So last week did not go as planned if you were a Bearcats fan, but the game did have some positives and it was a winnable game which is reason to be cautiously optimistic for this week.
Let’s start with the positives from last week, UC held a Memphis team avg 40+ a game to 34 and that was including an opening kickoff score, the Tigers offense only had three touchdowns which is an amazing job from the defense. Starting a freshman on the road in the biggest game of the season is also not ideal, but after the first few series Ben Bryant really settled in and the arm talent was clearly there (he finished 20-of-32 for 229 and a touchdown passing and running). Yes, he did have two interceptions that could be cleaned up for sure this week, provided he is the starter, but at the end of the day he had UC in a position to win the football game and that is job number one!
The ground game was also huge with Warren going over 100 yards on the day and helped take some of the pressure off of Bryant.
Now let’s go ahead and jump into what became the most debated play of the day, faced with a 4th and 1 deep in Memphis territory down by 3, Fickell opted to go for it instead of trying to tie the game with a field goal, it ultimately did not work and a Memphis touchdown meant the Bearcats had to make up 10 points at the end of the game instead of driving for the tie.
Let me be the first to say I completely understand and support the decision, we can argue about the play call itself, I would have liked to see a short pass play called just for the amount of options and worst case then Bryant takes off up the middle for a yard, but the decision itself I was okay with and am still okay with. To put it simply, if you want to be a championship caliber team then you just have to be able to trust yourself and your team enough to go out and pick up 1 yard when the time comes for it, and in that spot, in that situation with the way the defense had been playing you absolutely play to win the game. The problem was with execution not decision making.
