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UC shocks West Virginia in OT

oldschooler

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oldschooler

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The title to this article should be UC shocked that it took
OT to win against West Virginia. UC led 20-7 with 1:19 remaining . . . IN THE GAME !
It should have never went to OT.

Still, a very big win for UC . . . :weeew:





[quote][size=5][b]UC shocks West Virginia in OT[/b][/size]
By Bill Koch • bkoch@enquirer.com • November 8, 2008

MORGANTOWN, W.V. – Playing in a BCS bowl game is no longer just a distant possibility for the University of Cincinnati football team.


After their thrilling 26-23 overtime upset of No. 20 West Virginia on Saturday before 59,834 fans at Milan Puskar Stadium, the Bearcats (7-2 overall, 3-1 in the Big East) have pulled into a three-way tie for first place in the Big East Conference with the Mountaineers (6-3, 3-1) and Pitt, which improved its league record to 3-1 earlier in the day with a win over Louisville.

“Everybody is on cloud nine in there,” said wide receiver Mardy Gilyard, standing just outside the UC locker room. “It feels like we won the Big East championship. It feels like a championship in there.”

They haven’t won anything yet, of course, but they took a major step in that direction.

• Photos: UC 26, West Virginia 23
• Stats and scoring summary


UC, which is now bowl eligible, can win the Big East title and the BCS bowl berth that goes with it if it can win its final three league games at Louisville next Friday followed by home games vs. Pitt and Syracuse.

The victory over West Virginia was only the Bearcats’ second in 17 tries against West Virginia and its first in four attempts since UC joined the Big East in 2005.

But it did not come easily, with West Virginia coming back from an 11-point deficit in the final 1:11 to send the game into overtime on Pat McAfee’s 52-yard field goal as time expired in regulation.

“West Virginia is a great program,” said UC coach Brian Kelly, “to take the bell from them you’ve got to keep playing.”

The UC defense, which played well most of the night, did its job, holding the Mountaineers to a 27-yard McAfee field goal on their first possession of overtime.

UC, aided by a roughing-the-passer penalty on WVU’s Sidney Glover, clinched the victory on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Tony Pike to tight end Kazeem Alli, with Pike rolling out to find a wide open Alli in the end zone.

“It’s a play that we rely on in the red zone,” Pike said. “We’ve got the option of a run off of it and I think that’s what West Virginia was banking on. To come out and see Kazeem wide open, that’s probably the hardest throw I’ve had to make in my career. To see him come down with that, that’s the happiest I’ve been in a long time.”

It was one of two catches for Alli in the game.

“It felt like the ball was in the air for 30 minutes,” Alli said. “I just had to wait and make sure I had the ball securely.”

The Bearcats got off to a great start when Mardy Gilyard ran back the game’s opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, the second time this year he has a returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

“I think that definitely took the jitters off our football team,” Kelly said. “That really helped us in terms of hey, we’ve got some speed, too. We can play. I think that helped us a lot.”

The UC defense limited West Virginia to just 98 rushing yards and came up with a huge goal-line stand late in the game that appeared to seal the win.

West Virginia had a first-and-goal at the UC 2-yard line after a pass interference call on Mike Mickens. After quarterback Pat White was stopped twice on running plays, cornerback DeAngelo Smith made a diving interception of a White pass on fourth down with 3:22 to go.

On UC’s next possession, punter Kevin Huber intentionally took a safety with 1:11 remaining to make it 20-9, but it still appeared the Bearcats were firmly in control.

“Fans were leaving,” Kelly said. “I would have been leaving. But they just kept battling and they’ve got Pat White. And if you’ve got Pat White on your team, it don’t matter. You’ve got a chance to win a football game.”

Behind White, West Virginia drove down the field and scored on a 3-yard touchdown pass from White to Dorrell Jalloh with 18 seconds left. White ran in for the 2-point conversion to pull the Mountaineers to within three points.

West Virginia then executed an on-side kick, which was recovered by Mortty Ivy at the Mountaineer 44-yard line with 17 seconds remaining.

A White pass to Jalloh moved the Mountaineers to the UC 35, and McAfee kicked a 52-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.[/quote]



[url="http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081108/SPT0101/311080040/1064"]http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2008110.../311080040/1064[/url]
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[quote name='Jason' post='722634' date='Nov 9 2008, 05:02 PM']Kelley, next time just punt the fucking football rather than giving them the safety! You have one of the best punters in the nation, just let him kick. I'm glad UC won, but it NEVER should have gone to OT.[/quote]

the safety was a smart play call. the prevent defense wasnt.
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[quote name='Jason' post='722634' date='Nov 9 2008, 05:02 PM']Kelley, next time just punt the fucking football rather than giving them the safety! You have one of the best punters in the nation, just let him kick. I'm glad UC won, but it NEVER should have gone to OT.[/quote]

I was watching your guys' punter in warm-ups before the UConn game and was amazed at how high/far he was kicking them. 65-75 yards in the air no problem.
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Go Tory Go!

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Kelly is much more likely to become Tennessee's new coach. I personally hope they snatch Mark Dantonio from Michigan State just like he was snatched from UC. And I'm sure that, as with all coaching vacancies, Bobby Petrino is burning up the phone lines offering himself as a candidate for the job.
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[quote][size=5][b]Bearcats pull through in OT[/b][/size]
[size=3][b]UC kept playing, and has a lot to play for[/b][/size]
Paul Daugherty

Last Updated: 5:51 am | Sunday, November 9, 2008


MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The last two minutes were a lifetime; the overtime was a blink of a glazed eye. The best you can do, after you've done everything, is persevere. Keep playing.

Take a 20-7 lead into the final two minutes, and blow it? Have your punter take an intentional safety with 1:11 to go, then wish you hadn't? Watch as the 20th-best team in the country, playing at home, scores a touchdown, makes a two-point conversion, converts the onside kick with 17 seconds to go, then boots a 52-yard field goal to send things into overtime?

Thirteen points in two crazy minutes?

Keep playing. Pull your helmet back over your shell-shocked head, lose the omigod numbness and, as the coaches say, make a play.

On second down from the West Virginia 2-yard line, trailing by three points in overtime, UC quarterback Tony Pike faked a run left to tailback Jacob Ramsey, bootlegged right and threw a touchdown pass to tight end Kazeem Alli, who was wide open in the end zone. And that was that.

UC beat the Mountaineers 26-23 in overtime Saturday. It was a big win, but so was last week's over South Florida. On Friday is Louisville, the following Saturday is Pitt. Only the fortune-tellers know how those games will compare to this one. All we know now is this:

The Big East is down, but Cincinnati is up. One man's despair is another man's opportunity. The Bearcats are driving the bus now. They might not be among the most BCS bowl-worthy teams the nation has seen, but they're atop their BCS-worthy league. It's all they can do.

Win at Louisville. Win at home against Pitt. Take care of business against Syracuse. Introduce yourselves to New Year's Day. It's really that obvious.

It's hard to explain what happened to UC Saturday night. The Bearcats had more first downs in overtime (two) than in the third and fourth quarters (one). They had as many touchdowns on special teams as on offense. Mardy Gilyard took the opening kick at the goal line didn't stop running until he scored. UC reached the end zone just once more in the next 59 minutes.

Meanwhile, for 58 minutes, the Bearcats' defense kept bottled genie quarterback Pat White, whose legs and left arm have cut ribbons through other defenses for four years. Then White drove the Mountaineers 62 yards in 47 seconds, to make it 20-17 with 19 seconds to go in regulation. After the successful onside kick, White took them 35 yards more, setting up the 52-yard field goal that tied the score.

At that point, if you are a Bearcat, you have to stop questioning what you just saw and start concentrating on what remains to be done. That takes maturity and experience. You wonder if the Bearcats had enough of either, especially on the road.

But then senior defensive tackle Terrill Byrd chased White out of the pocket on third down in overtime and caught him from behind. The sack limited the Mountaineers to a field goal. That set the stage for Pike-to-Alli, and a UC triumph as rich as any in memory.

You have to lose games like this before you can win them. That's the theory. The Bearcats have lost their share. To go to a place like West Virginia and win a game you almost have to win, there needs to be some reservoir of trust and confidence, and you need to be able to summon it on command.

Though UC didn't play great offense. In the first half, the Bearcats so dominated things. They took a 20-7 lead while kicking themselves for the points they didn't score.

On their second possession, they executed a flea-flicker so exactly, wideout Dominick Goodman was 20 yards in the clear, waving for the ball at the WVU 40. Goodman could have walked into the end zone, on four toes. As it was, Pike's pass to Alli was incomplete, , and UC punted.

Other could-have-beens: A first down at the West Virginia 5 yielded a field goal. A first down at the WVU 13 resulted in a missed 29-yard attempt.

But the defense filled the gap. White ran well, but not wild. The Mountaineers didn't do much until they had to. Even then, it wasn't enough.

Big win for Cincinnati. The sort that winners own.

E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com[/quote]



[url="http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081109/COL03/811090371/1007/SPT02"]http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2008110...0371/1007/SPT02[/url]
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I was under the impression that winning the Big East doesn't guarantee a BCS bowl spot. If any non-BCS school is in the top 16 and ranked above a BCS conference champion, they are guarenteed a spot. Right now, Utah and Boise St are way up there, and probably won't be caught in the BCS standings even if UC wins out against Louisville, Pitt (only team ranked above UC), Syracuse, and Hawaii. I think the best the Bearcats can do this year is the Gator Bowl.
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[quote name='Go Tory Go!' post='722741' date='Nov 10 2008, 01:29 PM']I was under the impression that winning the Big East doesn't guarantee a BCS bowl spot. If any non-BCS school is in the top 16 and ranked above a BCS conference champion, they are guarenteed a spot. Right now, Utah and Boise St are way up there, and probably won't be caught in the BCS standings even if UC wins out against Louisville, Pitt (only team ranked above UC), Syracuse, and Hawaii. I think the best the Bearcats can do this year is the Gator Bowl.[/quote]

The 6 major conference champions all get a BCS bid. There are 10 BCS Bowl bids. One to each of the 6 champions and 4 at large.
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[quote name='Go Tory Go!' post='722741' date='Nov 10 2008, 12:29 PM']I was under the impression that winning the Big East doesn't guarantee a BCS bowl spot. If any non-BCS school is in the top 16 and ranked above a BCS conference champion, [b]they are guarenteed a spot.[/b] Right now, Utah and Boise St are way up there, and probably won't be caught in the BCS standings even if UC wins out against Louisville, Pitt (only team ranked above UC), Syracuse, and Hawaii. I think the best the Bearcats can do this year is the Gator Bowl.[/quote]


they are guaranteed one of the AT LARGE bids. The 6 BCS conferences get their tie-in's, no matter what.
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[quote name='Jason' post='722751' date='Nov 10 2008, 01:13 PM']The 6 major conference champions all get a BCS bid. There are 10 BCS Bowl bids. One to each of the 6 champions and 4 at large.[/quote]


[quote name='Bengals1181' post='722754' date='Nov 10 2008, 01:34 PM']they are guaranteed one of the AT LARGE bids. The 6 BCS conferences get their tie-in's, no matter what.[/quote]

Oh, well fancy that! I hope they get one of the automatic bids, because otherwise they might drop all the way down to the Car Care Bowl, since the bowl committees clearly don't expect UC's fans to travel well. This is how they ended up in PapaJohns Bowl last year, despite being ranked above several of the Big East teams picked before them. In the UC Athletics email, Kelly said they now give a $50 bowl credit to all season ticket holders, and they're going to use this to influence the committees if necessary.
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Up 7-0 in the 1st quarter, and go for it on 4th and 1 at your own 29 yard line?

That was one of the stupidest calls I have ever seen in my life.

Kelly let Louisville in a game they had no business being in, at that point.

Glad to see they pulled it out. But still it was a lot closer than it had to be,
over that one stupid call.

Now it should go without saying, but BEAT PITT !!!
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[quote name='oldschooler' post='723833' date='Nov 16 2008, 10:14 AM']Up 7-0 in the 1st quarter, and go for it on 4th and 1 at your own 29 yard line?

That was one of the stupidest calls I have ever seen in my life.

Kelly let Louisville in a game they had no business being in, at that point.

Glad to see they pulled it out. But still it was a lot closer than it had to be,
over that one stupid call.

Now it should go without saying, but BEAT PITT !!![/quote]


yea, then he punted on a 4th and 1 at like the louisville 35yd line late in the game that could have iced it. He was outcoaching himself at times.
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[quote name='oldschooler' post='723833' date='Nov 16 2008, 10:14 AM']Up 7-0 in the 1st quarter, and go for it on 4th and 1 at your own 29 yard line?

That was one of the stupidest calls I have ever seen in my life.

Kelly let Louisville in a game they had no business being in, at that point.

Glad to see they pulled it out. But still it was a lot closer than it had to be,
over that one stupid call.

Now it should go without saying, but BEAT PITT !!![/quote]

meh. kelly is an aggressive coach. he plays aggressive. its not the first time he has done it. it wont be the last. if they get it then they call him smart and say he has balls. if they get that 4th down then they really start dominating UL and the momentum. they should have made it. i would have punted because i would play it safe but i dont mind him being aggressive. he also understands he wil get blasted if they dont get it.


[quote name='Bengals1181' post='723857' date='Nov 16 2008, 12:42 PM']yea, then he punted on a 4th and 1 at like the louisville 35yd line late in the game that could have iced it. He was outcoaching himself at times.[/quote]

that was a smart time to punt the ball.
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