The School

Delaware State is a public co-educational University located in Dover, Delaware. It has a student population of around 4,200 students all told. Delaware State is also one of the 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the USA. Delaware State is also, almost certainly, the only Histroically Black University to be located across the street from a NASCAR track which is, interesting.

The Program

The Hornets have been playing Football since 1924 and have an all time record of 341-382-11. The Hornets haven't exactly been a bastion of consistency over the years. The last decade in particular has been pretty brutal. 49 wins and 63 losses. That stretch did see the Hornets first ever 10 win season in 2007. That was also the first time in 18 years that the Hornets claimed the MEAC crown and it was their first, and only, playoff birth. That was the last time that the Hornets were ranked, at the FCS level. However, since 2007 it has been a bad couple of seasons. Since 2008 the Hornets have gone just 16-30, and they have been outscored by 9 points per game on average. That brings us to this season.

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Observe

Its always good to have a Kila on the squad.

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Release. Apparently this is the reward you get for destroying Tino Sunseri. Walt Stewart had a career game against Pitt on Thursday. Walt ripped off a very easy 9 tackle, 3.5 TFL and 2 sack game. Stewart has had better games in individual areas, 13 tackles against Syracuse in 2010, 2.5 sacks against both Oregon State and West Virginia last year.

But prior to last night he had never really put it together for a complete game. He did Thursday and it really was spectacular to watch. The best part. I don't see many offensive tackles on the up coming schedules who will be able to give him a run for his money. Justin Pugh from Syracuse, maybe R.J. Dill. It's a short list.

In other news Munchie Legaux was named to the weekly honor roll after his 200-100 day against the Panthers. Not bad at all for Munchie, not bad at all.

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The debut of Munchie Legaux as the quarterback for the 2012 Cincinnati Bearcats went well. That is, of course, an understatement. He threw up a very casual 200-100 Thursday night. Granted, it was against Pitt a team who is just tipping into a death spiral of a season. Still, the ease with which he ripped off a game like that a positive.

That being said, there is still work to be done in the passing game. Munchie finished the game completing 50 percent of his passes, but with the aforementioned 200 yards passing. The completion percentage, and his mechanics, could be better, but what I find to be more relevant going forward is his decision making, which was generally flawless. That is a big change from Zach Collaros, who was mechanically sound but made interesting/bad decisions, far more often.

Zach made a lot of plays, but in doing so he took a ton of risks that sometimes worked, and sometimes backfired. The sample size is small, still just five games, but Munchie does not seem as inclined to take the same risks that Collaros did. Watching the game yesterday afternoon it was clear that while Munchie made quite a few mistakes throwing the football, but he did not make bad decisions as to where he should throw the Football. To my eye the only mistakes he made came when he took the only sack of the game. Pitt manned up and blitzed 6 against UC's five wides. Munchie tried to side step the rush to buy time but got buried by Shane Gordon instead. The other was a decision to give the ball on a zone read to George Winn that resulted in a five yard loss.

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Boxscore here.

It started with the defense last night, how can it not here as well. I assumed that the defense would be improved once again this year, and it is, even though the numbers don't exactly show it. In terms of total yardage UC allowed 415 yards of total offense which sounds bad. That ties UC for 78th in total defense nationally. Not great, but it misses the point. The only stat that really matters is scoring defense. Its the whole point of defense, and UC excelled on that front last night, only three points allowed against the starting defense.

Last year the Bearcats went to an attacking defensive style after the debacle that was the Tennessee game. The bet was simple, we can get to your quarterback before your quarterback can get to us. It worked against anyone not named Geno Smith. With Tim Banks off to Illinois there were some questions about how the defense would change with someone else calling the plays. It didn't. If anything John Jancek walked the Bearcats even further down the scale of attacking basically all the time. UC was on it from the start racking up 10 TFL and 6 sacks. And watching the game you couldn't even tell that UC had just had two multi year starters at DT get drafted in the first 100 picks of the NFL draft.

Tino Sunseri did play well when he could stand up. He completed 24 of 37 passes for 278 yards, that's an average of 7.5 yards per attempt which is a little high for my tastes. Ideally that number would be under 7 or right around 7 at the worst. But that is how it will be with this defense all year. High risk high reward, and I am fine with that because this could wind up being a very good redzone team with Walter Stewart's ability to get presure off the edge.

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Can Munchie play well enough for this team to win the Big East? Who will replaces Isaiah Pead as head play maker? Can this team reload up front? How will this exceptionally young team react in their first game?* These are all questions that were bandied about as legitimate points of discussion for the Bearcats this season. None of them are emphatically answered by any means, but tonight went along way to answer some of them, and the answers are for the most part positive.

* The answers so far are yes, RDA4, yes on both sides of the ball, so far so good.

Make no mistake about it, Pitt is a bad Football team that is in for a long, brutal season. But the Bearcats handled their business exactly the way I wanted them too. The Bearcats attacked from the onset on defense and really controlled the point of attack. The Bearcats weren't perfect, there were consistency issues with the receivers, Munchie still has a ton of work to do on his footwork and perhaps most glaringly of all the defense really struggled to maintain gap control against the run. In short this is the perfect way to open a season. This game, this performance in front of that crowd will give the players a ton of confidence moving forward. But there were plenty of mistakes made that the coaches can hammer home on, and they will knowing this staff. Everyone wins. Except Pitt, Pitt really lost.

By the time you read this it will be a little less than four hours away from gametime and the official point where we leave the doldrums behind for the windy sky's of the season. I am excited but I am apprehensive as well. I always am before the first game of the season. There are a ton of unknowns on this team. Not just at the quarterback position but across the board. UC had two phenomenal heart and soul leaders last year in Zach Collaros and J.K. Schaffer, this year they are being replaced and I have no idea how those voids get filled. I think Munchie Legaux has the talent to thrive if an offense is built to accentuate his strengths, his height in the pocket, big arm and general athletic ability. But I have no clue what that offense will look like. I could go on listing question marks for the next three hours, more than likely so could you, but that serves little purpose. Instead I have three areas of the game that will wind up determining the outcome of the game.

Control The Pace

Butch Jones said this the day he was hired.

Wide open spread offense, fast paced, great ball security. Our goal will be to lead the country in ball security and scoring points and doing whatever necessary to secure a win. We have been fortunate to be able to do that in the last three years in our offense.

Through two years he has gone two for three on his big ideas. The one miss has been pace, and its something that has really bothered me for the last couple of years. For one quickening the pace makes everything easier for the offense. If a defense barely has time to line up they can't disguise coverages at all. At this level having your coverage laid bare is bad bad news.

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Lets not stand on ceremony here.

Pitt will get a boost from the reinstatement of six players suspended
in the season opening loss to Youngstown State

Redshirt junior DL Tyrone Ezell, redshirt senior DL Shayne Hale, sophomore WR Ronald Jones and freshman RB Rushel Shell are in Cincinnati with the team and will be eligible to play against the Bearcats tomorrow. Redshirt sophomore DB Anthony Gonzalez and freshman WR Chris Davis have had their suspensions lifted, but were not on the travel roster for this week.

Bearcats Nation runs down
five keys to tonight's game, all of which will be important. Yet the most important factor of the game to me is omitted. Tonight is the third season in Clifton for Butch Jones and Mike Bajakian but we have yet to see them run the offense the way they want to. UC simply hasn't had the depth up front or at receiver to really put the hammer down and push the pace of the game. That is not the case this year. UC legitimately goes two deep at all three receiver spots, and that hasn't been the case before. If I am Bajakian or Jones I make it a stated goal to run more than 80 plays tonight. Pitts defense is neither good nor loaded with depth. The Bearcats have to capitalize on that.

Bill Koch with the Paddle Wheel Trophy origin story in short, thanks Bob Goin...the bare facts for tonights game...three keys for the Panthers, all of them defensive hmmm....get ready for roughly 25 mentions tonight that Greg Blair is DeJuan Blair's brother and Cam Saddler is his uncle...Speaking of DeJuan he will be wearing proper colors for the first time in his life tonight...Tino Sunseri played well against Youngstown State but the Bearcats are a big step up from the Penguins...Pitt Blather has a run down of relevant topics for Pitt fans...as does Cardiac Hill ....Its gameday people get live.

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Quarterback | Letters 1966-68

Through the course of this exercise I have spewed somewhere in the neighborhood of 25,000 words running down the greatest Bearcats of all time. You might have agreed with some of my picks, disagreed with others, but to my mind there is absolutely no doubt who tops the list. Its the Blonde Arrow himself, Greg Cook.

During the run of this blog I have spilled a lot of ink on Cook, seriously alot, because I am fascinated by Cook. His story, his style of play, how he came to dominate at Cincinnati before moving onto the Bengals for his one magical year before a torn rotator cuff robbed him of what made him great. The story of Cook is a Greek tragedy, and that is why it resonates so fully with me.

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Head Coach | 1949-54

If you were to make a list ranking the coaches who brought the most innovation and change to the game of Football it would really be a lengthy one. If you restrict the parameters to those coaches who brought the most change and innovation to the passing game it becomes a two man list. Sid Gillman and Bill Walsh. Everything you see on a Sunday, or indeed a Saturday can, for the most part, trace its roots to one of those two men.

Gillman played Football for Ohio State in the 30's before moving into the coaching ranks after a single season spent playing professional Football for the Cleveland Rams. He started his coaching career back at his Alma Mater before moving on to the head job at Miami. The legend is that he left Miami for UC taking a slew of players, such as Gene Rossi with him. In reality there was a one year stop over at West Point to work for Earl "Red" Blaik.

When he came to Clifton he was still very much a product of his time. He won by running, as coaches had done for the previous 50 years. But as his time in Clifton went along he began to implement more and more of his passing game eventually laying the foundations for the moderns game with his concepts of stretching the zone defenses of the day horizontally as well as vertically. These are simple concepts now, concepts that are the backbone of any offensive scheme. But they were so far ahead of their time that the Bearcats ran riot. In his 6 years as the Bearcats head coach Gillman went 50-13-1 and led UC to a pair of bowl games and three MAC championships. He was simply put the greatest coach in UC history. Not just for what he did in Clifton, but for how he changed the game for better and forever.

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The Bearcats Basketball schedule is officially set. Who UC plays has been set for a while, it has just been a question of when and where for most of the games, the Big East games in particular. The entire thing is available in a handy PDF form here courtesy of GoBearcats.com. Here are five quick observations.

--The Bearcats play just two home games over the final three weeks of the season. The final five games go like this; @ UConn, @ Notre Dame, UConn, @ Louisville, USF. If this team under performs this season and needs a final statement win that stretch could cause some issues.

-- For the second straight year the Bearcats open Big East play at Pitt. Last year it was on New Years day, this year its New Years Eve.

--UC has an interesting three game homestand in the middle of Big East play. From Febuary 2nd through the 9th the Bearcats will host Pitt, Villanova and Georgetown. Thats three potentially huge games in 8 games, all at home. Interesting indeed.

-- 15 games will be broadcast nationally on either an ESPN station (2, U etc.) and a solitary game against Notre Dame on CBS

--Really excited that the Bearcats first game in the Global Sports Invatational is against Iowa State and The Mayor, Fred Hoiberg.

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Wide Receiver | Letters 2005, 2007-09

Mardy Gilyard is my favorite Bearcat of all time. Above Kenyon. Above Oscar. Above Steve Logan. Above them all. I know that among Bearcat fans that is basically equivalent of telling a music fan that you think the Beatles are the best. That doesn't make it any less true or meaningful.

Gilyard was a one of a kind play maker who always played his best on the biggest stages. A then school record 365 all purpose yards against Oklahoma, 255 yards against Virginia Tech, 303 during the 2009 barn burned with UConn, and his legendary 381 yard day against Pitt.

It would be one thing if Mardy was just a great player. But the way he lived his life off the field made the city embrace him. As much as Brian Kelly was the architect of those great 2008 and 2009 teams, Mardy was the face of those groups. From his spur of the moment decision to embrace the kid he hit in the South Florida game. To his impromptu speech to the crowd when the buses rolled back into Cincinnati after that Pittsburgh game. Not to mention the way that he handled Brian Kelly's departure.

While it feels a bit shameful for me to rely on the words of someone else to close out this piece on Mardy, but who better than College Football's resident William Blake, Spencer Hall of EDSBS. After the Sugar Bowl Hall had this to say.

--Mardy Gilyard, you are built of adamantium and sheer balls. Florida spent the better part of the game ignoring whatever Tony Pike was doing and instead running helmet-first at Gilyard's tender parts, and he was still running full speed in the fourth quarter. Lionhearted is a cliche we'll happily use, but only because we assume a young Gilyard ripped one from a live lion at the zoo, jammed it in his own chest, and uses it for backup when he hits the afterburners on pass routes. He died well out there.

agreed.

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This being Tuesday of a game week it was time for Butch Jones's weekly press conference. As ever the video is available to stream from gobearcats.com here. What follows below are my notes on the proceedings

• Butch is obviously jacked about playing Football again.
• Thinks the two keys will be tackling and special teams, two areas of the game where the Bearcats excelled a year ago.
• Lots and lots of coachspeak when asked about Youngstown States upset. Butch Jones is like a many armed hindu god of banal football generalities.
• Really excited about the size and scope of the stage the Bearcats will inhabit Thursday in the first game. Makes a great point on how this game has become a new normal.
• Butch is selling Pitt by talking about the skill position guys. No mention of the offensive line, for obvious reasons
• "Munchie Legaux doesn't need to win the game for us" not exactly a ringing endorsement
• Concerned with Pitt's ability to take, and capitalize on their deep shots off play action.
• Butch doesn't buy into the Division 1, 1-AA bullshit. Good for you Butch, good for you.
• Hated not playing on Saturday.
• Wants to resume the River City Rivalry at some point. This is the last match up on the books with Pitt bailing for the ACC

Panthers vs Bearcats coverage | Cardiac Hill

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It is not very hard to get lost in a maze of youtube clips from Wisconsin running backs from the past. Ron Dayne, P.J. Hill, John Clay, and even more recently Monte Ball. The thing with Wisconsin is that it doesn't really matter who is wearing the jersey that particular year. The team always looks more or less the same. We have been conditioned to expect a certain look, a certain vibe from the Badgers. But what happens if you take the architect of that look and transplant him 600 miles to the east. Does that team take on the look and feel of his previous work? After last weeks humiliating loss at the hands of the Youngstown State the early returns are an emphatic no. On the surface the offense looks the same, they run the same plays and try to play the same way but they are still a ways off.

There are two real problems for Pitt right now 1) Ray Graham isn't really Ray Graham right now. 2) The offensive line is a mess. The Graham injury still looms large. Last year he basically was the offense, the only playmaker on the team. Even with him the offense was average statistically, without him it bordered on inept. He is back but he isn't the same. With a good offensive line his issues could be hidden but Pitt does not have a good offensive line.

They didn't last year finishing last in the nation in sacks allowed with an astonishing 63 and they were also last in the nation in TFL's allowed with 110. By no stretch of the imagination was Pitt even a competent offensive line last year. They brought basically the entire two deep from last season minus Lucas Nix and Jordan Gibbs. But there were questions in august about whether Pitt had enough linemen to fill a two deep, or if they had the depth to survive an injury. After one game it is hard to tell if Pitt is actually better. And that is going to be the issue for Pitt on Thursday.

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Head Coach | 2007-09

I have a feeling that this is not going to be a popular pick with you, my fellow Bearcats. But it is what it is. Yes the way that he left was deplorable. I will never forgive him for doing that. But the fact of the matter is still this. He won 11 games a year, claimed two conference crowns and the only BCS berths in the programs history and generally vaulted Cincinnati Football into the sportsman's collective consciousness for the first time ever. Thats not nothing.

I know that there are UC fans who will never get over what Brian Kelly did and the way that he did it. But it takes a lot of blind hate not to see this man for what he really was. A damn good coach and easily the best thing to happen to Cincinnati Football since Sid Gillman prowled the home side at Nippert.

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Running Back | Letters 2008-11

For years I hate watched the Rich Rodriguez era Mountaineers. Not for Pat White but for Steve Slaton and Noel Devine. Because I wanted a running back like that. A guy who was capible of turning little mistakes by a defense into 70 yard touchdowns in the drop of a hat.

Little did I know that the Bearcats had one in the pipe, though he was supremely under utilized by Brian Kelly. Butch Jones didn't make that mistake and he decided to roll the dice with making Isaiah Pead the offense starting in 2010. But it really payed off last year with a monster season.

But it wasn't just the numbers, though they were impressive, it was that Pead developed the knack for big plays. When a play was need, when points were of the essence, when everyone knew he was getting the ball and still he produced. That's what took Pead from being one of the best running backs in program history to the best running back in UC history.

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Quarterback | Letters 2001-04

The legacy of Gino Guidugli is hard to figure out. Yes he basically owns every record a QB can have be it passing yards or touchdowns or anything else. But he played in a different period. Chronologically there is only three years difference between Brian Kelly and the start of the Golden Age of Cincinnati Football that we are currently experiencing and Guidugli's final season as a starter. But the contrast of between those era's is a stark one.

If Gino did what he did from 2007 to 2010 the perception of him would be flipped on its head. But that can't be done. All that can be done is try to place Gino in his proper place. Yes he didn't win a lot, just 26 games over four seasons with just the one conference championship. But the numbers are too hard to ignore. If 11,453 yards and 78 passing touchdowns don't get you a spot in the top 10 what does?

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Defensive Back | Letters 2005-2008

Water covers 73 per cent of the Earth's surface. Mike Mickens covered the rest of it. Yes its a joke but it is a fitting lead in for the best cover corner in Bearcats history. By a wide margin. Mickens was part of that brutally young defense in 2005 that formed the core of the Bearcats 2008 Orange Bowl run. But he wasn't just part, he was the best player on the team for his last three years on the team.

That is a big statement considering just how talented that 2008 team was but I stand by it. His ability to take away half the field gave UC so much flexibility in their coverage schemes. That 2008 defense was the best in UC history for my money and Mickens is the biggest reason why. But it is hard for words and stats to do justice to Mickens play. He was simply the best defensive player in school history and no one can tell me otherwise.

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Defensive Back / Kick Returner | Letters 1973-75

Defense and special teams. Neither tends to make headlines or generate thousand word trietsies on the nature of Football, but for decades its how you won games. For the Bearcats of the the mid seventies the truth of that sentiment was universal. Tony Mason was a coach who lived to play a punishing brand of Football, and for quite a while in the 70's the best club in his bag was Tom Marvaso a defensive stalwart and special teams standout from Washington DC.

Marvaso started from the day he became eligible to play as a Sophomore. He was part of a record breaking crew, a defense that was among the best at stopping the run. Marvaso was a good safety but he was a dominating special teams player. He is one of only four Bearcats to return multiple punts for a TD and he racked up 575 punt return yards. Marvaso was named first team All America by the Sporting News after his senior season as a punt returner

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Quarterback | Letters 2007-09

Tony Pike is perhaps the most talented quarterback in the the Bearcats history, probably second only to Greg Cook. It took him a long time to finally harness his immense potential, but when he did boy did he dominate. Nothing about Tony Pike is orthodox. He has prototypical height but is built like Gumby. He has a powerful and accurate arm. He moves with the grace of a baby girrafe and yet he was neigh on untouchable in the pocket.

In many ways he was Brian Kelly's ultimate muse. Just as Ricky Bobby only wanted to go fast Brian Kelly only wanted to go deep. And low and behold here was this gangly gift from the gods sitting on his roster. Make no mistake Don Treadwell and Mark Dantonio saw the talent, but they trusted Grutza. It was only when Brian Kelly had no other choice that the light went off and the scoreboards blew up. The rest is history.

Bonus Tony Pike, you already know

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Defensive Line | Letters 1967-69

This list is now in rarefied air. The top 10 Bearcats of all time. Kicking off the top 10 is yet another defensive linemen, Bob Bell. Bell's impact is difficult to quantify for UC. There is no available game film, defensive statistics from that era that have survived in the public record until now are basically non existent. It would be 10 more years before TFL's and sacks were accurately charted. But there were people who saw Bell who will swear to this day that he is the best defensive linemen in UC's history.

Hailing from Philadelphia standing 6'4" and weighing 250 pounds Bell was a monster in his time. He was bigger and stronger than almost anyone trying to block him. But more than that he was a gifted athlete in the way that great defensive linemen always have to be. He played tackle primarily but he would slide out to end on passing downs to wreak havoc on blocking schemes, and havoc was wrought. I might be taking this on the word of our Bearcats elders, but they haven't steered me wrong before. But it isn't just them, the All America accolades speak for themselves.

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Wide Receiver / Kicker | Letters 1967-69

There are just times where it is not fair in College Football. A transcendent talent or a coaching advantage can make a huge difference. For the Bearcats during O'Brien's time it was one thing. A scheme that was ahead of its time. These days it is nothing for a quarterback to run for 50 yards and throw for 300. In the late 60's no one did it.

UC under Homer Rice was a team that did that routinely Greg Cook was a one of a kind talent. But he was blessed with a pair of great receivers in Tom Rossley and O'Brien that stretched the field. The end result was the first pair of 1,000 yard receivers in Bearcats history as O'Brien hauled in 1,114 yards and Rossley 1,072. Rice had crafted an offense that was easily 30 years ahead of its time.

And that doesn't even account for O'Brien's kicking prowess. Most of his field goal and PAT records stood until Jonathan Ruffin came along and surpassed them at the turn of the millennium. O'Brien's 142 points scored during the 1968 season will never be challenged

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Linebacker | Letters 1975-77

It was a long and winding road that brought Mike Woods to the Bearcats. Woods was a star for Benaditine High School in Cleveland before taking his talents south, way south, all the way to Tampa to play for the University of Tampa. The program had just moved up to division I when he arrived. It didn't last long. The Spartans disbanded their Football program after the 1974 season.

Woods transfered to UC which was closer to his Cleveland home. He became a standout for the Bearcats almost immediately. But he really peaked during the Bearcats 1977 season. That year was a letdown after the high flying Tony Mason era but Woods turned in a dominating All American season in 77. He was so named by the Associated Press and the Sporting News as well. Woods went onto a three year career with the Baltimore Colts. A career that was cut short by a bullet that made him a paraplegic. Woods passed away in June of 2009.

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The first game notes of the 2012 season are out. And with those notes comes the depth chart and it is not without surprises. Munchie Legaux drawing the start is old news at this point. We all knew that was happening but there are some other interesting nuggets in there.

• The offensive line is completely set at this point outside of right guard. Eric Lefeld at LT, Austen Bujnoch at LG, Dan Sprauge at C and Sean Hooey at RT. The start at RG will go to either Sam Longo (my pick) or Parker Ehringer. This offensive line would have been Zach Collaros's nightmare, the shortest of the bunch, Sprauge is 6'3". Also of note, there isn't a single big 300 pounds or over, get ready to run people.
• Demetrius Richardson is the main back up behind Travis Kelce. Blake Annen, the presumed back up at TE, was slowed by injury in camp and doesn't seem likely to make an appearance in the Pitt game.
• The WR spot is freshman heavy with 4 of the top 9 playing their first snaps, except for Shaq Washington who definitely played last year and yet is listed as a freshmen. Weird.
• The lack of out and out size along the defensive front is disconcerting, even though it isn't likely to be a problem against a Pitt team that was dominated at the point of attack by Youngstown State. The biggest man on the two deep up front is John Williams, who makes powerful music.
• Its been a strange year for Solomon Tentman who was the presumed starter at MIKE out of spring but now finds himself supplanted at the position by Greg Blair and has moved positions to WILL. The position move makes sense when you remember that Jeff Luc will play next year and will almost certainly do so at the MIKE.
• Leviticus Payne is listed above Dominique Battle as the primary back up at the field corner spot. Injuries are a bitch.
• No surprises in terms of special teams. Lots of Pat O'Donnell, Tony Miliano and Ralph Abernathy IV

As ever the full depth chart is available after the jump in pictorial form. What sticks out to you in terms of players included and perhaps more interestingly excluded from the two deep?

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Defensive Line | Letters 2008-11

When Terrill Byrd hung up the 95 jersey I was very confident that it would be some time before the Bearcats had another defensive tackle who was as disruptive as he was. The weight was all of 8 months. UC changed schemes to a 3-4 and Wolfe became the man at Nose Tackle as a Sophomore. The NT in a 3-4 is the most thankless position in Football and yet Wolfe shined from the offing. He posted 8 TFL and 5 Sacks. As a nose tackle.

When the Bearcats went back to a 4-3 in 2011 I expected big things. Massive things from that massive man. I was right, I just had to wait a year until Wolfe unleashed one of the greatest individual seasons you will see from a Defensive Tackle 70 stops, 21.5 TFL and 9.5 sacks, 6 hurries and a couple forced fumbles for good measure. He was a man possessed and though the bias of what we just saw is hard to ignore in this pick Wolfe is arguably the best DT in Cincinnati history.

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