Apologies to our postseason-bound baseball team and to the postseason-hopeful NFL team in town, but tonight, center stage belongs to the Bearcats.
(Photo courtesy of GoBearcats.com)
-I touched on this on the show a bit yesterday, and I babbled about it even more on the blog last night, but I'll repeat it once more: I hope UC fans wanna talk about their team today.
It's an interesting season to talk about. As the program's profile has risen, each season has been met with questions about how significant holes left by departing players will be filled. Think of what players like Wolfe, Shaffer, Hughes, Pead, and Collaros, among others, meant to the program the last few seasons. And imagine how difficult it will be to replace them.
There's players embracing new roles and added responsibility all over, but let's be real. Tonight, the guy we'll be watching most is Munchie.
Not since the 2005 season have the Bearcats opened the year with so little experience behind center. Earlier this week, Legaux talked about carrying the torch at a position that's either been very stable or very deep. The Grutza/Davila combo that yielded eight wins in 2006 gave way to Ben Mauk in 2007. After Grutza's injury early in 2008, the program has been (with Chazz Anderson and obviously Munchie being brief, injury-necessitated exceptions) in the steady hands of either Tony Pike or Zach Collaros. Pretty much anyone who's took a snap behind center for the Bearcats these past 11 seasons has,at some point, came through in a very big moment.
So Munchie has a lot to live up to. He also has a lot to fix, based on his three starts last year. His throwing motion reminded me of the girl who used to work at our front desk and who liked to throw a Nerf football in an effort to flirt with good-looking men at the radio station. Long, elaborate, time-consuming, and often-times, not resulting in success.
Munchie never really seemed sure of himself running the team, and while he made key contributions as UC won two of his starts, there was an uneasiness with every snap.
That's often the case with inexperienced backups.
The hope here is that with coaching, and an offseason where he was the favorite all along to win the starting job, he can improve mechanics and footwork, all while firmly grasping the offense and perhaps even improving upon the play of Zach Collaros.
Wait, what?
Few players were as gritty as Zach. I don't know that any in UC history had his leadership capabilities. And not many had his flair for the dramatic. But as a passer, Zach had limitations. He's short. His decision-making wasn't great. He often looked unsure of whether to run or throw and his throws lacked the precision we'd seen from his predecessors The passing game sorta sputtered last season.
I think Munchie can physically do some things Collaros couldn't. He's more than a half a foot taller, his receivers are better-seasoned with an full offseason to prepare for the new passer. And as a runner, Munchie looks like a guy who can make people miss a little more effectively than Collaros did. Can he lead? Can he come through in big moments the way Collaros often did? No idea. But as a pure passer, I think we overstate a little exactly how good Collaros was, especially last season.
I'm not saying Munchie is poised for greatness. I'm not saying that his mechanical flaws will be solved. I'm saying that expecting him to do better than Zach Collaros did last season is a reasonable expectations.
(There's actually more of this subject in a little bit more detail on Down The Drive.)
It also could be another wide-open season in the league that has no marquee teams and few household names. In other words the Big East, especially for a program that's gotten comfortable at the top of the conference standings, is very winnable. (Frankly, I do think Louisville wins it) The Bearcats are to the point, fair or unfair, where anything shy of a league title seems like failure. Last year's 10-3 Big East Co-champs were met with lukewarm response. I think the 2011 Bearcats were the least-appreciated good team we've had in this town for a while. A fan base that hasn't exactly enjoyed decades on ten-win seasons sure had a cavalier attitude about what I thought was a pretty endearing team last season.
The point is that good might not be good enough.
The program needs to grow, especially with so much still up in the air about the future of the league. Season ticket sales have leveled off, the talk of renovating Nippert Stadium has been silenced, and there remains this sense by many that the school will forever be unable to keep successful head coaches. Many of the people who jumped aboard and started paying attention to the Bearcats five years ago have either gotten bored, spoiled, or their attention has drifted elsewhere. (It's fair to point out that the rise in UC's local profile in 2007 and 2008 coincided with two very forgettable Reds seasons and two very unlikable Bengals teams falling flat on their faces)
The Bearcats need to get themselves noticed. If 10-3, a league co-championship, and a postseason win didn't get that done, you can't help but wonder what it will take for people to perk up this season.
Which takes us to tonight's game.
UC v. Pitt
The Reds are good this year. The Bengals might be. Both will be relevant at least through the first third of the Bearcats season. If UC lays an egg tonight, how far do they fall off the local radar? After tonight, Cincinnati will have just one game against a BCS school between now and the last weekend in October (the Virginia Tech game in Maryland on 9/29) and will spend two of those weekends opposing FCS schools. It's gonna be hard to get noticed, especially if the first impression the city gets of the 2012 squad isn't a good one.
I might not like the fact that interest in the program continues to be a topic every season, but it does. And UC needs to keep people interested beyond tonight.
It's the last time, at least for a while, that this monstrosity will be up for grabs.
I'm saddened that the River City Rivalry is coming to an end, because while the game's trophy is a little weird, and while the rivalry aspect of the UC/Pitt series seemed a little contrived at the outset, it's actually turned into a nice little series. Four of the last five games have been decided by seven points or less. Last year's game, won by the Bearcats after trailing by ten in the third quarter, was far more entertaining than the Alabama/LSU "GAME OF THE CENTURY" played that same night, and the seminal game in Big East football history was won by the Bearcats over the Panthers in 2009.
To this day, I still get goosebumps when I watch that. It's still the best sporting event I've ever attended.
Tonight the stakes aren't as high as they were that cold December day in 2009 but it's still a pretty big game for the Bearcats, even if last week's Pitt loss to Youngstown State took much of the luster off of tonight's matchup.
Pitt has four of the six players they suspended for their opener available tonight. I don't know that they help them improve all that much from a dreadful performance against the Panthers. Pitt never led in that game, their defense allowed conversions on 11 of 16 third downs, and they had two costly turnovers. I might not know what to expect from the Bearcats, but I don't expect much from the Panthers.
I say UC plays mistake-free on offense, gets a big play or two from one of their talented wideouts, and gets another big game from Walter Stewart, who was outstanding a Heinz Field last season. And while we might not be completely sold on Munchie Legaux, I am sold on betting on a key Tino Sunseri mistake. And while Pitt's defensive line faces a better matchup this week then it did against Youngstown State, they were still pushed around on nearly every snap last week.
It's hard to call week one a must win, but it's close. UC should win tonight and they will. Bearcats 27 Panthers 17
-Joey Votto's return was marred by an awful outing from Mike Leake. Leake hasn't been as bad as many make him out to have been, but if he's not getting the fourth spot in the rotation, and if he's not primed for bullpen work, then what's the point in keeping him on the roster in the postseason? Yes, he can hit. And yes, he could eat up some innings in long relief, but so can LeCure and Simon. If the Reds need his services in long relief all that much, then they aren't winning the World Series anyway, so why keep him?
-Votto's return, and the likelihood of Brandon Phillips hitting leadoff, make the discussion about the offense a simple one. If BP, Votto, and Bruce are hitting, the Reds will be fine. If they're not, they won't be. Talk all you want about guys like Stubbs, Cozart, and even Frazier and Rolen, this team scores if those guys are doing their jobs and the offense grinds to a halt if they're not.
-More later...including a loaded radio show today with Bobbie Williams, Kenny Anderson, UC color man Jim Kelly, and more. A blog previewing said show will be on the way. This is outstanding, so watch it.
