TicketsLate Rally Falls Short, 30-27
Guidugli passes for 300 yards and defense shines vs. UAB.
Contact: Tom Hathaway
10/2/2004
Trent Cole recorded 1.5 sacks and four tackles for loss on Saturday. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio ? Cincinnati?s defense put on another good showing and the offense rallied to put the Bearcats in a position to win at the end, but it was too little too late as UC fell to UAB, 30-27.
UC held UAB to 223 yards of total offense, and a season-low 107 yards passing, while gaining 403 yards, 300 through the air.
The Bearcats frustrated Blazer passer Darrell Hackney with pressure. Trent Cole record one and a half sacks and UC?s defenders forced Hackney to throw early 10 times. UC thwarted the UAB run game with 10 tackles for loss.
Perhaps due to some overwork in the early stages of the contest, the UC D failed to halt a fourth-quarter UAB drive. Right after Cincinnati had closed the gap to 23-20 on Kevin Lovell?s 44-yard field goal, the Blazers marched 76 yards in 10 plays, using 4:08 of the clock. Hackney found tight end Cedric Hampton open briefly over the middle for an 8-yard scoring play, which gave UAB a 30-20 lead with 8:48 to play.
After two other stalled drives, the Bearcats moved 83 yards on seven plays. Guidugli, who was 4-of-6 for 77 yards on the drive, hooked up with Hannibal Thomas for the final six yards to make the score 30-27 with 15 seconds to play.
UAB recovered the on-side kick attempt and ran out the clock.
The loss dropped Cincinnati to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in Conference USA play. UAB is 3-1 and 2-0.
?Their long drive in the fourth quarter was the difference,? stated UC head coach Mark Dantonio. ?You?ve got to give them some credit but we just didn?t stop them.
?I thought our offense did a nice job at the end to give us a chance to win,? Dantonio continued. ?It was an emotional game, a tough football game. We?ve got to handle adversity. We?ve got to get ready for the next game. We can?t feel sorry for ourselves.?
First Half Blahs
Neither team showed much offense in the first half. The Bearcats actually owned a 143-122 advantage in total offense but found themselves facing a 17-point deficit when they went to the locker room.
UAB capped a pair of short scoring drives with 38-yard field goals by Nick Hayes in the first quarter. Kevin Lovell put UC on the scoreboard with a 49-yard field goal at the beginning of the second quarter.
Lovell had another field goal attempt from 50 yards blocked. Dan Burks then ignited the UAB offense with a 40-yard run and Hackney hooked up with White for a 20-yard completion and later tossed a 7-yard scoring strike to his favorite receiver.
On the second play of UC?s ensuing possession, Guidugli?s pass went off Earnest Jackson?s hands and was intercepted by Will Evans, who raced down the sideline 30 yards untouched to give UAB a 20-3 lead.
The Bearcats showed renewed life offensively on the first series of the second half. After getting the ball on the UC 43 thanks to the work of the defense, Guidugli launched a seven-play scoring drive with a 7-yard run. He then hooked up with George Murray over the middle for 26 yards, and connected with Doug Jones for a pair of passes, the last for eight yards and a score.
Two series later, Guidugli engineered an 8-play, 41-yard drive, finding Thomas for a 19-yard scoring strike to close the gap to 20-17.
Later in the third quarter, a 38-yard punt return and a UC personal foul on the play gave UAB the ball on the UC 13. The Bearcat defense stiffened and UAB had to settle for a field goal.
Lovell answered with a 44-yard FG at the beginning of the fourth quarter to again pull Cincinnati to within three points. But UAB turned the momentum with its drive.
?We came out in the first half and obviously were a little sluggish. We never got great field position,? noted Dantonio. ?Defensively, we were sort of hanging on. We came in at halftime and regrouped as a football team. We came back out in the second half and got back into the game.
?One thing I?ve got to say about this football team,? the coach emphasized. ?They never quit.?
Notes
? Guidugli finished with an even 300 yards passing, completing 29 of 52 passes, and had three TD tosses. It was the 12th 300-yard passing performance of his career. The 52 attempts tied his career high. He upped his career totals to 9,850 yards passing, 9,980 yards total offense and 60 TD passes.
? George Murray made six receptions for a career-high 94 yards.
? Hannibal Thomas? two TD receptions upped his career total to seven.
? Earnest Jackson finished with seven receptions for 89 yards, both career bests for the first-year freshman.
? Brad Glatthaar, another frosh, was the Bearcats? top rusher with 45 yards on six carries. He had a 29-yard run.
? Trent Cole moved into seventh place in career sacks with 14.5. He finished with four tackles for loss, putting him fourth on the career list with 41.5.
? Brian Steel was the Bearcats? punter for the second week in a row, with Chet Ervin still recovering from the ankle sprain suffered in the Syracuse loss. Steel had a 37.7 ?yard average on seven punts.
? Richard Hall, who entered the game as the nation?s 17th-leading rusher averaging 108 yards per game, managed just 29 yards on six carries. His work was limited by an upper arm bruise, though he is expected to be full go by next week?s Army game.