Cincinnati News
BIG EAST FOOTBALL COACHING CHANGES
January 11, 2010 by nbesports · Leave a Comment
Leavitt firing garners national headlines
By Raphielle Johnson
On the surface three coaching changes within a conference wouldn’t be a huge deal. But when taking into consideration that only eight schools play football in the Big East this qualifies as an off-season of significant turnover. The most surprising move came on Friday with South Florida firing head coach Jim Leavitt, the lone coach in the program’s 13-year history. In a college football season that’s seen coaches fired at both Kansas and Texas Tech for their conduct towards players, Leavitt was let go over an incident with walk-on wide receiver Joel Miller at the half of their November 21st game against Louisville.
According to many testimonies Leavitt grabbed Miller by the throat and struck him in the face twice, allegations that the coach denied. Miller’s father went to the papers to change his story after it was originally reported by AOL Fanhouse writer Brett McMurphy on December 14th, saying then that Coach Leavitt had not struck his son. But in the investigation done by the school they came to the conclusion that Leavitt had indeed struck Miller after interviewing student-athletes and those who are not student-athletes. In the letter of termination sent to Leavitt by the school the school said the following in regards to its findings:
It was also reported that in the days following the incident Miller and Leavitt had a conversation in which the coach advised him to choose his words wisely because he (Leavitt) “was the most powerful man in the room”. Leavitt, who led the Bulls to an 8-5 record and a win over Northern Illinois in the International Bowl, leaves USF with an overall record of 95-47 and 17-18 in Big East play. Carl Franks, who was the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator the last six years, was named acting head coach while the school looks for a permanent solution. Franks was head coach at Duke from 1998-2003, where he had a record of 7-45 before being fired.
BIG EAST FOOTBALL 2009 SEASON AWARDS
December 9, 2009 by nbesports · Leave a Comment
Big East Honors Announced with Panthers and Bearcats splitting major awards
By Raphielle Johnson
The Big East Conference announced its 2009 football awards on Wednesday afternoon and there were few surprises with the results. Brian Kelly, who in some circles is rumored to be headed to Notre Dame, was named the Big East Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season. Kelly’s Cincinnati Bearcats finished the regular season 12-0 and will once again represent the league in the Bowl Championship Series, playing Florida in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The Bearcats also saw Mardy Gilyard win the Big East Special Teams Player of the Year, the second consecutive award for the senior and third straight for the UC program (Kevin Huber in 2007).
As for the offensive and defensive honors those went to Pittsburgh, with freshman Dion Lewis winning both Offensive Player and Rookie of the Year. Lewis led the Big East in rushing and ranked in the top five nationally in rushing yards per game. Defensively Greg Romeus and Mick Williams shared the Big East Defensive Player of the Year award and as a team Pitt had ten players named to the league’s First Team All-Big East squad. Lastly the conference made late Connecticut cornerback Jasper Howard the honorary captain. Howard was tragically lost in the early morning hours of October 18th after playing one of the best games of his career in a win over Louisville.
“As a family, we wanted to respectfully remember Jasper Howard and honor his memory,” said Big East commissioner John Marinatto in the conference’s release. “In naming him the Honorary Captain of the 2009 All-BIG EAST Team, we have memorialized his name in BIG EAST Conference history.”
2009 Big East Football Awards
BIG EAST MONDAY MORNING QB: FINAL WEEK
December 8, 2009 by nbesports · Leave a Comment
by MICHAEL PINA
Some 940 miles away from the heart of Bearcat country, a 46-yard field goal by Texas’s Hunter Lawrence ended the possibility of a Cincinnati national championship berth. An incredible effort by Mardy Gilyard and the rest of Cincinnati’s undefeated team in a comeback win over Pittsburgh had hopes extremely high heading into Saturday night, but with Texas’s unimpressive 13-12 victory over Nebraska, the Longhorns, and not the Bearcats will be headed to Pasadena.
Regardless the Big East will be well represented in six bowl games, including the Sugar Bowl which is where Cincinnati will face defending national champion Florida.
The other bowl games are the St. Petersburg Bowl (Rutgers vs. UCF), Meineke Car Care Bowl (Pittsburgh vs. North Carolina), the Gator Bowl (West Virginia vs. Florida State), the International Bowl (South Florida vs. Northern Illinois), and the Papajohns.com Bowl (Connecticut vs. South Carolina).
Saturday saw three Big East match ups and thankfully all of them were closely contested, including the Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh instant classic which is where we’ll start.
‘BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP’ GAME AN EPIC BATTLE
December 6, 2009 by nbesports · Leave a Comment
by RAY MERNAGH
2001 was the year Heinz Field opened, rising from the ashes along the banks of the Ohio River. It was such an occurrence that lame-brains in some PR capacity convinced the city’s leaders to try and change the name of the area from the North Side to the North Shore. Forever leaving first-time visitors to wonder: Where’s the beach? Note to new residents/visitors: don’t ask for directions to the North Shore because you’re libel to be laughed at — I’ve seen it happen here in Greenfield — or find yourself in the parking lot of the Monroeville Mall.
Since that time there has been some monumental games played inside the generic-looking edifice that houses both the pride of Pittsburgh sports, the Stillers, and its coattails-riding nephew — Pitt football. The North Side has seen three AFC Championship games in those eight years, meaning at least three different times preliminary applications for second or third mortgages spiked in the city as the mighty Steeler Nation got busy, ready to travel to the Super Bowl should our hero’s prevail (it’s all about priorities Junior and Missy, besides, that’s what student loans are for).
A LOOK AT THE FINAL WEEKEND OF BIG EAST FOOTBALL
December 2, 2009 by nbesports · Leave a Comment
Bearcats and Panthers square off for Big East title in River City Showdown
By Raphielle Johnson
While there are three conference games on the schedule for the final Saturday of the regular season there’s only one that matters nationally. #5 Cincinnati (11-0, 6-0) takes its high-powered offense on the road to take on a Pittsburgh team (9-2, 5-1) coming off of a loss to bitter rival West Virginia. The winner (Noon on ABC) lands the Big East’s BCS bid, with the Bearcats winning the conference outright with a victory while the Panthers would share the trophy but not the most important spoils.
The question for the Bearcats: can they stop the run? It’s been an issue in victories over Fresno State, Connecticut and Illinois and they’re going to have their hands full with the freshman tandem of Dion Lewis and Ray Graham. Not only is Lewis a virtual lock to win the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award but a case could be made for him being Offensive Player of the Year. He leads the Big East in rushing and his emergence has taken some of the pressure off of QB Bill Stull, who’s had a banner 2009 despite his struggles last week.
The problem with first-year defensive coordinator Bob Diaco has been opponents’ ability to run between the tackles against the three-man front. Add to this a Pittsburgh offensive line that many consider to be the best in the conference and this could end up being a costly issue for the Bearcats. But if Cincinnati can take a page out of West Virginia’s book and force Stull into rushed decisions they could end up with the upper hand via turnover margin even if Lewis and Graham combine for a big afternoon.
BIG EAST MONDAY MORNING QB: LOOKING BACK AT WEEK #13
November 30, 2009 by nbesports · Leave a Comment
by MICHAEL PINA
Thanksgiving is officially behind us and Bowl Season is rapidly approaching. The Big East still has a national title contender that seems to dominate its opponents no matter who’s at quarterback and thanks to Notre Dame’s loss at Stanford on Saturday, the Gator Bowl will officially include a Big East team.
The Big East now has six bowl eligible teams (sorry Syracuse and Louisville) and has shaped itself into an extremely underrated, competitive football conference. Given that a few schools were forced to start young, unproven quarterbacks like Tom Savage, B.J. Daniels and Zach Collaros, the conference faired surprisingly well and should only progress over the next few years.
More heralded seasons by youngsters like Dion Lewis only reinforce the notion that the Big East isn’t standing pat, but rising up quicker than ever before.
BIG EAST WEEKEND PREVIEW: WEEK #13
November 25, 2009 by nbesports · Leave a Comment
Annual “Backyard Brawl” between Pitt & WVU takes center stage
By Raphielle Johnson
One of the fiercest rivalries in the game will be played on Friday night (7PM on ESPN2) in Morgantown and it would be a conservative statement to say that these two schools don’t like each other. The Panthers (9-1, 5-0) return to Morgantown for the first time since their upset of the Mountaineers in 2007, a result that knocked West Virginia (7-3, 3-2) out of a possible national title berth and could be seen as a program-changing result for both.
West Virginia did go on to win the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl with a dominant performance over Oklahoma, but that result changed the atmosphere surrounding Dave Wannstedt’s program. The Panthers won nine games last season and have followed that up with one of their best seasons as a Big East football member. Bill Stull, inconsistent throughout his career in the Steel City, has played the best football of his career due to improved decision-making and the presence of offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr.
The Pittsburgh native calling the plays has done a masterful job of using the run (backs Dion Lewis and Ray Graham) and the pass (Jonathan Baldwin, Dorin Dickerson and Nate Byham) all season long and if not for a defensive letdown in the second half at NC State the Panthers are undefeated. The match of wits between Cignetti Jr. and West Virginia defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel will likely determine the outcome in Morgantown. As for the West Virginia offense, their explosive playmaking ability has sometimes been short-circuited by their propensity to turn the ball over.
PREVIEWING WEEK #12 IN BIG EAST FOOTBALL
November 18, 2009 by nbesports · Leave a Comment
Zach Frazer returns to South Bend as UConn meets Notre Dame
By Raphielle Johnson
At one point in time Zach Frazer was ranked among the best scholastic quarterbacks in the nation, even ranking ahead of eventual Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford in his graduating class. He was expected to go to Notre Dame (2:30 PM on NBC) and compete for the starting job but found himself on the outside looking in following spring football as a freshman and he transferred to Connecticut. The junior has now regained the starting job due to Cody Endres’ shoulder injury suffered against Rutgers and he looked good at Cincinnati two weeks ago.
This Saturday marks his return to South Bend and he’ll be leading UConn (4-5, 1-4) into a possible firestorm that has absolutely nothing to do with them. The question surrounding Notre Dame (6-4) involves the future of head coach Charlie Weis, who at this point in his tenure has the same winning percentage as Ty Willingham and Bob Davie…and they were fired. Athletic director Jack Swarbrick has announced that the state of the program will be evaluated at season’s end but it doesn’t take much to figure out that Coach Weis will need at the least a split of their final two games.
As for what may happen on the field, hopefully the Huskies have taken care of their tackling and pass defense issues with the extra time afforded to them. Connecticut will have their hands full with QB Jimmy Clausen and receivers Golden Tate and Michael Floyd, and tight end Kyle Rudolph is listed as questionable with a shoulder injury. The Huskies must limit the number of big plays through the air it they’re to win.
A LOOK AHEAD TO WEEK #11 IN BIG EAST FOOTBALL
November 12, 2009 by nbesports · Leave a Comment
Last gasp for the Mountaineers in Big East race?
By Raphielle Johnson
West Virginia (7-2, 3-1) may be just one game behind Big East co-leaders Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, but their game on Friday night against the Bearcats is likely their final chance at being a player in the conference title race. By no means were the Mountaineers impressive in their 17-9 win over Louisville last weekend, even losing Noel Devine to a sprained ankle. But he’ll be ready to go in the Queen City where they hope to move the ball on a defense that struggled last weekend.
Cincinnati (9-0, 5-0) remained undefeated with a 47-45 win over Connecticut thanks to 711 yards of offense, but the defense definitely left something to be desired. They were unable to force any turnovers and had a hard time dealing with the Huskies’ power run game. The Bearcats have been best challenged by teams (Fresno State and Connecticut) who can line up and pound the ball, taking advantage of the Bearcats’ 3-4 scheme. Going against spread looks has helped Bob Diaco’s defense lead the nation in tackles for loss to this point in the season, but this may be the most versatile version that they’ll see.
HIGH POWERED CINCINNATI OUTLASTS UCONN
November 9, 2009 by nbesports · Leave a Comment
Cincinnati offensive firepower too much for Huskies to overcome in the end
By Raphielle Johnson
At halftime of Saturday night’s game between the Connecticut Huskies and Cincinnati Bearcats it looked as if the emotional toll of the past three weeks had brought Randy Edsall’s team to its’ collective breaking point. Down 30-10 with no answers for one of the country’s most powerful offenses, many would have understood if the Huskies simply folded the tent with an eye cast toward a well-deserved bye week.
And if you thought that was actually going to happen, you were mistaken.
