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October 21st Jump Off

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South Florida Week

Changes on and off field affect Woods' game // cincinnati.com

But his production has fallen off dramatically halfway through his senior season. The same player who caught 57 passes a year ago, eight for touchdowns, has only 23 this year for 284 yards and two touchdowns.

In the four games since catching 9 balls for 111 yards against Tennessee DJ has caught 10 balls for 114 yards.

A Tale of Two Very Similar Teams // GoUSFBulls.com

"It's almost eerie how similar the two teams are when you look at them from a personnel standpoint; you look at them from a scheme standpoint and you look at them from a statistical standpoint," USF head coach Skip Holtz said during his press conference Tuesday afternoon.

Collaros Leads The Way With His Legs, Yet Again // Paul Dehner

"It has always been a huge part of our run package," offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian said. "When you can create situations where defenses have to defend the possibilities -- it makes them defend the actual run play, then the quarterback and you add maybe a bubble throw to that same exact scheme and they have to add a third element to the run game."

Notes: Bulls prepare for improved Cincy defense // Tampabay.com

USF's chances of earning its first win in the Big East this season may rest with how well it can exploit a versatile Cincinnati defense that excels in many areas. The Bulls, who have scored just 27 points combined in their last two games, could struggle against a Bearcats' defense that ranks in the top 15 in the country in turnover margin, turnovers gained, rushing defense and scoring defense.

Thank you kindly for omitting the 104th ranked passing defense

Fumbles correctable for Scott // Bulls Report - Adam Adkins

USF junior running back Darrell Scott mentioned before the season he’d never fumbled in his collegiate career, but it’s been a reversal of fortunes lately with Scott losing the ball in each of the Bulls past two losses.

Tim Banks likes fumblers

B.J. Daniels remains confident // Big East Blog // ESPN

On 27 trips inside the red zone this season, USF has 14 touchdowns. Only three of those came in their games against Notre Dame, Pitt and UConn. Another area that has to be worked on is taking care of the football. USF was at plus-8 in that category before its two-game losing streak. But in those defeats, USF is at minus-3.

The question B.J. is why are you confident? I've seen the games.

Red zone defense key vs. // Bearcats Bulls Report

"They do a really good job of hitting the open spots," Snyder said. "(Collaros is) very smart. He knows exactly where the windows are, and the ball is out before the receiver even makes his break. His feet (also) create problems down there in the red zone, as we’ve seen B.J. (Daniels) do. You can stop it all over the place and all of the sudden there goes B.J. and he’s in the end zone. Collaros can do the same thing."

For the record USF surrenders TDs on just 50 per cent of red zone attempts.

Questions and Answers: With Voodoo 5 // Bearcats Blog

BB: The rushing defense is dead last in the Big East in yards per game, is that the biggest defensive concern? V5: I think so. The defense doesn't really attack you, like Rutgers or West Virginia does. Mark Snyder likes to sit back and react, giving up yards but not a whole lot of points. The problem is, that keeps your offense off the field, and if a team can run the ball well, you're still giving up a touchdown. We had a chat on our blog the other night and this topic came up. My theory is that the front seven is quick enough to run around pass protection, but not strong enough to handle linemen firing out to run block. Sometimes it seems like you can see the other team's running plays start to work in slow motion.

This USF football season has an awfully familiar feel // TBO.com

Stop us if you've seen this before: Local college football team breaks from the gate fast, pulls off a big upset, cracks the national rankings, gets a slight buzz going as it heads into conference play and … Well, they're picking up the pieces again over on Fowler Avenue, another South Florida breakout season having come and now definitely gone.

Arkeilpane: PBS experience was positive // UC Athletics Blog

The UC athletic department is still crunching the financial numbers from last Saturday’s game against Louisville at Paul Brown Stadium, but interim athletic director Bob Arkeilpane said this week that "the overwhelming response that we’ve gotten has been positive from our people." The game attracted 40,971 fans – the third-largest crowd in UC history – but did not approach the 58,253 that UC attracted last year at PBS for its game against Oklahoma. UC officials had hoped that Louisville would boost attendance with a large contingent of fans driving up I-71, but the Cardinals did not sell out their allotment of 3,000 tickets.

I don't care about the numbers, OK I care a little bit, but I haven't heard much but effective "meh"'s on the situation. WVU will probably be a better game, with a bigger crowd. But last week did little to change my opinion of the decision.

Bearcats hope to contain USF's Daniels // cincinnati.com

Playing against Daniels, UC defensive tackle John Hughes said, "is kind of like a track meet. We’re out there running around the whole time. But as long as guys stay on their points and do what they’re supposed to do we should have no problem."

Another reason why it's impossible to have too many talented defensive linemen.

Recruiting

Bearcats Commitment Ti’on Green // Bearcats Nation

As a runningback, Green might find it a tough road to see playing time as George Winn, Jameel Poteat, Ralph David Abernathy, and Akise Teague will be ahead of him to start the 2012 season. In addition, he will be competing with Deionte Buckley and Dennis Norfleet in his own class. That’s seven running backs on a team that runs a spread offense and, despite being a more balanced attack that most spreads, there won’t be enough reps to go around. If Green wants to see the field as a true freshman he might have to do it on the defensive side at safety or outside linebacker. But I think in all likelihood he will redshirt his freshman year to bulk up and gain an understanding of Cincinnati’s offensive or defensive schemes. After sitting out, I really quite frankly have no idea where he will end up be it running back or somewhere on defense.

 

Other Bearcat News

Kentucky deputy AD on UC’s list // UC Athletics Blog

Add Kentucky deputy athletic director Mark Coyle to the list of candidates who have been interviewed for the athletic director position at UC. As deputy AD at Kentucky, Coyle oversees the men’s basketball program. Before he was elevated to his current position in September 2010, he was senior associate AD for external affairs at UK.

Not a fan of this, personally.

UC women picked to finish 15th // UC Athletics Blog

Swimming & Diving Opens Season Friday Vs. Xavier // Gobearcats.com

The University of Cincinnati swimming and diving team opens its 2011-12 season Friday with the annual Crosstown Splashdown against rival Xavier University beginning at 3 p.m. at Keating Aquatics Center.

UC Ties Run Deep For Freshman Moir // gobearcats.com

Mackenzie is the daughter of Rick and Donna (Bender) Moir, the latter a graduate and two-sport student-athlete at the University of Cincinnati. Nowadays, Donna Moir is the Athletic Director and Head Girl's Basketball Coach at Louisville's Sacred Heart Academy, her high school alma mater. Much like her daughter some 30 years later, Donna had a choice to make for college and ultimately accepted a full basketball scholarship to UC where she enrolled in 1979. Like today, UC was on an academic quarter system back then, which afforded Donna the opportunity to also join the golf team, prior to the start of the hoops season.

Legacy

Reading This Will Make You

Letter from Libya: Circle of Fire // The New Yorker

Here’s a story they tell in Libya. Three contestants are in a race to run five hundred metres carrying a bag of rats. The first sets off at a good pace, but after a hundred metres the rats have chewed through the bag and spill onto the course. The second contestant gets to a hundred and fifty metres, and the same thing happens. The third contestant shakes the bag so vigorously as he runs that the rats are constantly tumbling and cannot chew on anything, and he takes the prize. That third contestant is Libya’s leader, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, the permanent revolutionary.

Colonel Muammar Qaddafi is 100 per cent pure lunatic. good riddance