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Rutgers Week
Collaros will help Bearcats prepare // cincinnati.com
At the same time, he says, this will afford him the opportunity to get a head start on the coaching career he wants to pursue after he graduates. "It will help me get the ball rolling with the whole coaching deal," Collaros said, "just helping Munchie and being in meetings with the coaches and seeing stuff that they see. I think it'll help me out down the road if I get the opportunity to coach at this level."
Anyone thinking of applying for a graduate assistant position at UC should start looking elsewhere. Collaros has that locked down.
Why Week 12 matters to Cincinnati // Big East Blog // ESPN
But Collaros never busted a 65-yard run the way Legaux did against the Mountaineers, shedding tacklers as he ran up the middle of the West Virginia defense. Collaros has not had a run longer than 17 yards this season. Legaux is not nearly the same passer as Collaros, so the Bearcats will look to emphasize what their new quarterback can do well. But do not expect wholesale changes.
For UC to win Saturday afternoon Munchie Legaux must be a factor in the running game
Which Big East DTs could be NFL DEs? // Big East Blog // ESPN
Wolfe is listed as a sleeper who is gaining steam among NFL scouts. Muench says, "At 6-5 and 300 pounds, he can set the edge and hold his ground against most offensive tackles. He could develop into a valuable role player for a 3-4 team that can play him on the outside on running downs and kick him inside on pass-heavy downs."
Derek Wolfe is playing his way up into the early rounds.
Rutgers making special plays again // Big East Blog // ESPN
Jones estimates the special-teams units are made of 75 percent starters. One of the big points of emphasis for Rutgers' special teams is speed. So there are some younger players who get an opportunity because they can be difference makers. Rutgers works on punt and field goal blocks during practice every day, so it gets to the point where Rutgers does not just hope for a big play to happen. Players go into the game expecting a big play on special teams to happen.
Bearcats Nation vs. ESPN Big East Blog Week 11 // Bearcats Nation
Rutgers' Jeremy Deering helps Scarlet Knights' ground game pick up steam // NJ.com
Not only did Jawan Jamison rip off a 56-yard touchdown — his 30-yarder against Ohio in Game 3 had been the longest run by a Scarlet Knights running back this season — Jeremy Deering added 64 yards on 14 carries. By most standards, the 118 rushing yards on 26 carries wasn’t much. For a team ranked 118th nationally in rushing (out of 120) it will more than do.
Rutgers facing Cincinnati defense that ranks second in nation against run // NJ.com
Last week, Cincinnati recorded a season-high 18 tackles for losses in a 24-21 loss to West Virginia last week. The Mountaineers were held to 32 yards rushing on 32 attempts.
That should read 13 tackles for loss, but point taken
Rutgers struggling to stop the run as Cincinnati's Isaiah Pead comes to town // NJ.com
Rutgers’ defense has gone from a unit that allowed an average of 94.2 rushing yards per game the first five games to one giving up an average of 201.6 yards over the past five — with two of the Big East’s best running backs (Cincinnati’s Isaiah Pead and UConn’s Lyle McCombs) still to play. In all five league games game so far, the Scarlet Knights have allowed a 100-yard rusher.
Rutgers-Cincinnati preview // On the Banks
Cincy is far improved, relatively, but still are a sieve in the defensive backfield. They get a lot of sacks and tackles for loss, and rank superbly against the run, but give a QB time to throw and all bets are off. This is where Dodd could be a liability. A lot of his passes are blocked at the line of scrimmage, and he does not execute play action as well or distribute the ball as evenly as Gary Nova does. That, unfortunately, will hurt the offense's ability to keep Cincinnati honest, and not try to tee off on Dodd early and often. Rutgers needs to give Cincy a taste of its own medicine from the past few years, and slant their zone coverage to death to keep their rushers backpedaling and on their toes.
Basketball News
Cincinnati 73 Jacksonville State 59 // Bearcats Blog
The 3 point shooting was fantastic until the last couple of shots. Guys took them in the rhythm of the offense. Most of them were open. Most of them came off a pass. In the second half, probably because Paul Dehner jinxed them on twitter by saying they were 1 make away from setting a UC record, Dixon and Cash airballed a couple. Overall, that kind of effort from deep is going to win a lot of games.
Cincinnati wins in spite of second half-hearted effort // cincinnati.com
"We’ve got to do better," Wright said. "We’ve got to fine tune the offense and play smarter. That just can’t happen no more…We can’t keep playing like this and expect to continue winning. We’ve got to realize we’re in the Big East and you can’t play like that and expect to win."
Cronin pushing for more from veteran trio // Paul Dehner
No, this wasn't reward. This was punishment. "This is real simple guys, we get up 27 and guys shut it down," Cronin said. "Let's go home. I decided not to let some guys go home and get some conditioning."
Other Bearcat News
Bearcats To Play Red & Black World Series This Weekend // gobearcats.com
In conclusion of the fall practice season, the University of Cincinnati baseball team will plays its annual Red & Black World Series Friday through Sunday at Marge Schott Stadium. Friday’s game is set to begin at 5 p.m., followed by a noon first pitch on Saturday and ending with a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday.
The University of Cincinnati women’s basketball team improved to 2-0 when it defeated Dayton (1-2), 75-64, on Wednesday evening in Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats were lead by senior Bjonee Reaves (San Bernardino, Calif./Cajon/Neosho County (Kan.)) who set a new career-high with 25 points and paced four double-digit scorers for the Bearcats.
The Lady Bearcats are a much improved team from last year. They have a chance for a postseason birth. Just maybe not the NCAA.
Hot Bearcats Face Challenging BIG EAST Volleyball Tourney Draw // gobearcats.com
UC enters the championship event as the league's hottest team, having ripped off nine consecutive wins following back-to-back setbacks to Louisville and Seton Hall in mid-October. Despite the stellar play as of late, the Bearcats' road to their first-ever BIG EAST Tournament title will be a stiff one. For starters, UC must knock off a strong Villanova team for the second time in less than a week. A win will reward the Bearcats with either a meeting with tournament hosts Marquette on its home floor or a shot at revenge against Seton Hall. For now, Sunahara and his team won't look past a Villanova squad coached by former UC assistant Josh Steinbach.
Bearcats Dip Into Rich International Talent Pool - University of Cincinnati Official Athletics Site
According to Monty Hopkins, UC has been recruiting international students from all over since before he became coach, so he knows no different. While it may seem unusual to some, Hopkins said it is very common and simply happens through word of mouth. "Before I got here we had signed three international guys just through word of mouth," he said. "That led to more international students coming here from other countries. We don't go over there, we don't have a network or anything like that, we just hope people that are here have a good experience and pass it on to the next."
Around The Big East
Pitt Basketball: Could Steven Adams Bypass Pitt On Way To NBA? // Cardiac Hill
Apparently, this is because he's an international player that's old enough to be eligible (Insider Article). As we've gone over before, Adams is definitely high on the radar for the NBA despite being a full year away from coming to Pitt. How's this shape out? I don't know, to be honest. One thing we do know is that it's incredibly rare for a player with no college experience to make the jump - especially with the new rules about a player having to be removed from high school for a year. And as Ford says, the market could be a bit crowded for power forwards in 2012.
Oh the perils of recruiting internationally
Abraham "Nacho" Garcia commits to Louisville // Card Chronicle
Louisville is apparently striking against UC's all name team leadership. I suspect that the Bearcats will retaliate by snaring Taco Charlton in next years class
National News
Bob Davie has a new job, and it’s a long way from South Bend, Ind. - Dr. Saturday - NCAAF Blog - Yahoo! Sports
No team has been worse over the last 4 years than New Mexico. Just terrible
"At this point, it's not like two sides of the cafeteria — this side is buying in, this side is not," place kicker Nick Ferrara said. "People are keeping it to themselves. No one knows who is going to go [transfer], who is going to stay, who is feeling which way."
How to win friends and influence people by Randy Edsall
Reading This Will Make You Smarter
Neuroscience is beginning to challenge some people’s notions about criminal behavior and what we should do about it. Determinism—the belief that all current and future events, actions, decisions, and behavior are caused by preceding events combined with the laws of nature—disputes long-standing beliefs about what it means to be responsible for one’s actions; some scholars assert the extreme view that humans are never responsible for any of their actions. These ideas challenge the very foundational rules regulating how we live together in social groups. Should people be held accountable for their behavior? If they aren’t, it seems that it would change behavior for the worse, just as studies show that merely reading about determinism results in increased cheating on tests. Is accountability what keeps us civilized? Neuroscience has more and more to say about these questions and is already slowly oozing into the courtroom—prematurely, to the view of most neuroscientists.
I always find topics like this to be utterly fascinating. I am not a fully determinist, but I think its a valid construct