“For me, I think I silenced the critics,” Cincinnati quarterback Gunner Kiel said following the team’s win against Toledo all the way back in Week 1. “People were kind of bashing me, a lot of people. I kind of shook that off and came out and played my game, and had fun.”
Kiel apparently felt like he silenced his haters after his performance against the MAC leaders in the season opener, when he went 25-of-37 (67.6 percent) for 418 yards and six touchdowns for his first ever collegiate start and a 58-34 win. However, since his record-breaking debut, he has taken an escalator down away from what was some quiet Heisman Trophy race chatter.
After starting off the season seemingly strong by posting 10 touchdowns the first two games with only two interceptions, his confidence has been shattered since the manhandling the off-year Ohio State Buckeyes gave him.
Many people would think a quarterback with the poise like Kiel possesses, both he and the Bearcats would respond with a dominant game over Memphis to pick up their first conference win. Instead, Kiel showed up with a 40.7 completion percentage and had only one touchdown off an 80-yard play (albeit in two quarters of action before leaving with injury).
Going into a matchup against the ACC second-to-last-place Miami Hurricanes after an Adjusted QBR of 30.7 the week prior, Kiel and the Bearcats continued their losing streak falling short 55-34. The loss to Miami may not look too bad at first sight, but UC had a late 21-point run in the fourth quarter to tip the scale; Cincinnati critics should expect much more than the drubbing in South Beach and 1:1 TD-to-INT ratio from their QB against a bottom team in the Coastal division.
In all, since the opener, Kiel is 88-of-155 (56.8 percent) with 1,194 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions—or in other words: he’s been slightly above average.
Maybe Kiel got a bit carried away when he said he silenced the critics—or maybe he has an excuse. Despite having more than six explosive offensive weapons to work with (while still putting up 33.0 points per game), the defense and special teams have to do their part to win games. It seems when the Bearcat 128th-ranked defense (573.6 yards allowed) is playing worse than their normal 500-plus yards against, Kiel shuts down instead of being the star player he was hyped to be.
You could speculate that if he had the defensive talent of Ole Miss or Mississippi State (or even Syracuse, for that matter) to work with, it would be a championship contending team. At the same time, a Gunner Kiel who already has two multi-interception performances in five games (six total INTs) and doesn’t produce wins is not worthy of the kind of praise and attention he was receiving in the offseason.
Still ripe at the young age of 21, the No. 1-rated prep quarterback coming out of high school for the class of 2012 (and the No. 4 QB prospect for the 2017 NFL draft class) has a lot to learn and improve on if he wants to reach his full potential.
However, there are many other young quarterbacks who are making a name for themselves, and if Kiel wants to be on the top of that list, he better turn things around with another record breaking game against the 0-5 SMU Mustangs on Saturday.
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