Slow your roll Jiffer. If Nebraska gets by CU and the B12 title game, don't you think we deserve the shot? :!: :!:
The Dream Season is done. I picked Cincy in all the contests I was in, the Scarlet Knights had the all-time emotional high last week, and Cincy is a decent team, an emotional let down was inevitable. I'm guessing they'll lose to WVA as well.
Joel , The season is not over, just too soon to expect a legitimate run for the NC. Everyone was hoping for a magical year, but a few realities came to surface. I knew this was going to be a tough game. Cincy has a pretty good run defense, and are well coached. I could be wrong but Cincy played the toughest schedule in the country, giving OSU a tough game for a few quarters, giving Virginia Tech a tough game, Louisville going down the wire and got blown out by WVU a team that due to it's style can blow out a lot of teams. This was no ordinary 6-5 team, certainly a lot tougher than their record indicated. Even still, Rutgers should have beaten them. Rutgers fans had their fingers crossed all year hoping that it wouldn’t have to come back from behind on the shoulders of QB Teel and the young wide receivers. They kept hoping that they would get better but it finally caught up to them as Teel threw 4 INTS including a back breaking 84 yard INT TD. What made the difference was not that they stacked their D, everyone did that, but using a backup QB Davila who was making his 1st Div1A start as a senior in maybe his last game. He outquicked the RU D by short arming the ball turning 5 yard passes into 83 yard TD’s, staying out of trouble and producing enough offense to keep Rutgers in a deep hole. It was a style that RU was not prepared for and one which exploited inherent weaknesses of their defense. I think if Grutza had started , the outcome would have been different because Cincy was one of the nation’s leaders in sacks allowed. The Davila kid was too quick, too decisive and had great command of the game. This Cal Juco is farther advanced as a QB, than Penn State’s Morelli who is still learning in his 3rd year. Davila who is one of those good California JUCO’s, played like a champ and produced enough offense to keep Rutgers on their heels. As a junior last year, he was neck and neck with a freshman QB Grutza and lost the battle because of his class rank. Davila sat on the bench for 2 years rarely getting any playing time until they called his number to take center stage for an injured and ailing Grutza. After the game was over, they interviewed a tearful Davila who pulled off the greatest victory in Cincinnati’s 119 year history in his 1st and maybe only time he starts. It’s one of those great stories in college football that you don’t read about in the boxscores, an unlikely hero. In the meantime, Schiano will have to go back to the workshop and continue chopping away, in fulfilling his quest to make Rutgers a national power. Even the hardiest Rutgers fan never expected the team to have this kind of year. Like Wake Forest, it is still one of the great stories in college football.
Terry, There was no emotional letdown. Cincinatti beat them fair and square and deserves all the credit. QB Davila made the difference and rarely was pressured due to his quickness in getting rid of the ball. Some of his passes looked like quick shot puts. If Grutza was QB'ing he would have been under more pressure and the RU D would have shut down their offense , stayed in the game and not have to depend as much on their own QB to win. It would have been a much tougher game.
AJNJ, See my Notre Dame @ USC post. I've seen Nick Davila play more than 20 times. He's from my old high school and he was an All-American at my old junior college alma mater as well. Why he hasn't been playing at Cincinnati was a major mystery to the folks around here. We think the Bearcat coaches just blew it. Davila is a quiet kid from a quiet family and he was always underestimated. Nobody wanted him out of high school and very few wanted him out of JC, despite his impressive stats and winning ways. He's just not flashy. I wonder if anyone there has asked him if he plays baseball? The last time that I saw him do that was four years ago. He tossed a two-hitter against Chino and hit two HRs... ............JO'Co