Cincinnati bowl-game bid relies on win against West Virginia

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The University of Cincinnati will host the West Virginia Mountaineers Wednesday night at Nippert Stadium.

This will be senior night and the final home game which will be the second nationally-televised game for the Bearcats this season.

Head Coach Mark Dantonio said he wants the fans and students to wear red for the upcoming game, and the first 4,000 students will be given red shirts to wear during the game. The Mountaineers are ranked No.1 in the Big East and 16th nationally.

They are the highest ranked team to enter Nippert Stadium since UC beat No. 9 Wisconsin back in the 1999 season.

WVU comes rolling into town with a 4-0 conference record and a 7-1 record overall.

They are coming off a gigantic 45-13 win against Connecticut and are ranked No. 9 nationally in defense, surrendering only 290 yards per game.

WVU is strong against the run, giving up only 106.7 yards per game, while their pass defense (183.3 yards per game) is No. 19.

The Mountaineers are perfect in the Big East, completely dominating the conference as of late, and look to continue by adding the Bearcats to their list of victimized teams.

But the game is at home, where the Bearcats are 3-1. And the team has been in this position before.

Last year, UC went into Memphis with a 4-4 record to upset the Tigers, then went on a four-game winning streak to become bowl eligible.

The Bearcats will have to do the same thing this year.

"Right now we're in a double elimination situation," Dantonio said. "If we lose two games we are no longer bowl eligible, we win two out of three and we should be good to go. This is a wonderful chance for us to make a statement."

West Virginia is big, fast and hungry.

They boast the nation's ninth-leading rushing offense, averaging 229.4 yards on the ground. That rushing success is a team effort, as no WVU rusher averages more than 43.4 yards per game.

Wednesday's game is huge for the Bearcats especially given the timing of the game.

Knocking off West Virginia gives the Bearcats a winning record, national recognition and a great step toward bowl eligibility.

"Bowl games have always been a goal for us from day one and we know what we have to do to get there," said linebacker Kevin McCullough.

UC will have two games remaining after West Virginia, but if they are on the bubble for a bowl bid at the conclusion of the season, Wednesday's game will be the decision maker.

If the Bearcats do upset the Mountaineers, look for heads to turn and respect to be granted to a young Cincinnati team.

They are still growing, but it is possible and they will need all of the support they can get.

Although Bradley Glatthaar has seven rushing touchdowns, Dustin Grutza has completed only 119 of 225 attempts on the season and the Bearcat offense still tends to be very shaky at times.

Look for the Bearcats to get the running game going early to take control of time of possession, keeping the Mountaineers offense off the field. If the Bearcats win this game, fans can count on a bowl game appearance.

 

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UC VS. MOUNTAINEERS: UC has played well in its last two games against West Virginia. Two years ago, the Bearcats upset the Mountaineers in Morgantown 15-13, getting three field goals from Chet Ervin. It was UC's only win over West Virginia in 13 tries.

"That was probably one of the best moments in my career here," said senior guard Ryan Brown. "That's a great place to play with a great atmosphere." Three years ago, UC lost to West Virginia 35-32 at Nippert Stadium, scoring twice in the fourth quarter before missing a 48-yard field goal as time expired.

CUTTING BACK: The UC coaching staff is using a different approach to this mid-week national TV game after finding that its routine against Miami didn't produce very good results.

"It was the earlier part of the year and we had a young football team," Dantonio said. "We used that (extra time) to work. This week we've eased back a little bit. We've given our players Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off. We practiced (Wednesday) and gave them (Thursday) off. I think our players will be a little more hungry for the game of football."

 

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Mountaineers' defense shifts into more aggressive mode
Makes life miserable for opposing offensive lines, quarterbacks
Monday, November 07, 2005

By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Had Cincinnati quarterback Dustin Grutza chosen to check out his upcoming opponent's pass rush on ESPN2 Wednesday night, he might have been wise, for mental health purposes, to find something else for his prime-time viewing pleasure.

Mike Lorello, on a safety blitz, forces Connecticut quarterback Dennis Brown to throw the football away for his well-being. Keilen Dykes sacks Brown. Dykes sacks Brown again. Jeff Noechel sacks Brown. Eric Wicks, on a safety blitz, and Bobby Hathaway combine to sack Brown.

And that was only the first half.

By the end of 16th-ranked West Virginia's 45-13 decking of Connecticut, the defense gathered a season-high seven sacks. It hiked their season total to 25, meaning the Mountaineers need only one more sack to equal their 2004 total ... with three regular-season games left, beginning with Grutza and the Bearcats in another Wednesday night game on ESPN2. Two more sacks, and they'll record the most in coach Rich Rodriguez's five years at West Virginia (7-1, 4-0 Big East).

Yes, at the school that produced Gary Stills, Canute Curtis, Renaldo Turnbull and nobody else like them in almost eight years, the sack appears to be back.

"Wooo, to get a sack is just tremendous," said Wicks, a Perry Traditional Academy graduate credited with three this season, tied for second with four others.

"It gets everybody fired up," added linebacker Boo McLee, who has two. "Not only fans, but us, too."

The reasons for the uptick?

There are several, Wicks offered. The safeties are getting to blitz more often. The defensive line, where coaches rotate up to seven players, sometimes adds a fourth linemen on third-and-long. And the safeties swap roles with linebackers, who also get into the quarterback-chasing fun.

Whatever West Virginia is doing, it seems to work.

"We're playing with great chemistry, which helps us play on the same page, which helps us get around the quarterback more," Wicks said. "The coaches have called more plays to get to the quarterback. As defensive backs, that's helped us out a lot."

On the flip side, Rodriguez credited his secondary's coverage with causing Huskies freshman Brown to hold onto the ball longer, assisting in the four first-half sacks and the ones after intermission by Johnny Dingle, Jay Henry and Marc Magro.

"Our defense was dominant," Rodriguez said of the first half, in which the Mountaineers allowed only four first downs, minus-12 yards rushing on 18 attempts and 61 total yards. "And the biggest thing a sack does is give them less opportunities offensively, so it's easier to call a defense."

In short, a sack makes everything easier.

Also makes everything harder for the opposition, such as Cincinnati (4-4, 2-2). Grutza is a redshirt freshman who has been replaced in three of the past four games, all losses. The Bearcats prefer to run, with Bradley Glatthaar, Greg Moore and Butler Benton combining for 1,039 yards on 219 carries. Halt them, like the Mountaineers did to the Huskies' rushers, and that puts the game in the hands of Grutza, who has completed 52.9 percent of his 225 passes for 1,279 yards, with more interceptions (nine) than touchdowns (eight). He and junior Nick Davila were sacked a total of four times in games against Penn State, Pitt and Louisville.

Already, the Mountaineers have decked opposing quarterbacks for more yards in losses than any other Rodriguez season, at 167. Already, they have five players with at least three apiece, compared to just three last season. And the defensive-line rotation -- Dykes (five sacks), Ernest Hunter (two), Craig Wilson (one), Warren Young (two) and Dingle (three), among others -- have pumped up that position's volume with 13 total.

"We've kind of gotten comfortable," said Hunter, who played only nine snaps Wednesday while continuing to recover from a high ankle sprain. "Switching in and out. Finding the right fit third-and-5, third-and-long. Getting guys in there and causing problems. Getting the quarterbacks running around."