I'll let an article from yesterday answer your question.
UC football Q&A
As season wraps up, Dantonio takes look at '06
By Bill Koch
Enquirer staff writer
UC football coach Mark Dantonio heads into the season's final game with a 4-6 record.
The University of Cincinnati will complete its first football season in the Big East Conference and its second under coach Mark Dantonio Saturday at Rutgers.
The Bearcats, 4-6 overall and 2-4 in the Big East, are 11-11 under Dantonio.
As the season finale approached this week, Dantonio discussed the status of the Bearcat program.
Q. This team was picked to finish last in the Big East and is on track to finish sixth. Has it exceeded your expectations?
A. No. I was hoping that with a young team that we could come out of our out-of-conference schedule 3-1. And I was hoping we could win a couple here in the next five and then finish with two wins and be (at least) 6-5. That was, I think, very realistic, but we were going to have to grow, and things were going to have bounce our way.
We were going to have to be a takeaway team, and we haven't become a takeaway defense. If we were No. 1 in the conference in turnover margin, we'd probably be a bowl team right now.
Q. What does redshirt freshman quarterback Dustin Grutza need to improve on to get where he needs to be?
A. As you get older, you take more chances. Gino (Guidugli) took chances. You'll see a guy who's more assured of what he's doing, more confident.
Q. So do you think he plays too cautiously because of his inexperience?
A. I think he tries to go through the progression reads that he's told. There's times when he holds on to the ball a little longer than he should have. But a lot of times, there's nowhere to go with the ball.
It'll be very interesting how Craig Carey develops. I would expect him to push Dustin, but there's a learning curve there. ... The thing that gives Dustin a chance is that he's an extremely hard worker. He can make plays with his feet. He is very sound mechanically, and he's only going to get stronger.
Q. You lack a deep threat at wide receiver or even a breakaway running back threat. Is that something that you'll try to address in recruiting?
A. Yes, we're going to have to address that in recruiting. What we are now is an offense that says, OK, we'll get the first down, get the first down, get the first down. But how many teams are able to go 16-play drives five times a game? The other side to that is, how many times have we gotten the ball for them on the plus side of the 50? Very few.
Q. How much of a priority, then, is it to find a big-play threat on offense?
A. We have one sitting now, Derrick Stewart from Youngstown Ursuline. He's a 10.6(-second) 100-meter guy. He's an electrifying wide receiver, and those are also the kind of guys we're trying to find.
Q. You lose three seniors on your offensive line. How much of a problem will the offensive line be next year?
A. Not as much as this year, because we do have players that are in the system. Jeremy Bolton has played. Digger Bujnoch has played. Trevor Canfield has played. Jeff Reinstatler has played. Frank Straub has played. We have a little more experience coming back.
What we have to do is recruit four or five offensive linemen. Probably a couple of junior-college offensive linemen have to come in and play. It's going to be a key to pick the right ones.
Q. How many junior-college players will you recruit overall for next year?
A. There won't be a lot. I don't want to go in that direction. I don't want it to be a quick-fix thing. But you can't find an offensive lineman to come in (and play) as a true freshman.
Q. How many players can you sign for next year?
A. We should be able to sign a minimum of 21.
Q. Placekicker Kevin Lovell has made only three of eight field-goal attempts this year and you lose your punter to graduation. Will you recruit players to fill those spots?
A. If we do recruit a kicker/punter, it will probably be a dual guy who can do both. There's not too many people who go out and recruit those, so we'll be able to get a good one if we decide to go in that direction. I feel like Kevin Huber can become a good punter. Lovell's got another year back. Lovell's a good kicker. Two of (his misses) were long ones, and one got blocked. We only tried eight.
Q. You've been at UC for two years now. Has your perception of this program changed?
A. No. I felt when I came here that this was a program in transition. It was building new facilities and going into a new conference. It was trying to do better than it had done. It takes time to grow. I'm not disappointed. If we win, people will come. If we don't, they won't.
Q. Are you happy at UC?
A. I'm very happy here. My family is very happy here, and that's the No. 1 concern for me. I've been treated very well here. We've got great people and a great environment to work in. It's only going to get better because of the new (athletic center), and we've got a great conference.
We're one of 66 BCS teams. Now we might be at the bottom of those 66, but Fresno State has made its way through. I would compare us a lot to them in the past. They're in Pac-10 country. We're in Big Ten country. They're in a good high school environment. We're in a good high school environment. They somehow made their way. We've just got to keep working at it. This has got to be built one brick and one position at a time. That way there's a foundation.
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