After a horrible game against Marshall my preseason feelings on this season are 100% back to a 100% rebuild year. I think we may have been a little hard on Tubs in game coaching. I think his big fault was 100% recruiting. Why in the world were we going down south to recruit qbs. There hasn't been a good pro style qb come out of the south since hell Peyton manning maybe aj macaron. Anyways the only coaching improvement I've seen so far has been tackling and effort. Granted those two improvements make it bearable to watch as a fan and give me hope for the future. Anyways I do not see the complete talent on the field we need to compete game in and game out. The rest of the year will be fickell getting these guys to play their ass off for a few wins until he can get some of his guys in here and figure out who can play qb. Its going to be a long year and hope fans can try to keep it cool and understand this is not going to be quick fix we will see this year. Go Cats!

Let's evaluate last night.

1. Was there any bright spots? Not in the first 3 Qrt and I gave in and left.

Special teams - BAD. Bad kickoffs both ways. FG kicking Pasley is horrible. Punting mediocre. Smiths punts always seem to bounce back. Now that is OK if it hits inside the 10 but not otherwise.

Offense was OFFENSIVE.

Defense got worn down because offense never stayed on field. Good early on first and second but then 3rd downs were sure 1st down yardage. We saw this all last year.

Was a total team disaster.

Special teams was laughable. Guys jumping offsides on 4th & 5, losing the ball in the air (again) and blowing assignments on D, terrible OLine with skill players on offense that are just pedestrian at best..there are likely 2 wins left on the schedule with how awful ECU, Uconn and Temple are but there are at least that many blowouts like last night coming our way. This roster is cruddy.

I think the lack of preparedness (reminded me of Tubbervile teams) and just plain sloppy BS playing (DUMB penalties- Trout's uncalled for personal foul, the offsides on 4th and 5, etc) has me concerned the most. If the talent isn't there (and its not) ok, I can live with it. But after talent you have effort and discipline. The effort has been there, the discipline has not.

Tubberville teams lacked discipline AND effort. I'll grant us that we have effort and heart (thank God) but the discipline is still really bad. And they just don't look prepared to play.

People are to hard on Fickle. Flubbs did absolutely nothing as a coach here. He put zero into his job for the better part of 5 years. The bowlcation is a new concept created by Flubbs. He not only let down on the job, he let us all know. Now, is the roster weak, yes? Does anyone remember a team with 3 walkons the offensive line. Not even going back to the late 80s do I remember this. Now going forward, is Fickel stocking the cupboard, yes. Are you not noticing the Freshman and Sophmores? My only worry going forward is a legitimate qb and no the answer is not to plug Bryant in as a true freshman.

The future is bright people. The scourge is gone. Now we must heal.

(10-01-2017 08:38 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  I think the lack of preparedness (reminded me of Tubbervile teams) and just plain sloppy BS playing (DUMB penalties- Trout's uncalled for personal foul, the offsides on 4th and 5, etc) has me concerned the most. If the talent isn't there (and its not) ok, I can live with it. But after talent you have effort and discipline. The effort has been there, the discipline has not.

Tubberville teams lacked discipline AND effort. I'll grant us that we have effort and heart (thank God) but the discipline is still really bad. And they just don't look prepared to play.

This worried me also, but discipline will come. I attribute this to a new guy still getting his system in place.

We are in Year 3 of the June Jones aftermath. Unfortunately Tubbs decimated your program similarly to what June did to us.

We suffer from Same Guy Syndrome.

Same guy at QB locking onto only one target and making bad throws off of his back foot Same guys at CB who never have a dang clue where the ball is when it's in the air. Same guys on the OL being pushed around. Same guy missing field goals each week. Not sure why the results are expected to be much different.

This was 4 weeks in a row that the opponent had better talent on the field and looked better prepared. Week 5 is in the on deck circle.

(10-01-2017 07:16 AM)doss2 Wrote:  Let's evaluate last night.

1. Was there any bright spots? Not in the first 3 Qrt and I gave in and left.

Special teams - BAD. Bad kickoffs both ways. FG kicking Pasley is horrible. Punting mediocre. Smiths punts always seem to bounce back. Now that is OK if it hits inside the 10 but not otherwise.

Offense was OFFENSIVE.

Defense got worn down because offense never stayed on field. Good early on first and second but then 3rd downs were sure 1st down yardage. We saw this all last year.

Was a total team disaster.

Too many penalties, some kept Marshall's O on the field that led to scoring. Trout got a personal foul for a late hit in the first half, drive killer. 3 more turnovers.

Total Yards
MRSH
366
349
CIN

TOP
CIN 20:49 39:11 Marshall

1st Downs 22 21
3rd down efficiency 7-18 4-14
4th down efficiency 2-3 1-2

They won on 3rd down conversions.
M UC
Passing 233 211
Comp-Att 21-34 22-45
Yards per pass 6.9 4.7
Interceptions thrown 0 0
Rushing 133 138
Rushing Attempts 44 26
Yards per rush 3.0 5.3

We are what we are however painful that is. We won't beat any good teams or fair-to-middlin' ones this year, and depending on limiting penalties and turnovers, we will have a fighting chance against the poorer teams. The lipstick has come off the pig. No need to répéter (French) what has already been stated. We are 2-3 and could very well be 1-4 if not for the RedPricks "Meltdown in Miami." But, 2-3 is better than 1-4 or 0-5.

Is it basketball season yet?

There are plenty of teams who would love to be 2-3

Well, we do have an opportunity to beat the #25 ranked team and pick up a conference win. And, the game is actually, wait for it, televised on ESPU. The early line is +14.

(10-01-2017 08:03 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  Well, we do have an opportunity to beat the #25 ranked team and pick up a conference win. And, the game is actually, wait for it, televised on ESPU. The early line is +14.

Cant understand why it's not much much higher than 14.

(10-01-2017 09:55 PM)Racinejake Wrote:  

(10-01-2017 08:03 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  Well, we do have an opportunity to beat the #25 ranked team and pick up a conference win. And, the game is actually, wait for it, televised on ESPU. The early line is +14.

Cant understand why it's not much much higher than 14.

Line is already up to +17. Yeh awesome...

Where are the authors that talked about how UC would dominate this mid-major conference and be in line for the Access Bowl slot each year. 17 pt underdog at home.

Blaming Tubs only is psychotic. No one person could destroy a program so quickly. Bohn, Babcock, Williams, and the great self-promotor all were complicit in dismantling what MD & BK built. Oh No!!!

(10-04-2017 07:32 AM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

I got this email too. I'll be there this weekend, a bad loss won't scare me away, especially in this hefty rebuild that Tuberville left us.

With the exception of Tubs, we have had and currently have quality leadership, and it's up to us as fans to provide a major atmosphere and big time support to help our program reach the goals we all so badly want for it, even if that road isn't looking pretty right now.

Props to Bohn and Fickell for owning that game. I think we all know Tubs would tell us how fortunate we are to be 2 and 3. This'll be a long season but a foundation is being laid for a successful future and I'm going to do all I can to support it.

(10-02-2017 10:45 PM)Ragpicker Wrote:  Where are the authors that talked about how UC would dominate this mid-major conference and be in line for the Access Bowl slot each year. 17 pt underdog at home.

Blaming Tubs only is psychotic. No one person could destroy a program so quickly. Bohn, Babcock, Williams, and the great self-promotor all were complicit in dismantling what MD & BK built. Oh No!!!

We lost the Marshall game on turnovers and penalties, crap special teams. It isn't 100% roster talent. BTW UCF and USF are like #1 and #2, plus 10/11 in turnover margin, UC is -1. UC scoring offense is #105, way down the list.

Expectations for the next two games - keep them respectable, play hard, make sure fundamentals (which are half mental) are solid, hit hard, solidify OL play, no stupid mistakes in the secondary, keep it close in the 3rd quarter to give us hope. Bottom line - improvement. If these happen, it will give us a chance for bowl eligibility with our end of schedule opponents. Reality is, this is what the TEAM is playing for this year. Next year - be little better. In two years, competing for American championships. These are my expectations. Rosie glasses (not palm) says we should play for champs every year but that is not reality. If this team rises to the occasion against probably the two best teams in our conference, I will be content (not necessarily happy). I'm excited to see what these players and these coaches bring to the field this week and next.

(10-04-2017 07:50 AM)The T-Shirt Wrote:  

(10-04-2017 07:32 AM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

I got this email too. I'll be there this weekend, a bad loss won't scare me away, especially in this hefty rebuild that Tuberville left us.

With the exception of Tubs, we have had and currently have quality leadership, and it's up to us as fans to provide a major atmosphere and big time support to help our orogram reach the goals we all so badly want for it.

Props to Bohn and Fickell for owning that game. I think we all know Tubs would tell us how fortunate we are to be 2 and 3. This'll be a long season but a foundation is being laid for a successful future and I'm going to do all I can to support it.

Well said. Surely FC Cincinnati and UC fans would concur on one fact: Nippert is the best venue in this town these days. Most of us loyalists will be there the rest of the season win or lose. It's still a great game day experience and better days are ahead.