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- Aug 24, 2011
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For 36 hours or so, I'm not going to worry about realignment. We have a football game to play. It will be the last time our seniors ever put on the pads at home, and if we don't win for many ever. We have a bowl bid on the line, and the chance yet to have a winning season. And, while winning hasn't done much to our perception, winning has to be part of changing it going forward and it has to start now. Win and maybe a game against WVU at Yankee Stadium happens, where we get to show people that our fans can be enthusiastic at a neutral site game and that we can beat what is perceived as a "real" team. So win the damn game.
Four keys to the game:
1. Emotion. I think that this will, by far, be the biggest. On the one hand, Cincy is playing for a share of a Big East Championship, and maybe a trip to Orlando. On the other, they are dealing with the rumors not just that there coach is leaving but that he's actually focusing on it during the regular season. For us, do they play like they took a punch in the stomach over realignment? Or like they are playing for their lives, at home, on senior day, and with the confidence that they've won two straight.
2. Turnovers. I think we're a minus 12 or so for the year. I think Cincy is a plus 3 or 4. We turned it over a lot earlier in the season. The last few games, our turnover margin is being caused less by turning it over, as we've cut way back, but more by a shocking inability to generate takeaways. Maybe some of that is based on schemes and the players, but I cling to the hope that a lot of it is just bad luck, and that we've got a day coming where the other team turns it over 3 or 4 times. Make it tomorrow. Please.
3. Their running game. The best and most consistent part of their team this year has been their running game. We have, overall, been very strong at stopping the opponents running game and, in about half the games, have been devastating against the opponents running game. I think you'll know after one quarter how this is going. If they can't run for 100 yards against us tomorrow, they are going to have to find a new way to win. If they run for over 150 against us, we only win with a Cincy turnover meltdown.
4. Score first. In our 5 wins, I think we've led basically the whole way in all of them. I may be forgetting something, but I'm not sure we were ever behind in any of them. In our 6 losses, not counting Temple, I think we were behind the whole way in each of them. So in 10 of 11 games, scoring first has meant a win and giving up the first score has meant a loss. Ten of Eleven. Enough said.
The two most important are the emotion and containing their running game. And they are not unrelated. Go Dogs.
Four keys to the game:
1. Emotion. I think that this will, by far, be the biggest. On the one hand, Cincy is playing for a share of a Big East Championship, and maybe a trip to Orlando. On the other, they are dealing with the rumors not just that there coach is leaving but that he's actually focusing on it during the regular season. For us, do they play like they took a punch in the stomach over realignment? Or like they are playing for their lives, at home, on senior day, and with the confidence that they've won two straight.
2. Turnovers. I think we're a minus 12 or so for the year. I think Cincy is a plus 3 or 4. We turned it over a lot earlier in the season. The last few games, our turnover margin is being caused less by turning it over, as we've cut way back, but more by a shocking inability to generate takeaways. Maybe some of that is based on schemes and the players, but I cling to the hope that a lot of it is just bad luck, and that we've got a day coming where the other team turns it over 3 or 4 times. Make it tomorrow. Please.
3. Their running game. The best and most consistent part of their team this year has been their running game. We have, overall, been very strong at stopping the opponents running game and, in about half the games, have been devastating against the opponents running game. I think you'll know after one quarter how this is going. If they can't run for 100 yards against us tomorrow, they are going to have to find a new way to win. If they run for over 150 against us, we only win with a Cincy turnover meltdown.
4. Score first. In our 5 wins, I think we've led basically the whole way in all of them. I may be forgetting something, but I'm not sure we were ever behind in any of them. In our 6 losses, not counting Temple, I think we were behind the whole way in each of them. So in 10 of 11 games, scoring first has meant a win and giving up the first score has meant a loss. Ten of Eleven. Enough said.
The two most important are the emotion and containing their running game. And they are not unrelated. Go Dogs.
