TicketsUC Turnovers Turn Army Losing Streak
Miscues, blown scoring opportunities hurt Bearcats.
Contact: Tom Hathaway
10/9/2004
Gino Guidugli photo by Mark Bealer |
WEST POINT, N.Y. ? Tielo Robinson scored five touchdowns to enable Army to end its nation-leading 19-game losing streak at the expense of the University of Cincinnati with a shocking 48-29 victory.
UC rallied from a 19-point deficit in the first half to close the gap by three points at intermission, and was in position to capture the lead midway through the third period.
Five turnovers and failure to take advantage of scoring opportunities led to the demise of the Bearcats, who fell to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in Conference USA play.
Less-than-Cincinnati-like defensive play allowed the Black Knights to pile up 554 yards of total offense, a season-high for a UC opponent, and the most since Syracuse gained 601 on Oct. 10, 1998.
Turnovers, and Army?s ability to cash in on them, were the Bearcats? major undoing.
In the third quarter, after Army had extended its lead to 35-29, the UC offense responded by moving the ball almost at will and it appeared that the Bearcats would take command of the game. Gino Guidugli fumbled on the Army 23 to end the threat.
Though the Black Knights failed to turn that take-away into points, they were able to pin UC on its 8-yard line when they gave up the ball. On Cincinnati?s first play, Richard Hall fumbled a Guidugli hand-off into the end zone and Army?s Jonathan Lewis recovered for a TD to make it 41-29.
UC came right back down the field when Hannibal Thomas caught a Guidugli pass over the middle and raced to the Army 11. He had the ball knocked from his possession and Army recovered to thwart another scoring threat.
Early in the fourth quarter, Guidugli marched the Bearcats to the Army 9 before turning the ball over on downs. On third down, Zac Dahman found Robinson in the flat with a screen pass. Ninety-seven yards and four missed tackles later, Robinson crossed the goal line to give Army an insurmountable 48-29 lead, and start the celebrations of the Homecoming crowd at the academy.
Bearcats Rebound from Slow Start
Army entered the game with a 15-game home losing skid, and it appeared that Cincinnati would add to that slide as well as the 19-game slide. Daven Holly?s interception set the stage for a UC scoring drive that culminated with Guidugli?s five-yard strike to Brent Celek.
The Black Knights scored the next 26 points. Robinson scored on a pair of short plunges, the second of which following an interception, and was on the receiving end of a 2-yard TD pass set up by UC fumble.
Carlton Jones, who was the game?s leading rusher with 180 yards in 20 carries, including two runs of over 50 yards, put Army ahead, 26-7, on a 4-yard run midway through the second period.
It appeared that Guidugli, whose reputation for leading comeback victories was born when he made his college debut as a freshman at Army in 2001, might add to that reputation with another rally. The senior, who topped the 10,000-yard marks in both career passing yards and career yards total offense during the game, drove the Bearcats to score on their next two possessions, capped by touchdown tosses of 24 yards to Thomas and 7 yards to Doug Jones.
Army retaliated with another Robinson TD, but Guidugli led UC to a score just before half, throwing three yards to Celek and passing to George Murray for the 2-point conversion.
Guidugli finished with 350 yards passing, three short of his career high, completing 25 of 39 attempts. His four TD strikes tied a school record which he had previously reached vs. East Carolina in 2002.
Cincinnati?s offensive statistics were impressive. UC rolled up 536 yards of total offense, the team?s second-best total of the season. Richard Hall, whose service was limited vs. UAB last week due to injury, gained 94 yards on 19 carries to help lead the ground attack to 186 yards.
Thomas topped the century mark in receiving yardage with 138 yards on seven catches.
Notes:
? Gino Guidugli upped his career passing yardage to 10,200 and his total offense yardage total to 10,244. The senior moved into second place on the Conference USA total offense list, trailing Louisville?s Chris Redman who set the record of 12,129. Guidugli also ranks second in C-USA to Redman in passing yards and pass attempts.
? Daven Holly?s interception was the eighth of his career, moving him into a tie for ninth place on the UC career list.
? Doug Monaghan, who had five solo tackles, moved into the seventh place on the UC career list with 187. With 304 career total tackles, he is within one stop of reaching the top 10 list.
? Brent Celek established career highs with his six receptions, 49 receiving yards and two TDs.
? Chet Ervin returned from an ankle injury that sidelined him for last week?s UAB game to reclaim the punting duties. He punted twice for a 43.5-yard average.