A FEW MO THINGS, 12/10/12

(Photo courtesy of Cincinnati.com/Jeff Swinger)

Thankfully, there's another game in four days.

The Bengals will play the Eagles on Thursday night in a game they probably must win.  The quick turnaround is always a challenge, especially for road teams, but a game on Thursday night means we'll spend a little less time agonizing over yesterday.

What a missed opportunity.  What a bunch of missed opportunities. 

What have you spent the hours after the Bengals' loss to the Cowboys wondering about more?  How AJ Green, arguably the Bengals' most reliable player, could drop a sure TD pass?  What the Bengals were doing blowing timeouts so early in the second half?  (Go back and look where they used them.  Before a field goal, after the Reggie Nelson "penalty" and after 15-yard pass in Dallas territory.  Simply baffling)  Why they decided to almost completely abandon running the ball in the fourth quarter?  (I don't like talking about playcalling, but what we saw on the final two offensive drives was even more mind-numbing that how the Bengals managed their timeouts)  How many dropped interceptions could've changed the outcome? How many failed attempts in the red zone might have doomed the season? Or how on three key plays during Dallas' game-winning drive, with the entire stadium knowing what the Cowboys were likely to do, the Bengals couldn't stop them?

Losing to the Cowboys, at face value at least, isn't completely unforgivable.  The law of NFL averages was likely to catch up to them at some point, and Dallas is hardly the patsy many make the Cowboys out to be.  But late-season losses were only going to be more devastating because of what this team couldn't do earlier in the season (The Miami and Cleveland losses will haunt all season long) and yesterday's game so winnable and such a golden opportunity that despite all the strides made by the Bengals over the last month and a half, the defeat stings more than any of their previous six.

You can't lose home games against middle-of-the-pack teams when you lead by nine points in the fourth quarter.  You just can't.

You can't lose games late in the season when your primary competitor for a playoff spot lays an egg at home.  You just can't.

You can't piss away so many chances in one game and expect to win.  You just can't.

You can't blow such an incredible opportunity to silde into the wild card driver's seat. You just can't.

But the Bengals did.  In a very Bengals-kinda way.

This team is better than they were six weeks ago.  They're better than they were at the beginning of the season.  In many respects, they're better than they were a year ago.  And their playoff chances aren't completely torpedoed despite yesterday's disappointment. But despite the fact that they've played well enough to make this month's games relevant, there are still lingering questions about whether this team can win the kind of games they blew yesterday.  When they were pounding the Giants, Chiefs, and Raiders, I remember asking what would happen when this team faced season-defining moments.  Would they make critical plays when they absolutely had to?  And would Marvin Lewis' always-shaky game management haunt them in close games? The Bengals might be better, but their coach is still the same. 

The answers, at least yesterday, were no and yes.

The question now is whether yesterday's blown chances and questionable decisions will ultimately doom the season.

-Tommy Tuberville is the new head football coach at the University of Cincinnati.  That sentence, more than 48 hours after he took the gig, still feel weird to type.

Will Tuberville succeed here? I don't know.  Will he stay here if he does succeed?  No one knows.  But there are two things I do know.

1) Whit Babcock doesn't screw around.  We may look back on the Tuberville hiring as an ill-fated move that led to the complete and total decline of UC's football program, or we may look at it as the most significant hire in school history, one that led the way toward the program reaching unprecedented heights.  But either way, what Whit's done with his first major hire has been impressive in that it not only energized the fan base and has people talking UC football, but it's shown that he's exactly what you want your AD to be: organized and prepared.

It's not like any athletic director was going to be completely blindsided here.  Rumors about Butch Jones' going elsewhere have swirled for months, and given the fact he began visiting with other schools five days before he officially left, Whit had plenty of time to start the process toward finding another coach.  But still, to have a new coach, and their most accomplished hire ever, in the fold within 24 hours of formally announcing the Jones departure, is still pretty damn astounding.

The football program, which had been twisting in the wind for almost a week, wasn't left hanging for even a day after Butch left.

Great leaders have large networks to pull from. Whit went to his and found someone he'd worked with before who he knew might be willing to come here.  Great leaders have strategies mapped out well before they're needed.  I'm pretty sure Whit Babcock had a sense of who he'd reach out to first weeks ago.  And great leaders go outside the norm to find solutions to pressing problems.

Hiring Tommy Tuberville is hardly the norm. 

Whit Babcock has other pressing issues to address.  Among them are finding ways to upgrade UC's football and basketball situation, finding more UC fans and alums to actively participate in the school's two major sports, and at some point he might have serious inquiries into his basketball coach (Mick Cronin has developed the most entertaining Bearcat hoops team in 19 years).  Oh, and UC needs to get out of the Big East.  But in one year, Whit Babcock has had with two major tests of his leadership: the Crosstown Shootout fight and the Butch Jones saga.  He passed the first.  He aced the second.

Time will tell if UC football is in good hands with Tommy Tuberville.  I think we know right now that UC athletics is in good hands with Whit Babcock.

2) UC fans badly needed something to feel good about.

The ACC rejection seemed to open up wounds from the Brian Kelly departure.  Butch Jones leaving seemed to pour salt into it.  Friday's press conference felt like a funeral, with the school president all but sounding like he was giving a eulogy.

You could tell there were hurt feelings and damaged relationships.  And you could tell UC fans were reaching new levels of exasperation and resignation with the direction of the football program.

Friday's frustration led to Saturday's celebration, culminating in a welcoming to Tuberville that was biggest feel-good gathering for UC football since the last time the Bearcats accepted a BCS bid.  It felt cathartic for a fan base desperate for something to get excited about and it came right as some UC fans sounded as if they were bailing on the program.

For the first time in a few weeks, the conversations about UC football center around something besides conference uncertainty and coaching departures. Instead, there's some excitement and buzz for a program badly in need of both.