Bill Koch's blog:
UC, Miami went in different directions
Posted by bkoch 12/06/10, 12:06 pm
Is there anyone who could have predicted after UC dismantled Miami, 45-3, back on Oct. 9 that the RedHawks would win the MAC and play in a bowl game while UC would finish 4-8 and be home for Christmas?
I’m not sure how or why it happened, but it’s obvious that Miami continued to improve while UC did not. If anything, the Bearcats got worse as the season wore on. After UC won at Louisville, I sensed the Bearcats gathering a head of steam. They had nearly upset Oklahoma, blew out Miami and won on the road against the Cardinals. With USF and Syracuse - two teams UC has dominated – up next on the schedule, the Bearcats seemed a good bet to get off to a 3-0 start in the league before travelling to West Virginia for the key game on the schedule. After they lost to both USF and Syracuse at home, it was clear they were going nowhere.
Now we have Butch Jones proclaiming the obvious, that what happened this season was unacceptable. So what is he going to do about it? The talent on this team isn’t as good as what West Virginia and Pitt have, but it’s certainly better than 4-8. And Jones told me last week there’s no reason why the Bearcats can’t rebound to contend for the Big East title again next year.
By the way, in the interest of full disclosure, I picked UC to go 9-3 before the season started, with losses to Oklahoma, West Virginia and Pitt.
It will be interesting to see how season ticket sales go after this disappointing season. UC football fans are a recent development. The tradition of winning is not there the way it is for basketball, which means it’s not automatic that those fans who were so smitten during the Brian Kelly years, will hang around. We’ll see.
(12-06-2010 02:24 PM)Ragpicker Wrote: [ -> ]Bill Koch's blog:
Now we have Butch Jones proclaiming the obvious
Isn't that Koch's m.o.?
Bill Koch should've been arrested not the Bearcat
I love bill's deep analysis. I don't know bill sometimes teams underachieve. To me the most key stat was the turnover ratio. Look at the NFL....turnover ratio is huge. And it proved to be too much for uc to overcome. Defense lacks playmakers. Period. Need personnel improvements there. Offense lost two key offensive lineman and didn't have guys step in (at least consistently). Vidal goes down in game one. Those things surely hurt offensive consistency.
Now there were too many penalties but that might be somewhat related to lack of talent, guys pressing, etc.
Turnovers, injuries, penalties were the undoing this year.
Improving offensive line.....cutting down zach, pead and woods turnovers....infusing some more talent on defense .....those are keys. Maybe some better game planning on offense too.
Hopefully our fan base isn't as negative as Billy kock and after some emotional letdown this year still stick with jones and the cats.
Uh, Bill - Miami played crappy MAC teams while UC played Big East teams ( not great Big East teams, but definitely better than crappy MAC teams).
(12-06-2010 03:42 PM)bearcatfan Wrote: [ -> ]Uh, Bill - Miami played crappy MAC teams while UC played Big East teams ( not great Big East teams, but definitely better than crappy MAC teams).
The fact that the 2nd worst team in the BE beat the MAC champion by 42 pts with all of them scored in the 1st HALF says a lot about their schedules. Don't expect Koch to understand something as simple as this.
Does Koch have a brain? What does this say about the MAC? Put Miami up against UC's remaining schedule and see if they can run through it unscathed. What a moron!
The other thing that cannot be overlooked is that everyone we played this year circled it on the calendar and we had huge targets on our backs. And our opponents played like it. It seems that every team we played threw the kitchen sink at the Bearcats which is what happens when you are the 2 time defending Big East champions. Every team we played was focused and maintained that focus the entire game. Of course it did not help that the defense couldn't stop anyone and that helped teams keep their focus.
(12-06-2010 03:46 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2010 03:42 PM)bearcatfan Wrote: [ -> ]Uh, Bill - Miami played crappy MAC teams while UC played Big East teams ( not great Big East teams, but definitely better than crappy MAC teams).
The fact that the 2nd worst team in the BE beat the MAC champion by 42 pts with all of them scored in the 1st HALF says a lot about their schedules. Don't expect Koch to understand something as simple as this.
To be fair... the third place team in the MAC East also beat the Big East Champion... just for full disclosure.
(12-06-2010 04:04 PM)bearcatmark Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2010 03:46 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2010 03:42 PM)bearcatfan Wrote: [ -> ]Uh, Bill - Miami played crappy MAC teams while UC played Big East teams ( not great Big East teams, but definitely better than crappy MAC teams).
The fact that the 2nd worst team in the BE beat the MAC champion by 42 pts with all of them scored in the 1st HALF says a lot about their schedules. Don't expect Koch to understand something as simple as this.
To be fair... the third place team in the MAC East also beat the Big East Champion... just for full disclosure.
And VaTech lost to James Madison.
(12-06-2010 04:12 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2010 04:04 PM)bearcatmark Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2010 03:46 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2010 03:42 PM)bearcatfan Wrote: [ -> ]Uh, Bill - Miami played crappy MAC teams while UC played Big East teams ( not great Big East teams, but definitely better than crappy MAC teams).
The fact that the 2nd worst team in the BE beat the MAC champion by 42 pts with all of them scored in the 1st HALF says a lot about their schedules. Don't expect Koch to understand something as simple as this.
To be fair... the third place team in the MAC East also beat the Big East Champion... just for full disclosure.
And VaTech lost to James Madison.
Both valid points but I was just emphasizing that a MAC schedule is no where near the level of a BE schedule.
(12-06-2010 04:28 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2010 04:12 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2010 04:04 PM)bearcatmark Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2010 03:46 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2010 03:42 PM)bearcatfan Wrote: [ -> ]Uh, Bill - Miami played crappy MAC teams while UC played Big East teams ( not great Big East teams, but definitely better than crappy MAC teams).
The fact that the 2nd worst team in the BE beat the MAC champion by 42 pts with all of them scored in the 1st HALF says a lot about their schedules. Don't expect Koch to understand something as simple as this.
To be fair... the third place team in the MAC East also beat the Big East Champion... just for full disclosure.
And VaTech lost to James Madison.
Both valid points but I was just emphasizing that a MAC schedule is no where near the level of a BE schedule.
No doubt. Hopeful the Big East can get some redemption during Bowl season.
I was looking at the Bowl games and I think I am right....UC played two teams in the BCS Bowls and 10 of 12 games against Bowl teams!!!!!!!! I see ISU and Rutgers as the only two teams UC played that arenot in Bowl games. That is amazing.
Why is anyone shocked by this anymore. Its why I don't read local papers or listen to talk radio. Its watered down, incompetent, lazily produced drivel. The folks on here and on UC sites have far better analysis because they actually follow the team and far better insight than some lazy clown "writer" in the weakest sense of the word who is too busy most of the time to actually get quotes or think deeply about the team, the program and/or the school. Koch = lazy hack, Lance = ratings whore, the list goes on and on. But has gotten smaller as newspaper staffs and radio hosts go the way of the dinosaur.