demetris Murray 6 carries 14 yards. 2.4 a carry for the team. You don't run on the UC defensive line.
The game was a penalty fest on both sides. The Bearcats caught 10 for 73 yards. The Bulls 10 for 109 yards. It was very ugly at times.
Hats off to the coaching staff for sticking with the run. Isaiah Pead had 22 carries for 79 yards. That doesn't look impressive, but the fact he ran the ball 22 times while averaging under 4 yards a carry would not have happened last year. Pead fumbled, kept running. UC was quick to give up the run, this time they stuck with it. Pead also had 4 catches for 48 yards and a score.
Speaking of the score, wonderful playcalling. 3rd and 3 at the 6. USF went blitz, UC went screen. Pead could have moon walked into the end zone.
Speaking of wonderful playcalling, that was the opposite of what happened at the end of the first half. Facing 3rd and goal at the 2 with about 25 seconds left, USF chose to let the clock bleed instead of trying to go for a score. I don't really know what was running through Skip Holtz's head, but that uber conservative decision might have been the difference between winning and losing in such a tight game as this. Highly questionable.
Punt returns are still an adventure. Danny Milligan was not very good. He had no return yards and muffed at least 2. Hell, special teams were awful. Blocked kick, no punt returns, penalties on kick returns, huge USF punt return. It was everything I was worried about in one game.
Zach earned the nickname Zombie for good now because of his great second half. Yes, for good, Butch Jones
retweeted it, so it stays. You can't go against winning and the Head Coach. You just can't. Well, you can if you want to suck.
George Winn is a beast.
That's worth another look.
Box score via Go Bearcats
Team Statistics (Final)
2011 Cincinnati Football
Cincinnati vs USF (10/22/11 at Tampa, Fla.)
| Team Totals |
CIN |
USF |
| FIRST DOWNS |
26 |
29 |
| Rushing |
6 |
7 |
| Passing |
16 |
19 |
| Penalty |
4 |
3 |
| NET YARDS RUSHING |
118 |
86 |
| Rushing Attempts |
34 |
36 |
| Average Per Rush |
3.5 |
2.4 |
| Rushing Touchdowns |
2 |
1 |
| Yards Gained Rushing |
128 |
133 |
| Yards Lost Rushing |
10 |
47 |
| NET YARDS PASSING |
389 |
409 |
| Completions-Attempts-Int |
26-41-2 |
31-48-1 |
| Average Per Attempt |
9.5 |
8.5 |
| Average Per Completion |
15.0 |
13.2 |
| Passing Touchdowns |
3 |
3 |
| TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS |
507 |
495 |
| Total offense plays |
75 |
84 |
| Average Gain Per Play |
6.8 |
5.9 |
| Fumbles: Number-Lost |
2-1 |
5-3 |
| Penalties: Number-Yards |
10-73 |
10-109 |
| PUNTS-YARDS |
4-214 |
5-208 |
| Average Yards Per Punt |
53.5 |
41.6 |
| Net Yards Per Punt |
38.8 |
41.6 |
| Inside 20 |
2 |
2 |
| 50+ Yards |
2 |
1 |
| Touchbacks |
1 |
0 |
| Fair catch |
0 |
3 |
| KICKOFFS-YARDS |
7-431 |
6-394 |
| Average Yards Per Kickoff |
61.6 |
65.7 |
| Net Yards Per Kickoff |
45.6 |
42.8 |
| Touchbacks |
0 |
1 |
| Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD |
0-0-0 |
2-39-0 |
| Average Per Return |
0.0 |
19.5 |
| Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD |
5-117-0 |
7-112-0 |
| Average Per Return |
23.4 |
16.0 |
| Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD |
1-0-0 |
2-0-0 |
| Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD |
3-0-0 |
1-0-0 |
| Miscellaneous Yards |
0 |
0 |
| Possession Time |
28:48 |
31:12 |
| 1st Quarter |
7:03 |
7:57 |
| 2nd Quarter |
7:46 |
7:14 |
| 3rd Quarter |
5:22 |
9:38 |
| 4th Quarter |
8:37 |
6:23 |
| Third-Down Conversions |
7 of 16 |
6 of 15 |
| Fourth-Down Conversions |
0 of 0 |
1 of 2 |
| Red-Zone Scores-Chances |
3-5 |
6-7 |
| Touchdowns |
3-5 |
4-7 |
| Field goals |
0-5 |
2-7 |
| Sacks By: Number-Yards |
2-28 |
1-5 |
| PAT Kicks |
4-5 |
4-4 |
| Field Goals |
1-2 |
2-2 |
Individual Statistics (Final)
2011 Cincinnati Football
Cincinnati vs USF (10/22/11 at Tampa, Fla.)
| Cincinnati |
|
USF |
|
|
|
| RUSHING |
No. |
Gain |
Loss |
Net |
TD |
Lg |
Avg. |
| DANIELS, B.J. |
15 |
83 |
29 |
54 |
0 |
20 |
3.6 |
| SCOTT, Darrell |
11 |
30 |
1 |
29 |
0 |
8 |
2.6 |
| MURRAY, Demetri |
6 |
14 |
0 |
14 |
1 |
6 |
2.3 |
| SHAW, Marcus |
1 |
6 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
6 |
6.0 |
| LAMAR, Lindsey |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
| MARC, Victor |
1 |
0 |
4 |
-4 |
0 |
0 |
-4.0 |
| BROCKHAUS-KANN |
1 |
0 |
13 |
-13 |
0 |
0 |
-13.0 |
| Totals... |
36 |
133 |
47 |
86 |
1 |
20 |
2.4 |
|
|
| PASSING |
Cmp-Att-Int |
Yds |
TD |
Long |
Sack |
| Collaros, Zach |
26-41-2 |
389 |
3 |
39 |
1 |
| Totals... |
26-41-2 |
389 |
3 |
39 |
1 |
|
|
| PASSING |
Cmp-Att-Int |
Yds |
TD |
Long |
Sack |
| DANIELS, B.J. |
31-48-1 |
409 |
3 |
37 |
2 |
| Totals... |
31-48-1 |
409 |
3 |
37 |
2 |
|
|
| RECEIVING |
No. |
Yds |
TD |
Lg |
| THOMPKINS, K. |
6 |
114 |
0 |
39 |
| WOODS, DJ |
6 |
45 |
0 |
12 |
| Pead, Isaiah |
4 |
48 |
1 |
33 |
| MCCLUNG, A. |
4 |
47 |
0 |
21 |
| Chisum, Alex |
3 |
73 |
1 |
30 |
| Kelce, Travis |
2 |
41 |
0 |
22 |
| ROBINSON, A. |
1 |
21 |
1 |
21 |
| Totals... |
26 |
389 |
3 |
39 |
|
|
|
|
|
| RECEIVING |
No. |
Yds |
TD |
Lg |
| GRIFFIN, Sterli |
8 |
73 |
1 |
14 |
| WELCH, Deonte |
5 |
130 |
0 |
37 |
| DAVIS, Andre |
4 |
60 |
1 |
36 |
| MARC, Victor |
4 |
33 |
0 |
18 |
| LANDI, Evan |
3 |
51 |
0 |
26 |
| MURRAY, Demetri |
2 |
30 |
0 |
19 |
| SCOTT, Darrell |
2 |
7 |
0 |
10 |
| SHIELDS, Andrea |
1 |
17 |
1 |
17 |
| LOVE, A.J. |
1 |
5 |
0 |
5 |
| MILLER, Joel |
1 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
| Totals... |
31 |
409 |
3 |
37 |
|
|
| PUNTING |
No. |
Yds |
Avg |
Long |
In20 |
TB |
| O'Donnell, Pat |
4 |
214 |
53.5 |
64 |
2 |
1 |
| Totals... |
4 |
214 |
53.5 |
64 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
| PUNTING |
No. |
Yds |
Avg |
Long |
In20 |
TB |
| BROCKHAUS-KANN |
5 |
208 |
41.6 |
53 |
2 |
0 |
| Totals... |
5 |
208 |
41.6 |
53 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
| |
Punts |
Kickoffs |
Intercept |
| ALL RETURNS |
No |
Yds |
Lg |
No |
Yds |
Lg |
No |
Yds |
Lg |
| Drane, Deven |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| ABERNATHY, RD |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
117 |
37 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Totals... |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
117 |
37 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Punts |
Kickoffs |
Intercept |
| ALL RETURNS |
No |
Yds |
Lg |
No |
Yds |
Lg |
No |
Yds |
Lg |
| MARC, Victor |
2 |
38 |
40 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| YOUNG, Jerrell |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| WEATHERSPOON, C |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| JENKINS, JaQuez |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| DAVIS, Claude |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| LAMAR, Lindsey |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
102 |
21 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Totals... |
2 |
39 |
40 |
7 |
112 |
21 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
| ALL PURPOSE |
Rush |
Rcv |
KR |
PR |
IR |
Total |
| Pead, Isaiah |
79 |
48 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
127 |
| ABERNATHY, RD |
0 |
0 |
117 |
0 |
0 |
117 |
| THOMPKINS, K. |
0 |
114 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
114 |
| Chisum, Alex |
0 |
73 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
73 |
| MCCLUNG, A. |
0 |
47 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
47 |
| WOODS, DJ |
0 |
45 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
45 |
| Kelce, Travis |
0 |
41 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
41 |
| ROBINSON, A. |
0 |
21 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
21 |
| Collaros, Zach |
21 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
21 |
| Winn, George |
18 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
18 |
| Totals... |
118 |
389 |
117 |
0 |
0 |
624 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ALL PURPOSE |
Rush |
Rcv |
KR |
PR |
IR |
Total |
| WELCH, Deonte |
0 |
130 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
130 |
| LAMAR, Lindsey |
0 |
0 |
102 |
0 |
0 |
102 |
| GRIFFIN, Sterli |
0 |
73 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
73 |
| MARC, Victor |
-4 |
33 |
0 |
38 |
0 |
67 |
| DAVIS, Andre |
0 |
60 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
60 |
| DANIELS, B.J. |
54 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
54 |
| LANDI, Evan |
0 |
51 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
51 |
| MURRAY, Demetri |
14 |
30 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
44 |
| SCOTT, Darrell |
29 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
36 |
| SHIELDS, Andrea |
0 |
17 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
17 |
| DAVIS, Claude |
0 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
| SHAW, Marcus |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
| LOVE, A.J. |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
| MILLER, Joel |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| WEATHERSPOON, C |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| BROCKHAUS-KANN |
-13 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-13 |
| Totals... |
86 |
409 |
112 |
39 |
0 |
646 |
|
Defensive Statistics (Final)
2011 Cincinnati Football
Cincinnati vs USF (10/22/11 at Tampa, Fla.)
| ## |
Cincinnati |
Solo |
Ast |
Total |
TFL/Yds |
FF |
FR-Yds |
Int-Yds |
BrUp |
Blkd |
Sack/Yds |
QBH |
| 24 |
RICHARDSON, W. |
6 |
2 |
8 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 37 |
SCHAFFER, JK |
4 |
4 |
8 |
. |
. |
1-0 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 4D |
Bomar, Maalik |
4 |
3 |
7 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 26 |
Frey, Drew |
5 |
1 |
6 |
1.0/3 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 1D |
Drane, Deven |
4 |
2 |
6 |
. |
. |
. |
1-0 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 94 |
Stepp, Jordan |
5 |
. |
5 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 43 |
Temple, Nick |
4 |
1 |
5 |
1.0/4 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 99 |
Giordano, Dan |
1 |
3 |
4 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 54 |
STEWART, Walter |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1.0/1 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 58 |
Mills, Brandon |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1.0/9 |
. |
1-0 |
. |
. |
. |
1.0/9 |
. |
| 21 |
CHEATHAM, C. |
2 |
1 |
3 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 13 |
Lambert, Pat |
2 |
. |
2 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 84 |
Woodard, Orion |
2 |
. |
2 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 95 |
Wolfe, Derek |
1 |
1 |
2 |
. |
. |
1-0 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 31 |
Haley, Reuben |
1 |
1 |
2 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 20 |
WILLIAMS, Chris |
1 |
1 |
2 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 45 |
Trigg, Rob |
1 |
. |
1 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 46 |
Meador, Mitch |
1 |
. |
1 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 87 |
Taylor, Monte |
1 |
. |
1 |
1.0/19 |
1 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
1.0/19 |
. |
| 40 |
Hughes, John |
1 |
. |
1 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 4 |
LEGAUX, Munchie |
. |
1 |
1 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
| 32 |
Winn, George |
. |
1 |
1 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Last two pictures courtesy of USA Today
