Don't overlook Rutgers!  That's a road game.

It will be tough...but Rutgers' main threat is their running game.  The same was true with Oregon State...and we saw how UC handled Oregon State's rushing attack.

 

That's why I feel we can take Rutgers.

Next step's up, not away

BY BILL KOCH | September 27, 2007

 

These are heady days in the University of Cincinnati athletic department. The lines are long at the ticket window and the 4-0 Bearcat football team is the talk of the town after moving into the Associated Press Top 25 this week at No. 24.  "It goes from the eighth floor to the first floor," UC athletic director Mike Thomas said Wednesday. "It's electric. Everybody's excited. Everybody has more bounce in their step."

 

But lingering in the background is the nagging question: How long will Brian Kelly, the architect of this success, stay at UC?  After all, last season Mark Dantonio left for Michigan State just a few weeks after the Bearcats knocked off No. 7 Rutgers.  Kelly, who spent 13 years coaching at Grand Valley State in Michigan and three years at Central Michigan, already has been rumored as a possible replacement for Lloyd Carr at Michigan.

 

But Kelly says he wants to build something special at UC.  "We came here for selfish reasons," Kelly said, "and that is for my family. My wife, my family, we really love this area. It's not about jobs anymore. If you asked me at Central Michigan, yeah, I would tell you that we were looking for another opportunity there. I'm not of that same mind-set here."

 

But Kelly and Thomas both know there is more work to be done at UC. The Bearcats have no practice field other than Nippert Stadium and they have no indoor facility.

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070927/SPT0101/709270357

But Kelly and Thomas both know there is more work to be done at UC. The Bearcats have no practice field other than Nippert Stadium and they have no indoor facility.

 

Hmmmm, the Bengals are also interested in an indoor practice facility. At least Coach Lewis wants it, but it seem Mike Brown is too cheap to build one. I can see it now the Bengals and UC collaborate on a Frank Gehry indoor facility next the PBS. ;-)

It's official: Jones to UC

BY BILL KOCH | [email protected]

 

A month ago, Demetrius Jones was getting ready to start his first game at quarterback for Notre Dame.  On Thursday afternoon he walked into University of Cincinnati football coach Brian Kelly’s office and told him that he wanted to play for the Bearcats.

 

“A whole bunch of things took place that weren’t planned,” Jones said. “That’s the way it goes.”  Jones, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound sophomore from Chicago, was the starting quarterback for the Fighting Irish’s season-opening loss to Georgia Tech.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070927/SPT0101/709270358

It is crazy to me to think a player of this status is transferring to UC.  This is not to say Jones is a heisman candidate, but it is just nice to see players wanting to go to Cincinnati as opposed to the old days when no one wanted to play there.  This is good news for Cincy and the state of affairs with the program.

 

It's official: Jones to UC

BY BILL KOCH | [email protected]

 

A month ago, Demetrius Jones was getting ready to start his first game at quarterback for Notre Dame.  On Thursday afternoon he walked into University of Cincinnati football coach Brian Kelly’s office and told him that he wanted to play for the Bearcats.

 

“A whole bunch of things took place that weren’t planned,” Jones said. “That’s the way it goes.”  Jones, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound sophomore from Chicago, was the starting quarterback for the Fighting Irish’s season-opening loss to Georgia Tech.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070927/SPT0101/709270358

Bearcats now a model

San Diego State intrigued by UC's rebuilding model

BY BILL KOCH | September 29, 2007

 

For years, University of Cincinnati football coaches have talked about modeling their programs after those of other schools.  Now the Bearcats are becoming a program others want to emulate.

 

"It's easy to look at the Oklahomas and Floridas of the world and say we want to become them," said San Diego State coach Chuck Long. "That's not where we are now. We look at programs like Wake Forest, like Cincinnati, like Rutgers. How did they get where they're at?"

 

The Aztecs (1-2) will get a chance to check out the Bearcats up close when they play No. 24 UC (4-0) at 10 p.m. today at Qualcomm Stadium.  UC coach Brian Kelly, whose team has won seven in a row, will be happy to demonstrate for Long what his resurgent program is all about.

 

"I think we've got to bring a Midwestern flavor to this football game," Kelly said, "a physical toughness. We've got to bring an Ohio presence to the West Coast. If we do that, we'll be fine."  Bearcats quarterback Ben Mauk, who played at Kenton High School in northwestern Ohio, loves that kind of talk.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070929/SPT0101/709290435/1062/SPT

GO BEARCATS!

I've always heard that the football program at UC was a big money drainer for the University and that really the only profitable team was the men's basketball program.  With an improved football team, do you think it could help with the University's debt?

No Doubt!!

 

I've always heard that the football program at UC was a big money drainer for the University and that really the only profitable team was the men's basketball program.  With an improved football team, do you think it could help with the University's debt?

Let's go bearcats!!! We've got a pretty good showing from Big East teams in the Top 25+!

 

 

AP Top 25

1. LSU (33) 5-0 1,593

2. USC (32) 4-0 1,591

3. California 5-0 1,475

4. Ohio State 5-0 1,420

5. Wisconsin 5-0 1,271

6. South Florida 4-0 1,203

7. Boston College 5-0 1,172

8. Kentucky 5-0 1,143

9. Florida 4-1 1,031

10. Oklahoma 4-1 992

11. South Carolina 4-1 900

12. Georgia 4-1 885

13. West Virginia 4-1 861

14. Oregon 4-1 837

15. Virginia Tech 4-1 639

16. Hawaii 5-0 586

17. Missouri 4-0 561

18. Arizona State 5-0 497

19. Texas 4-1 449

20. Cincinnati 5-0 377

21. Rutgers 3-1 299

22. Clemson 4-1 265

23. Purdue 5-0 218

24. Kansas State 3-1 214

25. Nebraska 4-1 198

Others Receiving Votes

Florida State 101, Miami (FL) 83, Illinois 59, Auburn 52, UCLA 49, Texas A&M 29, Michigan State 16, Michigan 15, Connecticut 9, Alabama 6, Arkansas 5, Colorado 5, UCF 5, Penn State 4, Virginia 3, Kansas 3, Boise State 3, Washington 1.

Dropped From Rankings

Penn State 21, Alabama 22.

 

USA Today Poll

1. USC (45) 4-0 1,483

2. LSU (14) 5-0 1,454

3. California 5-0 1,363

4. Ohio State (1) 5-0 1,313

5. Wisconsin 5-0 1,251

6. Boston College 5-0 1,138

7. Florida 4-1 1,000

8. Kentucky 5-0 971

9. South Florida 4-0 960

10. Oklahoma 4-1 925

11. Georgia 4-1 758

12. West Virginia 4-1 756

13. Oregon 4-1 697

14. Virginia Tech 4-1 661

15. Hawaii 5-0 585

16. Texas 4-1 573

17. Missouri 4-0 532

18. South Carolina 4-1 529

19. Arizona State 5-0 466

20. Purdue 5-0 423

21. Rutgers 3-1 347

22. Clemson 4-1 278

23. Nebraska 4-1 261

24. Cincinnati 5-0 249

25. UCLA 4-1 79

Others Receiving Votes

Miami (FL) 68, Michigan State 63, Kansas 48, Florida State 46, Auburn 42, Kansas State 33, Boise State 25, Connecticut 23, Illinois 21, Tennessee 17, Virginia 15, PENNST 12, Texas A&M 10, Michigan 10, Alabama 5, Colorado 3, Georgia Tech 3, Indiana 1, UCF 1, Wake Forest 1, Wyoming 1.

Dropped From Rankings

Penn State 19, Michigan State 23, Alabama 24.

 

 

Well I procrastinated too long and the West Virginia & Louisville games at Nippert Stadium are sold out.  I was able to grab tickets to the UCONN game on November 10th which is right after I come back from Germany.

 

Go Bearcats!

I watched that UC-SDSU game and the Aztecs just looked pathetic.  Now I know why they haven't been to a bowl game since the Mountain West was formed.

 

Did anyone else catch the game?  It was on VS., which is a crap channel.  It was like watching a high school game with the bad camera work, terrible color commentary, etc.  The fact that 70,000 seat Qualcomm Stadium had something like 19 people in it didn't help the atmosphere, either.

Here is the new policy for student tickets:

 

In-Person Distribution: 4,000 tickets via Lindner Center Ticket Office – starts at 8 a.m. (dates vary depending on game)

Student Guest Tickets: 500 tickets, limit of two (2) tickets per person - $5 each

Online Distribution: 1,000 tickets via CATSTIX.com – starts at 8 a.m.

Game Day Distribution: 500 tickets available with valid student ID

Admission is at Gate #3 ONLY beginning 90 minutes before the game

Location is at lower East Side of Dieterle Hall and Varsity Village

Immediate turnstile admission to the facility / no-re-entry

 

Of these 6,000...only the 500 student guest tickets cost money.  They are $5 each, and like I said the rest are free for students with their Student ID.  The varying distribution methods are obviously meant to give every student ample chance at getting a ticket.  So if you have an 8am class on Wednesday you can try you luck online or show up early, day of game, and try to get one there.

 

GO CATS!

I'm camping out up at UC right now for student tix (for UofL game).  There are a few hundred people up here, and most have been here since around 9pm or so.  I imagine that things are going to get real crazy in a few hours.  Right now though it's just a bunch of people hanging out, tossing football/frisbee, listening to music, drinking and other randomness.

 

I took some pictures earlier...I'll get around to posting them sometime tomorrow.

Congrats to the Bearcats.

 

They do ned to improve on some things like time management. You run the ball, not pass when it's near the end of the game with a lead. They stopped the clock several times because of missed passes.

we are awesome. who do they think can beat those bearcats?

Our D just gets stronger and stronger.

Congratulations to the Bearcats Football team.  It is refreshing to see a sports team as exciting as this one in Cincinnati since I moved here.  I was sure that Rutgers was going to finish them in that last 2 minutes of the game the way they were making their run to the end zone and then the interception.  I let my daughter stay up and watch the game and she was proudly wearing her "Bearcat Girls Rock" shirt.

 

Earlier in the evening we were at Sully's trying to watch the game and they had most of the TV's on the Ohio State game.  Only around 4 of the 30 or so TV's had the Bearcats game on.  What is the best place in the city to watch Bearcats games?

What's sad is that earlier in the season they were playing Ohio State instead on the screens at Papa Dinos! It's right next to UC!!

Great win for the Bearcats yesterday.  Even a Buckeye fan can appreciate UC's successful season.  But then Columbus is a confident and generous city! 

 

Special congrats to Ben Mauk.  The QB from Kenton has finally been given a chance to shine at UC after a previous college career of injuries and being ignored at Wake Forest.  Ben Mauk looks like the State Champion QB he was at Kenton.

I let my daughter stay up and watch the game and she was proudly wearing her "Bearcat Girls Rock" shirt.

 

If you would like, I could probably get her a "Xavier Girls Are Ugly" shirt.  :-D

 

What is the best place in the city to watch Bearcats games?

 

I would imagine that the new BW3's (on Calhoun) will be a good spot once it opens (which is tomorrow).  I also might add that there are people camping out on Calhoun Street waiting for BW3's to open.  Apparently the first 100 people through the doors tomorrow get free wings for a year.  One guy has been there since at least 6am this morning!

Are you telling me you can't recommend a place that is already open?  That is pretty sad...

There's Macs on McMillan but to be honest the food AND the service are absolutely terrible (you know its bad if I complain about service). Their TVs are old school too lol. It would be nice to have better quality bars near campus; a McFaddens, Skybar etc like Ohio State.

on friday macs has all you can eat pizza salad and drink for five american dollars, tax included.  it is five dollars worth of delicious

Their pizza is terrible! Pomadoris is much better imo. I had no idea it was that cheap though on Friday though.

Are you telling me you can't recommend a place that is already open?  That is pretty sad...

 

To be honest this turnaround has been quite sudden...why the hell would ANY bar care to primarily show UC games?  Especially when you have the amount of OSU fans down here, plus the Bengals and the HS football crazies.

 

I would also venture to say that you'll have a LOT more options for good Bearcat places in the very near future.  Places will change over quite quickly.

Yeah we certainly have a sudden influx of bandwagoners.

I would expect a few bars around UC to be staples for UC sports.  There are 34,000 students that go to UC, so bandwagon or not, is there not a great sports bar near UC?  I guess it was a no brainer to have BW3's open up in Uptown then.

^There are a couple toss ups, but all in all the area surrounding campus is lacking a die-hard Bearcat place.

Monte, Holy Grail is prolly the best place to watch the UC games.  Also the best place to go before the home games, and after for that matter.  The SDSU game last week was packed at the Grail.  Saturday's game was also quite full, not a seat open.  And the best part, only 2 small t.v.'s in the corner had the tO$U game on.  Some tO$U fans came in trying to get the t.v. behind the bar turned to their game, but we weren't having any of it!

 

There seems to be contingents of fans of certain teams that think wherever they go they should get to see their games no matter what. Steelers Fans come to mind as well as tOSU.

 

I while ago (4-5 years) I was with a group at Mulligans in Hyde Park for an late afternoon of Sat College Football...OSU was playing someone, forget who, good game, but it was over...most, if not all, of the large TeeVees that had been on the OSU game were then turned over to the marquee game of the nite; of course there were other TeeVees around showing various other games. The OSU Game was on a channel that customarily would show a coaches show after the game -- a group of jackasses then complained loudly when the channel was changed b/c they wanted to watch the Coach's Post Game Show.

 

Watch the game in your living room if you want to watch the coaches show!

Watch the game in your living room if you want to watch the coaches show!

 

Tivo was invented for a REASON ;)

Did anyone see this? Pretty interesting... People are pissed that the OSU game was on over the UC game on FS:

 

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/comments/threadview.asp?threadid=401

They should be pissed. We (UC) are the sh!t now. Bandwagoners welcome!

^Ouch. Who ever desicion it was to show the game should be fired. UC is paying how much in taxes(payroll. property etc) to the city of Cincinnat and how much is OSU paying the city in taxes? I guarantee you OSU is giving the city of Cincinnati no money.

 

OMG where is the common sense these days.

Common sense is this:

 

People request that a game is shown on the screen.  3cdc accomodates this request as no one request any other programming.

 

Listen, I'm a UC football fan, but before this year there were only 2 other fans besides myself.  It takes a little time for systems to adjust.  You want the UC game on the screen? Ask for it!  However, Cincinnati is a reactive town, not a proactive town (too many examples here, such as the banks).

Fair points Walnut but it isn't just Cincinnati.  I have lived all over the country and I hear the same thing from other cities that have teams that all of a sudden win.  Shoot in St. Louis, no one went to a Rams game, then Kurt Warner and the Rams came out of no where and the city exploded with Rams pride in a matter of weeks.

 

I also understand OSU is the state school with a great history.  I don't mind OSU and realize that their success helps promote the state of Ohio.  I was surprised by how many OSU fans were in Sully's this weekend.  If OSU has such a loyal following in the city, why doesn't the Enquirer cover them more?  If anything why aren't these fans of UC and OSU not outraged when UK is in our city paper?  Is it true that the Enquirer doesn't even have a OSU beat writer but they have one for UK?

^ I have addressed that issue with the enquirer years ago about the uk coverage. Apparently they feel enough people in nky are fans to warrant coverage. I have noticed since uk has become a mediocre sec team, enquirer coverage has slipped. That should continue as UC has become a nationally ranked powerhouse.

 

Did anyone pay attention to the broncos game vs chargers? Their stadium cleared out before the 4th quarter! That was definitely "reactive".

Lexington is MUCH closer than Cbus...I bet that's why they cover it.

Congrats to the Bearcats on their success. Do they have any difficult opponents left on the schedule?

Congrats to the Bearcats on their success. Do they have any difficult opponents left on the schedule?

 

We are playing at South Florida and West Virginia at home. <-- Difficult opponents

 

We are also playing Louisville and UConn at Home and at Pitt and at Syracuse. <---Not so difficult

Congrats to the Bearcats on their success. Do they have any difficult opponents left on the schedule?

 

We are playing at South Florida and West Virginia at home. <-- Difficult opponents

 

We are also playing Louisville and UConn at Home and at Pitt and at Syracuse. <---Not so difficult

 

Who would have ever predicted at the start of the season that USF would be a difficult opponent and Louisville an easy one?

I hope the Bearcats don't go into those games thinking difficult/not difficult, thats how upsets happen. They just need to play THEIR game as they've done so far.

 

Congrats to the Bearcats on their success. Do they have any difficult opponents left on the schedule?

 

We are playing at South Florida and West Virginia at home. <-- Difficult opponents

 

We are also playing Louisville and UConn at Home and at Pitt and at Syracuse. <---Not so difficult

That & the fact that a large portion of kentucky population lives in the Cincy metro area, & uk is one of only two major sports programs in the whole state.

 

Lexington is MUCH closer than Cbus...I bet that's why they cover it.

I suppose no one called to have the UC game shown on the screen because they just sort of expected it.

 

If I call and request that they show the Florida International vs. Lousiana-Lafayette game, does that mean they have to show it?

Do we also have to call in and request that Bengals games be shown, on the square, as opposed to Colts' games?  How about the Reds...do I need to send in a request to have the Reds on the big screen to ensure that they get on over the Pirates, Cubs or Indians?

 

Seemed like kind of a ridiculous comment on his part, but all in all the answer that the success was unexpected would have sufficed.  I just don't understand how hard it is to flip a channel on it.  I must not understand the technology behind the video board.  But I would have thought that if Bill is as much of a Bearcat fan as he claims...that he could have gone ahead and changed it to the UC game the morning of.

Everyone request the Bearcats, make sure to specify 'The University Of Cincinnati Bearcats' so there isn't any confusion.

Didn't they play at different times? I know the UC game was on at 8pm. What time was the OSU game shown? I thought you had to have a special license to show over the air programming to the public.

UC in prime time?

October 10, 2007 | CINCINNATI ENQUIRER

 

The University of Cincinnati Bearcats could have a date with a national audience in prime time.  Kirk Herbstreit, the college football analyst for ABC and ESPN, told 700WLW SportsTalk host Paul Daugherty Tuesday night that ABC is considering making the Nov. 3 Bearcats contest against the University of South Florida a nationally televised game.

 

“I just got my (ABC) preliminary look ahead for the next three weeks and UC at USF right now is down as a potential ABC national game,” Herbsteit said.  Both UC and USF are in the Big East conference and both are currently undefeated. USF is No. 5 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll. UC is No. 15.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071010/SPT0101/310100045