Cincinnati not afraid of bowl talk
While some coaches shy away from bowl talk at this time of year, Cincinnati coach Mark Dantonio is embracing it. “We talk about championships here,” he said. “Our goal is to win a championship and I think you have to set your sights on goals. You have to have goals.”
Cincinnati (4-4, 1-2 Big East), needs two wins in its last four games to become eligible for a bowl. The Bearcats host Syracuse on Saturday.
Dantonio said he thinks his team has gained some confidence from a tough early season nonconference schedule. The players now understand that they can control their own destiny, and will have chances to win every game, he said.
“We were beating Virginia Tech at Virginia Tech at the end of the third quarter, and Ohio State, we were hanging in there with them,” he said. “I think that’s how you build a foundation, and I think that’s what has happened.”
FATHER AND SON: Last year’s thrilling triple-overtime game between Louisville and West Virginia was the first meeting between Cardinals coach Bobby Petrino and West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez.
But it wasn’t the first time Rodriguez has faced a Bob Petrino.
Bobby’s father, Bob Petrino Sr., was a longtime coach at Carroll College in Montana, and faced Rodriguez in a NAIA playoff game in 1993, when Rodriguez was coaching Glenville State in West Virginia.
“From what I remember, without breaking out the old Carroll College-Glenville State highlights, I think they weren’t as wide open in the passing game, a little more run-oriented back then,” Rodriguez said. “I know this, that they were an extremely competitive football team and you can see some of that same fire between dad and son.”
Rodriguez’s Glenville team won that game 41-24. His Mountaineers won last year’s game, 46-44.
He goes for his third win against Petrino when the No. 4 Mountaineers visit the sixth-ranked Cardinals on Nov. 2.
RUNNING IT UP? Syracuse coach Greg Robinson is questioning why Louisville chose to score a touchdown on the Orange with less than two minutes to go in the Cardinals 28-13 win last week, when the Cardinals could have run out the clock.
Syracuse had no timeouts remaining.
“I tried to look at the logic of it, and I guess, for your national ranking or whatever, to score more points might be a good thing, or to get more rushing yardage might be a good thing or maybe you just feel like you want to get more plays,” Robinson said. “But, I know what I would have done in that situation. I would have secured the victory.”
Robinson pointed out the move could have backfired on Louisville, because it gave Syracuse the ball back.
“We could have run that kickoff all the way back, got an onside kick and scored again,” he said.
RIVALRY GAME? Rutgers and Connecticut don’t consider themselves big rivals – yet.
Big East officials would like to see that rivalry develop, and both coaches say the ingredients are there.
“We beat them a couple years going, and then they beat us last year, and all the games have been very, very close,” UConn coach Randy Edsall said. “I think that’s how rivalries start. Teams beat each other and they are close games, and proximity of schools all have to do with it.”
Rutgers coach Greg Schiano agrees, but says people will have to give this one time.
“I think there are a couple things that go into rivalries – No. 1, they have to happen naturally, I don’t think you can create them,” he said.
He also believes that for a rivalry to exist, one team can’t dominate the other. Rutgers won last year in East Hartford 26-24, after UConn won the previous three games. All four of those games have been decided by a touchdown or less. But the 16th-ranked Scarlet Knights (7-0, 2-0) are favored by 181/2 points over UConn (3-4, 0-2) on Sunday night.
AWARDS: For the third time this season, Rutgers’ Ray Rice is the Big East’s offensive player of the week.
Rice ran 39 times for a career-high 225 yards and a touchdown in the Scarlet Knights’ 20-10 win at Pittsburgh on Saturday. It was his third 200-yard rushing performance of the season and the fourth of his career. He has now run for 1,124 yards in leading No. 16 Rutgers to a 7-0 record.
Cincinnati linebacker Kevin McCullough was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Week. He returned a fumble 39 yard for a touchdown in the Bearcats’ 23-6 win over South Florida on Sunday night. He also had four tackles and a sack.
West Virginia kicker Pat McAfee earned the special team’s honor with 13 points, including three field goals in the Mountaineers’ 37-11 victory over Connecticut.