The outlook for the Bearcats is still very high, IMO. Remember, this is CTT's first year and it takes a couple years for a coach to have his system in place AND with his recruits.

As long as the Bearcats are in the American, 9-10 wins per year is achievable, they just have to make sure they don't play to the level of the competition.

I agree. We need to remember this is this staff's FIRST YEAR. They are playing with Butch's players. There will be growing pains. Gran will get better. Give them a chance to bring in some of their Florida connections/recruits.

One thing I would like to question is the Strength/Conditioning of this team. I mean, I know they are in good condition (i.e Purdue game), but I haven't been impressed with their overall strength. The lines having been getting pushed around in all the games. I was paying attention to the O-line yesterday. Most of them had very little muscle tone at all to their bodies. I know O-linemen rarely look chiseled, but they just look soft to me.

BTW, can we stop blaming the White Helmets for the poor play? Now it is the Red Jersey's!

I'm having a very hard time trying to decipher this team. They have beat three incredibly bad teams, lost to the only mediocre team they have played. I just don't think the talent level is as good as we think it is. 7 or 8 wins tops.

The only thing i havnt liked about the staff is Gran's playcalling. But i remember how frustrating Butchs first year was, so give it time..

UC's offense is struggling more than I thought they would.

Maybe I undersetimated the effects of a coaching staff change. I just think UC has the talent to play much better. Hopefully they can work out some things during the off week.

Mark me down as officially concerned. UC has yet to look good this year against a division 1 team. Purdue beat themselves - absolutely imploding in week 1. Go back & watch. I did. It's not pretty.

So far I'm not impressed. Kay seems to have taken a big step back under the new staff for some reason? So much so that Munchie won the staring job out of camp?! We slam our 160 lb running back into the back of our linemen 10 times per game, ignoring Tion Green. Play calling has been awful. Need to figure out how to get the ball to playmakers in space.

And I don't follow football recruiting closely but haven't read a good thing about the new staff's recruiting yet.

Not throwing in the towel on them already. I know it takes time. Just not a good start. This weak schedule is starting to look like a very good thing. Hopefully we figure things out.

(09-22-2013 10:32 AM)cincy11 Wrote:  Mark me down as officially concerned. UC has yet to look good this year against a division 1 team. Purdue beat themselves - absolutely imploding in week 1. Go back & watch. I did. It's not pretty.

So far I'm not impressed. Kay seems to have taken a big step back under the new staff for some reason? So much so that Munchie won the staring job out of camp?! We slam our 160 lb running back into the back of our linemen 10 times per game, ignoring Tion Green. Play calling has been awful. Need to figure out how to get the ball to playmakers in space.

And I don't follow football recruiting closely but haven't read a good thing about the new staff's recruiting yet.

Not throwing in the towel on them already. I know it takes time. Just not a good start. This weak schedule is starting to look like a very good thing. Hopefully we figure things out.

Everybody keeps talking about Tion Green, don't you think if he did enough to impress the coaches in practice he would be playing, they see him everyday, we do not.

Not really concerned, during our BCS run in 2008 UC needed a late field goal to win at Akron and another miracle to get past Hawaii. Good teams win games when they don't play well. Coaching staff played conservative due to our injuries and Miami's defensive scheme.

I think we forget this this is Miami's Super Bowl every season. Eight in a row and most of those have been blowouts; however, the last two trips to Oxford have not been easy.

This is what college football is folks, a lot of above average to bad teams out there. Winning programs win these types of games, this is the difference between 6-6 and 9-3 type season.

(09-21-2013 08:33 PM)Mopper Wrote:  Of course Eddie Gran can get better. This was the fourth time in his life that he has called a game. To assume that he is a finished product as a coordinator, or that the offense we saw today was as good as it will get is folly. Am I convinced enough by the offensive performances so far to offer him a raise and an extension, no. But I see what he is trying to accomplish and how he wants this offense to play and I like the direction it is taking. He has been dealt a **** hand as far as injuries go and has had to reconfigure his approach on the fly already. There are some growing pains to be sure, but I don't see any reason to panic.

The offensive line is struggling at the moment to deal with the complexity of his scheme, which is obviously making the offense less efficient. The fact that Deshawn Bond is the starting center has something to do with that. It is generally up to the center to make checks and protection adjustments for the offense. That seems to be where the Bearcats are struggling, particularly when it comes to picking up the blitz. But Bond has generally exceeded expectations in playing the most complicated position in the game other than quarterback. He is young and his ceiling is obviously high, but he still makes mistakes.

Gran and his staff will take the week to pour over the film from the first four games and refine their approach. I don't think UC will add any major new components to the offense. If anything I expect them to take less effective wrinkles out. If the Bearcats struggle this badly against a decent USF defense it might be time to panic. For now its definitely not.

I am actually far more p!ssed when the defense struggles (like Illinois). If the defense plays well, and the offense struggles, there is a lot more chance of winning than the converse.

Defense needs to carry us for now. Hope the offense gets there by November.

Not impressed with the offensive staff so far Play calling is a bit predictable and unimaginative. Position groups like O-line seem to have regressed. Somehow the same guys who could block last year get pushed around this year.

Offensive scheme appears limited.

Not been that impressed with how the team is prepared from game to game so far, either.

(09-22-2013 11:54 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Not impressed with the offensive staff so far Play calling is a bit predictable and unimaginative. Position groups like O-line seem to have regressed. Somehow the same guys who could block last year get pushed around this year.

Offensive scheme appears limited.

Not been that impressed with how the team is prepared from game to game so far, either.

There are concerns, no doubt. But, Illinois worried me much more than Miami did. Even NW Lou worried me more than Miami, with the double-digit penalties.

We had our share of penalties yesterday, but only two after the first quarter.

But Gran did nothing yesterday to remove the criticism for sure.

Not counting the last drive of the first half when UC was in hurry up, by my calculation UC ran on 27 of 31 first downs. I think predictable playcalliing absolutely killed the UC offense in this game. UC ran on their first 10 first downs in the 2nd half. They also ran on their last 6 first downs (Kay through on back to back first downs early in the 4th quarter).

If that kind of play calling is going to become a trend, consider me worried. Though they showed a bigger variety of formations, this was every bit as vanilla a game as the Tredwell era (actually I thought it was worse).

some of this is the team (esp oline) is learning new schemes...throw in key injury to starting qb and starting center. I think some of this will smooth out.

new coaching staffs can be tricky...i just hope all said amd done our first year under TT is better than first year under Lyle. We already have almost as many wins so I assume it will. But some of you who thought 12-0 or 11-1 was gonna happen may need to rethink that.

A little concerned, but sometimes schools have bad games. Northwestern only beat maine by 14 yesterday.

(09-22-2013 12:01 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Not counting the last drive of the first half when UC was in hurry up, by my calculation UC ran on 27 of 31 first downs. I think predictable playcalliing absolutely killed the UC offense in this game. UC ran on their first 10 first downs in the 2nd half. They also ran on their last 6 first downs (Kay through on back to back first downs early in the 4th quarter).

If that kind of play calling is going to become a trend, consider me worried. Though they showed a bigger variety of formations, this was every bit as vanilla a game as the Tredwell era (actually I thought it was worse).

Go back and look at number of runs up the middle on 1st down last week. Same thing. Passed once that I recall. The rest were up the gut. It's really, really bad.

They ran 22 times on first down. RDA 12 and HW 10. May I ask what is so bad about averaging close to 5 yards a carry on first down runs. I will take that all year. They also passed 12 of 34 times on first down. If I have any complaints it is the play calling on second and third down.

So is Kay just rusty from injury because he doesn't look like Kay from last year at all. Is he just struggling with new coaches/offense/playbook? What's up?

(09-22-2013 04:31 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  So is Kay just rusty from injury because he doesn't look like Kay from last year at all. Is he just struggling with new coaches/offense/playbook? What's up?

I was hoping a mod would have fixed the grammar in the title by now.

Its one of several very legitamate questions that needs to be adressed regarding this team and staff right now....#1's Q, that is.