While the rest of the college football world is looking forward, we’re still taking a bit of a peak in the rear view, but not too far. Just 20 years or so. If you’ve been following along, you know what I’m talking about. We are deep into the Favorite Cincinnati Bearcat Football Player Since 1997 Tournament. Yesterday the second round results in the Brian Kelly region were revealed and now we are onto the Mark Dantonio region. Here’s who made it through.
Takeaways
Kevin Huber is coming for the throne! The UC punter has taken down wide receivers in each of his first two matchups, although it was a bit more difficult to defeat Dominick Goodman than it was Kenbrell Thompkins. Huber was UC’s second ever consensus All-American. He once averaged 59.7 yards per punt in a game and if there’s one thing I’ve learned from covering football the last seven years or so is that people love punts. Maybe if Marquise Copeland did more punting than playing strong defense, he would have gotten past JK Schaffer, who is 10th in program history in all-time tackles.
The other two matchups in this region were pretty lopsided. Chris Moore’s superior yardage and touchdown totals won out against fellow wideout Max Morrison and Derek Wolfe’s 19.5 sacks beat out Terrill Byrd’s 16.5. That’s math at work.
Round Three Matchups
Derek Wolfe vs. JK Schaffer
Teammates sometimes have to face off against each other in a tournament based on fan voting. That’s just part of life. Both Wolfe and Schaffer played for the Bearcats from 2008 to 2011, so they were on some pretty good teams. Wolfe was an impressive force on the pass rush, racking up sacks and earning All-Big East first team honors in 2011. Schaffer was more of a support player at linebacker, ranking ninth in program history in assisted tackles (155).
Kevin Huber vs. Chris Moore
Can Huber’s booming punts beat out another wide receiver? We shall see. If production is all that counts, then Moore might be in for a setback because Huber already beat Goodman, who ranks third in all-time receptions at UC (204). Moore had 119, but he did scorch Eli Apple. People forget that.
You have a week to vote. Annnnnnnnnnnnnd go.