“It’s a hard team to practice and prepare for in a short period of time. And this is even a shorter week that we play on a Friday night. But we’ll be ready to go. They’re defense is pretty much intact from last year and they have good defensive backs, a lot of speed, they take most of their players from the area around Tampa and south Florida and so we can expect to play one of the quicker teams that we’ll play all year long.” – Tommy Tuberville
One year ago, the Bearcats rolled into Tampa, Florida to face the USF Bulls as 11-point favorites. At that time, the Bulls were 0-5, and eventually ended the season 2-10. The game was supposed to be any easy conference win, and a chance to gain experience before moving into the “meat” of conference play.
Instead, the Bearcats entered a trap game, and returned to Cincinnati with a 20-26 defeat, in large part due to not only a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown, but also a fumble returned for a touchdown. Indeed, 14 USF points resulted directly from two turnovers in a matter of unfortunate seconds.
This year the Bulls have to make the trip to Paul Brown Stadium to face UC. The Bulls are 1-4 in their last five meetings in Cincinnati. Those games were of course at the almighty Nippert Stadium. With an overall record of 3-3, and 1-1 in the AAC, the Bearcats cannot afford to look past USF this year. Given the outcome of the game one year ago, I expect Tuberville and his staff to have the team fired up Friday night!
UC’s athletic director Mike Bohn expects a crowd of 30,000+ in attendance this week. If you are not attending in-person, be sure to tune into ESPN2 at 7 p.m. EDT Friday night to watch the Bearcats seek sweet revenge on the Bulls.
By Technical Writer: Andy Smith