Bearcats Lose Collaros, Lose to West Virginia

The Cincinnati Bearcats took their first conference loss 24-21 to the West Virginia Mountaineers today. UC falls to 7-2, 3-1. West Virginia is 7-3, 3-2. The major story of the game is that Zombie Zach Collaros left the game in the second quarter with a lower leg injury. Sophomore Munchie Legaux got off to a rocky start, but played well. He was 10-21 for 144 yards and an INT on his first or second throw. He ran for 77 yards, although 72 of them came on a huge run and his 7 yard TD. Isaiah Pead was his Isaiah Pead self. He ran for 113 yards and 2 TDs, while getting 67 yards in the air. 

The game was very winnable.  The coaching staff made a lot of questionable decisions late. It started with punting to Tavon Austin, who KILLED UC all day long. Austin returned a punt into practically FG range. With 2:30 left, Jones let the clock run out instead of using 1 of his 2 timeouts. He was lucky that WV missed a short FG to keep the score within 3. 

Munchie made up for the gaff by hitting Kenbrell Thompkins, 67 yards, for a 34 yard strike. He hit Thopmkins with another pass to the 21. UC went uber conservative, run, short pass, all while letting the clock run. On 3rd down, they chose to play for the tie, calling a QB draw that got nothing. Jones let the clock run, then called timeout. That part is cool. What’s not cool is that he then called another timeout, icing his own kicker. That gave WV time to get a block ready. UC has given up 5 or 6 blocked kicks before this. As you know, the Miliano kick was blocked. Cincinnati lost. They lost because they played for the tie. If Collaros was in, they would have played for the win. Jones didn’t give Munchie a chance to be the hero. He didn’t give Pead the ball on a screen or pass to the flat. He didn’t give Thompkins or WoodsMcClung a chance to win. If Jones chose to not go for the win because Legaux threw a pass that was broken up by Keith Tandy, that’s bullshit.

On the bright side, Louisville lost. That means everyone but UC has 2 losses. The final 3 are all winnable, and UC should be favored. They play @ Rutgers, @ Syracuse and v UConn. We don’t know how long Collaros will be out yet, but Munchie played well the longer he was in. He had a solid game. I trust him. That doesn’t mean the road won’t be hard without Zombie though.

this was just a frustrating game. It was like South Florida, but painful. This is why YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME, kids. Sigh. This one hurts.  

Box score via ESPN

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