The final score doesn't show it, but UC is close. Not close to being a Top 10 team like Ohio State, but close to being a team that, on a national basis, can make some noise and upset a team like Ohio State. It's going to take one or two recruiting classes, but UC isn't going to be outmanned like they were today against Ohio State. The coaching staff did a good job, the defense did a solid job on the run, and the offense had some plays that looked nice against, arguably, the #1 defense in the country, but we have a ways to go. You give Mark Dantonio and his staff some Big East talent, like the kind that should start filtering in for next year, and he'll give his old boss a scare and possibly beat him. UC was getting some respect nationally, the national media has a ton of respect for Mark Dantonio. And all the media kept talking about was Mark Dantonio, him hanging with OSU, and UC's move to the Big East. We should have the athletes to be better prepared to play Ohio State in 2006. Not necessarily beat them, but hang with them. But we're getting there, we have to beat Miami next week to build on this, especially with recruits being there. The one thing that I saw that I loved was the look on Dantonio's face after the loss. It wasn't the look of "I'm glad we hung tough" or "We lost, but it's Ohio State you expect that". It was the look of "I can't believe we lost this game" and "I'm not going to allow myself to be outmanned ever again". That was the look Huggins had back in the day. UC football is in good hands, even with this loss. It sucks, but I'm excited about the future! :thumb:

I'm not hanging my head yet, but I am very disappointed the offensive showing by the team today. Granted, OSU has a really good defense, but I saw a lot of poorly thrown passes by Gino, and some catchable balls that were dropped by WR's. I didn't really feel like the offensive game was called very well either.

Oh well, we'll know more after next week. Miami will be pissed after the beating they took at Michigan.

Go_Cats_Go! Wrote:I'm not hanging my head yet, but I am very disappointed the offensive showing by the team today. Granted, OSU has a really good defense, but I saw a lot of poorly thrown passes by Gino, and some catchable balls that were dropped by WR's. I didn't really feel like the offensive game was called very well either.

Oh well, we'll know more after next week. Miami will be pissed after the beating they took at Michigan.

The defense gave up a few big plays it shouldn't have, but it did it's job, I agree, the offense was disappointing. Even at the end Gino made some nice throws and guys just let them go right through their hands. I don't think it was so much the offense wasn't called that well as it was guys weren't making plays. You can make all of the offensive calls you want, if guys are dropping passes, not blocking properly or letting themselves get covered and not freeing themselves up, there's nothing you can do. I thought the offensive coordinator did a pretty good job of mixing up the offense and adjusting, especially in the second half, but guys kept dropping passes. Anybody who doubted that Rick Minter had to go need only to look at a game like this and the receivers.

As for Miami, I say who cares if they're pissed off about losing to Michigan, sucks for them. UC isn't going to be very happy coming off a loss to Ohio State, and I'm pretty sure Dantonio is the most pissed guy in the state right now, bar none. And I have faith in Dantonio that he's going to instill a toughness in UC where they're not going to be scared of a pissed off Miami.

It's just the first game, and no reason to get too excited, but there were definitely some issues.

1. Gino had a tough game. He threw behind the receiver on a lot of passes. The play calling was overall extremely conservative - I hope this is not a sign of things to come. We could not run the ball very well, but nobody does against OSU. I thought the receivers looked better than last year and will make some plays this year.

2. Too many penalties, especially at crucial times.

3. Some real bad defense at crucial times, like the end of the first half. The OSU tight end was wide open.

4. I thought the defense played great, but they were on the field way too much and got worn out in the second half. The offense is going to have to move the ball.

I had hoped for a closer game, we even kept it to 10-6 late in the third quarter. We just need to cretae some more offense and reduce the penalties.

We're going to go through some growing pains. This is a new staff coaching players who aren't their players. Dantonio doesn't have the personnel that he needs to beat a team like Ohio State. I know it was killing him to blitz all the time, but when you're short on top quality players that's going to happen. By the time UC plays Ohio State in 2006 UC will have the talent to make up for some of the mistakes they made today, or at least have far better talent then they did today. I agree bearcatfan, it's about creating offense. If UC would have scored at least at a decent rate they would have been fine. And guys were making to many mistakes on defense. This team, I still believe, is a 7 or 8 win team. Some of the mistakes they made today wouldn't have killed them in some other games. I'd take 7 wins this year and a bowl appearance. This year is about implementing Dantonio's system, installing a winning attitude, getting UC's name out on a national level and rebuilding the fan base, and recruiting for the Big East. It's heady stuff to expect this team to beat Ohio State, maybe even stay relatively close up in Columbus. Some of the mistakes we see should be expected with all the new stuff this team is learning and dealing with. But give this staff a good recruiting class or two and I think we'll see something special.

I'm not going to suggest I know what Mark Dantonio is thinking by looking at his face after a game. I've got lousy announcers to give me that crap.

UC was beaten by a better team and better coaches. Dantonio will get better as a head coach, but he needs to manage his timeouts better, especially in a close game. This was a learning experience for Coach Dantonio.

I thougth UC was poor offensively. How can a team expect to win with 220 yards of total offense? Is OSU's defense one of the best in the nation? I don't think we know yet.

I thought UC's return teams were poor. OSU repeatedly got good field position after kicks, UC didn't.

Defensively, UC wasn't bad at all. They got some turnovers, but they really needed to put more pressure on Zwick, especially when they blitzed.

O-1 will turn into O-2 if the squad isn't totally ready to play Miami next week. It will be another tough game.

run&shoot Wrote:I'm not going to suggest I know what Mark Dantonio is thinking by looking at his face after a game. I've got lousy announcers to give me that crap.

UC was beaten by a better team and better coaches. Dantonio will get better as a head coach, but he needs to manage his timeouts better, especially in a close game. This was a learning experience for Coach Dantonio.

I thougth UC was poor offensively. How can a team expect to win with 220 yards of total offense? Is OSU's defense one of the best in the nation? I don't think we know yet.

I thought UC's return teams were poor. OSU repeatedly got good field position after kicks, UC didn't.

Defensively, UC wasn't bad at all. They got some turnovers, but they really needed to put more pressure on Zwick, especially when they blitzed.

O-1 will turn into O-2 if the squad isn't totally ready to play Miami next week. It will be another tough game.

That was tough, and to the point, but I completely agree! lol

what a bunch opf crap u are writing.......a bunch of uc apologists........coach d did a poor job on offensive and defense....i coulde see the wide open middle field osu used to score to the tight end........could u not see that?????? how about the terrible offensive play calling........u have a seniore qb......who did a good job despite your comments considering his recievers are weak.....they didn't attack!!!! u cant upset a top ten team playning their game......im very disappointed.....if they play this same game next week we will be 0-2

bearcatstubb Wrote:what a bunch opf crap u are writing.......a bunch of uc apologists........coach d did a poor job on offensive and defense....i coulde see the wide open middle field osu used to score to the tight end........could u not see that?????? how about the terrible offensive play calling........u have a seniore qb......who did a good job despite your comments considering his recievers are weak.....they didn't attack!!!! u cant upset a top ten team playning their game......im very disappointed.....if they play this same game next week we will be 0-2

I'm not being an apologist, I'm just realistic enough to realize we took an inexperienced coaching staff, with players that weren't there own, on the road against the #9 team in the nation. They made mistakes and stupid decisions, but I'm going to live with that. Why? Because this is going to be a year of building up a 5-7 team and building for the Big East while trying to get to a bowl. And starting the season off on the road against a Top 10 team and a team that just won a national title 2 years ago is going to expose some of this team's weakness. He should have been more aggressive using Gino, I agree. But this is Dantonio first ever game as head coach so I'm going to be patient.

bearcatstubb Wrote:what a bunch opf crap u are writing.......a bunch of uc apologists........coach d did a poor job on offensive and defense....i coulde see the wide open middle field osu used to score to the tight end........could u not see that?????? how about the terrible offensive play calling........u have a seniore qb......who did a good job despite your comments considering his recievers are weak.....they didn't attack!!!! u cant upset a top ten team playning their game......im very disappointed.....if they play this same game next week we will be 0-2

Were you the one with stupid post about wanting Minter back?

Coach D is working with Minter's stuff. And he and his staff are doing the best they can with the materials at hand.

I don't know what you possibly can think is positive about your comments? You can't be imaginative when your receivers can't catch the ball.

My only personal thought was that I would like to have seen more attempts to run to the outside. Although you gotta have guys who are faster than a pretty dang fast defense.

Realistically, we probably never really had a chance today.

And so, we should be pretty happy about the toughness of play, and tough defense. Yeah, they made some big gaffes. Those things take work. And we'll get better players and get more depth with time.

I think a victory today would actually have hurt us, because it would have led us to believe that we are something that we are not yet ready to be.

Go Bearcats!

Beat the Redskins!

what kind of stupid comment is that? "a victory today would have hurt us?" are u serious???? a win vs. osu would hurt the football program? please explain......and all the dropped passes? i counted 1 today maybe 2...last year yes...the recievers were terrible.....but they didnt hurt us today.....our DB's were awful.....OSU wr's were open all day.....was like 7-11 out there.

and no i dont want minter back.....in fact i sent several letters to the uc administration last year to have him removed....but the new coaching staff did not play to win today.....they were hesitant on offense which cost us the game. as much as i hate minter...at least he did sep up in the big games....his problem was he couldn't do it consistantly and his players made several key mistakes....

i was excited for uc football....went up and met the team at KI and was looking forward to the season....

i am not upset about losing....i am upset about playing not to lose

86 is not a fullback....he went down with the first hit from 200 lb dbs...ridiculous

OL is not good.....play some of the younger players now and let them get experience

defense looks like it can be good....but LBs have to play better

Chet Ervin should not be allowed to punt again....booms a 55 yarder from the 36 right down the middle....

dantonio is not going to convince offensive recruits to choose UC over Pitt or WVU or Louisville or Minnesota with this offensive philosophy

too bad jimbo fisher didnt take the job

When a team like UC plays a team like Ohio St, they have to play perfect. We had too many stupid penalties and you cant have that playing against Ohio St. Im a little dissapointed in the way Gino played. He didnt look like a 4 year starter to me. hopefully he can bounce back and have a great year, but he did not look good. He hasnt shown alot of progress from his sophomore year. Hopefully that will change and this was a learning experience for him

bearcatstubb Wrote:what kind of stupid comment is that? "a victory today would have hurt us?" are u serious???? a win vs. osu would hurt the football program? please explain......and all the dropped passes? i counted 1 today maybe 2...last year yes...the recievers were terrible.....but they didnt hurt us today.....our DB's were awful.....OSU wr's were open all day.....was like 7-11 out there.

and no i dont want minter back.....in fact i sent several letters to the uc administration last year to have him removed....but the new coaching staff did not play to win today.....they were hesitant on offense which cost us the game. as much as i hate minter...at least he did sep up in the big games....his problem was he couldn't do it consistantly and his players made several key mistakes....

I mean exactly what I said. A victory would have everyone on this board and everywhere thinking Cincinnati was ready to play for the National Championship.

Obviously, the play was NOT AT THAT LEVEL.

If you mean, IF we had better players AND we had won, then YES that would be a sign of our readiness to play at the highest levels.

But remember when we beat Penn State after PSU had won the NC. We then went on to a dismal season. AND NO ONE CAME AWAY FROM THAT SEASON THINKING UC WAS A POWERHOUSE.

I don't want to UPSET Ohio State. I want to BEAT Ohio State. I don't want ESPN saying it was a fluke. Or that Ohio State sucked.

So, that's what I mean. At a gut level, I would have LOVED a victory. But there are more important fish to be fried. You gotta butter the bread before you can eat buttered bread.

The way Gino was passing, if he had thrown the long ball he would have given up more INT's than gotten TD's.

First I want to say "Hi" to all on this board. I am an avid UC football fan, but do not normally post on boards. I have to say that I agree with all of you........on both sides. I have not lost hope, but I do hope that the game approach and philosphy is adjusted to the opponent. I was very dissapponted in the players mental mistakes (this is expected the first game of the year, but not in the quantity the Cats had), the offensive scheme was anemic, the LB blitzes were used about 10 times more than it should have been(we were playing OSU), and special teams were not well prepared. These items, even for a first time head coach, concern me, as these are the same things Coach "D" was preaching. Time will tell, so I will sit back patiently and cheer for my Cats. I will say that if our punting team is not better prepared by Miami.........Mr Robinson will beat us by himself...........and no I am not a Miami fan. Sorry for the rambling post.

Go Cats! Beat Miami!