After Tough Loss to Ohio State, Cincinnati Needs Rebound Win

There was plenty of “good, bad and ugly” in the Cincinnati Bearcats‘ 50-28 loss at Ohio State—the offense found some holes in the Buckeyes’ secondary to keep the game close for a while, but in the end, the OSU offense downright exposed UC’s defense in near record-breaking fashion.

Let’s review what went right and wrong for the ‘Cats against the Bucks, and look ahead to Memphis—a much-improved conference foe that Cincinnati desperately needs a rebound win against.

The Good

Gunner Kiel continued his superlative start to his Cincinnati career, going 21-of-32 for 352 yards and four touchdowns, and looked especially impressive throwing the ball down the field. He now has thrown for 1,041 yards and 14 touchdowns with a 65.7 completion percentage through three games on the season. Kiel has also only thrown two interceptions and taken just three sacks.

Wide Receiver Chris Moore roasted the Buckeyes’ secondary, catching three passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns. Those three touchdown catches were of 60, 83 and 78 yards. Moore has shown an incredible knack for finding the end zone in his career as he had two touchdowns on four receptions in 2012, nine on 45 in 2013, and five of his six catches have been touchdowns this season.

UC won the turnover battle against OSU (+2) by recovering a fumble and getting an interception while not giving the ball up once. The Bearcats have only thrown two interceptions and have yet to lose a fumble, so the +2 against the Bucks pushes their turnover margin to +4 on the season.

The Bad

I almost skipped this section and went straight to “the ugly” because what was bad was REALLY bad for Cincinnati in this one. But, for the symmetry of it all:

The Bearcats were only able to run for 70 yards on 19 carries for an average of 3.7 per rush. When your passing game is as good as UC’s with Kiel and you have to play from behind as much as the Cats did that can happen quickly on the ground, but that anemic of a running game trickles into other offensive issues, like …

Third-down conversions and time of possession. Cincinnati was converting 54 percent of its third downs coming into the game but only managed to move the sticks on third down on four of its 11 chances. That contributed to another lopsided time of possession stat, with the Bearcats only having the ball for 18:04 to the Buckeyes’ 41:56. That is an alarming statistic, and despite the rate they can score the ball they are not helping a defense that already struggles to get off the field by only possessing it that long. It is something to watch going forward as they are only averaging 23:39 per game at the moment.

The Ugly

Oh boy, I could find legitimate excuses against Toledo and Miami (Oh.) for this defense (e.g. first game, cramping issues, rivalry game, looking ahead to OSU, etc.), but now I think it’s time to just say it: This defense is PUTRID. At least it is right now.

The numbers the Buckeyes put up are better than video game stats because you don’t have enough time with the condensed, five-minute quarters to do that kind of damage. Ohio State ran the ball 65 times (!!!) for 380 yards (5.8 per carry) and two touchdowns, so it must have barely thrown it, right? Wrong. J.T. Barrett threw it 36 times, completed 26 of those attempts and racked up 330 yards and four touchdowns.

Did you add those numbers up yet? No? Well that would be 710 yards of offense for Ohio State, good for second-most allowed by the Bearcats in school history (742 vs. Louisville, 1998) and second-most gained by the Buckeyes in school history (718 vs. Mount Union, 1930). It’s honestly a wonder as to how OSU had two turnovers, threw 10 incompletions or ever punted in this one with how bad things were for Cincinnati on D.

There was little pass rush to speak of, hardly any resistance against the run and guys were running open from several blown coverages throughout the game. It almost seemed like the Bearcats defenders had weighted pads on or something with how much faster the Buckeyes looked.

Next Up: Memphis

Cincinnati comes back from Columbus licking its wounds and heads right into a conference match-up against Memphis that based on last season would seem easy. But this isn’t last season, and this is a much-improved Tigers team, as evidenced by their fifth-place spot in our latest staff AAC power rankings.

By record they are 2-2, but that doesn’t tell the full story as those two losses were both on the road against top-notch competition in No. 11 UCLA (42-35) and No. 10 Mississippi (24-3). Their wins have come at home against Austin Peay (63-0) and Middle Tennessee (36-17).

The matchup to watch in this one will be the Memphis defense against the Cincinnati offense, as the Tigers are only allowing 20.8 points and 227.8 passing yards per game while the Bearcats are scoring 39 points and throwing for 353 yards per game.

While Cincinnati’s defense did just get carved up by Ohio State, I maintain the opinion that they have the talent to turn it around. Now, it won’t all of the sudden become a top-50 defensive team, but it certainly can improve from ranking 110th against the pass and 109th against the run.

Also working in the Bearcats’ favor is that the Tigers will be without their leading rusher, running back Doroland Dorceus, as he is out the rest of the season with an unspecified injury. Dorceus has put up solid numbers this season carrying the ball 46 times for 237 yards and four touchdowns—production that is not easily replaced. While quarterback Paxton Lynch has looked better than last season, he is only averaging 211.8 yards per game with just five touchdowns and three interceptions.

As the preseason favorite to win the AAC and after being so horrid on defense against Ohio State, Cincinnati needs to make a statement against an improved Memphis team this weekend. Another impressive outing for Kiel and a major turnaround on defense would go a long way for the Bearcats in showing the AAC they are still the team to beat.