What a game. It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but a win was what the Cincinnati Bearcats needed, and a win is what they got. Here are a couple quick thoughts and my initial reaction to Cincinnati’s 54 to 46 win over the ECU Pirates.
What the win means: Cincinnati had high preseason hopes for the 2014 season, and so did the AAC media as they selected them as the favorite to win the conference. This win over a solid ECU team tonight keeps that goal alive for the Bearcats. While UC’s overall goal is to win the AAC, tonight’s victory also makes them bowl eligible for a seventh consecutive year.
The biggest positive: The Bearcats showed a lot of resiliency tonight, and really that’s about all need to say about this win. The defense gave up a ton of yards and points, but several times it held the Pirates to field goal attempts. The offense gave the ball away four times, and that alone almost cost them this game. That mental toughness to bounce back from mistakes and win a game they needed to is something the Bearcats can take with them as they pursue the AAC championship.
The biggest negative: Turnovers. Kiel threw three interceptions, two of them were bad decisions and one went through wide receiver Chris Moore’s hands and into the arms of ECU’s Lamar Ivey. He also fumbled, on what was a horrible decision by Tommy Tuberville to go for it from their own 33 on 4th-and-2, when he pitched the ball behind his man in desparation. The worst part was that they all occurred in their own territory and led to 23 points for the Pirates, which kept them in a game that the Bearcats had an opportunity to run away with.
Cincinnati’s best play of the game: With 4:54 left in the game Cincinnati was faced with a 4th-and-six at the ECU 36 yard-line. Being too close to punt and too far away to attempt a field goal, the ol’ “Riverboat Gambler” showed up as Tommy Tuberville elected to go for it. And it paid off. After Kiel bobbled the snap he gathered himself, reset his feet and delivered a perfect ball over the top to Mekale McKay who hauled it in for a 36-yard touchdown.
Cincinnati’s MVP: There were quite a few options available here, but nobody rose to the occasion like redshirt freshman placekicker, Andrew Gantz. After a litany of attempts to give this one away, Kiel got the Bearcats to the ECU 30 yard-line with 19 seconds left in the game down by two points. Gantz stepped up and drilled the 47 yard field goal to put his team up 48 to 46. The defense then put the game on ice when Terrell Hartsfield scooped the ball and scored from 20 yards out after a failed ECU lateral hit the turf, making it 54 to 46. The made field goal should do wonders for Gantz’s confidence, and his coach’s confidence in him.
Where we go from here: It doesn’t get much easier for the Bearcats, as their final three games are against an improved UConn team, Temple and Houston. Only the Houston game will be played in Cincinnati, and the Bearcats definitely need to win out to keep their title hopes alive with Memphis playing Tulane, USF and UConn in their final three.
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