Bearcats Sleepwalk Through 23-7 Win over Delaware State

That picture of Butch Jones sums up the game. I was not looking very forward to the Bearcats clash against Delaware St tonight. I explained why a little bit in the preview, but if you didn’t read it, I’ll elaborate. Games against FCS teams don’t really tell you a lot about your team. They are games you are supposed to win. Most of the game plans are vanilla. No one wants to waste the good plays on the bad teams. These are the games that we as fans show up and watch our team kick some ass for a half, then watch the guys from the bench get some shine. 

The bad thing about the game tonight was that the Bearcats had that menality tonight. There were a lot of reserves in big roles. Damon Julian got his first start. Parker Enigher started at right guard. Aaron Roberson saw a lot of time. Drew Frey didn’t play. Dominique Battle saw a lot of time at safety. Things were different. But there wasn’t so much different going on that the Bearcats would be hindered by it. The UC talent level is up here – and the Delaware St talent level is here _. Pretty big difference from – to _. The Cats could sleep walk through this one. And sleepwalk through this one they did. UC scored 13 of their 23 points on 2 of their first 3 drives. In between was a turnover. After TD number 2, the Bearcats turned the ball over. They scored a TD late in the second quarter. Then they turned it over. And turned it over. And turned it over. They punted twice before, guess what, turning it over. The offense was bad, but the defense only forced three 3 and outs against a 1 dimensional Delaware St squad. The lax defense was forced to pay for their actions. No one laid a hand on Malcolm Williams as he ran 60 yards to make the score 20-7. It was incredibly uninspiring play. 

The turnovers are the focus of the story. The main culprit was Munchie Legaux. He threw a deep ball that was picked off. Kenbrell Thompkins was open, but Munchie double clutched and threw it short. He threw a pass in the end zone that was picked off. That pass was into double coverage as Legaux stared a hole into Anthony McClung. There were at least 3 other passes that should have been picked off. 

Munchie fumbled twice. He tried to pull off a fake on a read option, but the ball smacked off the leg of George Winn and to the turf. The second fumble saw him stripped as a Delaware St player rushed the right end and knocked the ball free.  

The other two turnovers were fumbles. Anthony McClung, in probably the play the most describes the game, broke a screen. It was easing up to walk into the end zone. As he looked right, a guy came from his left and crushed him. The ball went out of the end zone for a touchback. The second fumble was when Travis Kelce held the ball like a loaf of bread after a catch, predictably having it stripped. 

UC’s defense forced two turnovers. Arryn Chenault, who was injured late in the game, picked off his first career pass. Aaron Roberson got a sack and stripped the quarterback. Those were very good plays. The Roberson strip came after the second Legaux fumble. 

There were shining stars for the game. George Winn continued to earn the job as primary running back with another great performance. He carried 24 times for 147 yards. He broke a 31 yarder on his first carry. Winn was the best Bearcat offensively. The other backs were solid as well, but Winn is balling hard right now. 

The offensive line played great. Sprague, Hooey, Longo, Ehinger, Bujnoch, and the left tackle who’s name I’m blanking on, Lefeld. They were great. UC could have run the ball all day and I’m sure they would have loved it. 

Damon Julian got his first start and it was a good one. He was the leading receiver with 4 catches for 62 yards. He caught his first TD pass. It was a tough nosed play as he broke multiple tackles.

I’m sure I’ll think of more positives in Monday’s piece, but as for this reaction piece, I got nothin’ more to add. The Bearcats played like hot garbage for most of the game. I’m not saying that the guys didn’t care about this game. They did. I’m saying they did not play with the same fire that they had days ago against Pittsburgh. They better not play with this type of energy level again. Besides the Fordham game, they will lose and lose horribly if they do. At the very, very least, we have the one takeaway from the game, UC is 2-0. It was what we expected, but not how we expected. 

Box score via ESPN
 

Team Stat Comparison