The last two weeks have been rough for the Cincinnati Bearcats as they have lost two games in a row. Two losses and they both were at Nippert Stadium, mix in they lost to Miami of Ohio for the first time in 18 years you know the fan base is in a frenzy. Both games were winnable, but the Achilles heal for the team has been third down efficiency and once they get to the red zone.
Cincinnati hasn’t scored a touchdown in their last 15 drives, they held No. 16 Oklahoma to just 20 points and that holds a lot of weight they came into the game averaging 55.7 points. The defense has been solid all season, but the offense has been spotty at times especially when you look at back at the Miami of Ohio and Oklahoma games, but were winnable if the offense is better on third down and in the red zone. In the last two games they are 33.3% on third down, 55.5% in the red zone and only 22.2% in the red zone touchdowns.
Satterfield on red zone woes, “I think we are really close, we talked about that as a whole offense we are moving the ball, we are making plays. It seems like than we get bogged down or have a bad play at the wrong time and the next thing you know you are off the sticks. That’s more difficult for the offense, we have to do a better job at staying on the sticks and just executing. When you down to the tight red everything is condensed you have to when some one on one battles.”
How can they fix it? Scott Satterfield has to do a better job at isolating their tall receivers and tight ends especially in the red zone. The windows get tighter, so with the advantages they have in size they have to take advantage. Against Miami of Ohio Xzavier Henderson was unstoppable, but wasn’t targeted in the red zone. Henderson, is a 6’3″ receiver who leads the team receptions and yards has the ability to relief problems. Dee Wiggins is also another 6’3″ receiver who can be a size mismatch for opposing teams as well. Former quarterback Evan Prater is 6’4″ is another player who could be a dark horse to fix these problems as well, he’s flashed some early in the season. Tight ends Chamon Metayer and Payten Singletary are 6’5″ and 6’4″ respectfully and 248 and 235 pounds (respectfully) they both have all the intangibles to help this offense and all phases of the game.
The offensive line will have to do better to help the running game in the red zone as well, but overall I think this team has the pieces to fix their problems, it will just be on everybody to execute and isolating their taller players in tighter windows. Fixing these problems will fix this season because they have a lot of winnable football games left on schedule.
