TicketsSept. 1, 2005
CINCINNATI - For 59 minutes, yards were pretty easy to come by when hosted on Thursday in the season opener for both teams.
The Bearcats rolled up 469 yards in total offense, 293 on the ground. The Eagles countered with 316 yards, nearly half of that rushing.
In the final 55 seconds, it became a case of not being able to get a yard, first for after a bold decision by head coach Mark Dantonio posed a serious threat to a narrow 28-26 lead his Bearcats owned.
Facing fourth and less-than-a-yard on the UC 48, Dantonio elected to go for the first down instead of punting the ball away. Sophomore running back Butler Benton slammed off left tackle but was pulled down six inches short of what would have been the game-ending first down.
With EMU's All-American kicker Andrew Wellock, runner-up for the Lou Groza Award last year, loosening his leg for a game-winning field goal attempt, Eastern had the ball about 15 yards from Wellock's range. Four plays later, the Bearcat defense found itself in a position of needing to guard about 30 inches of FieldTurf to win the ball back on downs. EMU's Tim Connor tried to gain that distance off right tackle. A swarm of Bearcats stopped him, and 18 seconds later UC celebrated a 28-26 victory.
"I feel that if it's fourth and a yard or less, the percentages are pretty good of getting that yard," Dantonio explained following the win. "If we get the yard, the game is over. I didn't want to put us out there and get a 20-yard punt or something and second-guess myself the other way. That's why you're the head coach. You get paid to make those decisions."
Even the players were not sure just who made the game-saving tackle, such was the team-first attitude. Terrell Byrd, one of seven first-year freshmen to play in the opener, thought it might have been his running mate at tackle, Jon Newton. Video replays show middle linebacker Kevin McCullough forcing the play from inside, probably over top of Newton and Byrd, and outside backer Corey Smith, another true frosh, containing from the outside. Senior end Adam Roberts received credit in the typed play-by-play distributed after the game.
The outcome was what Dantonio had in mind from the time he took over the UC program over a year ago.
"I said from the beginning that this team would be built on toughness," said Dantonio. "At some point in time, you have to be able to get a yard. Maybe it didn't work out for us today, but we came back and stopped them when they needed to get a yard. You can build on those things."
Other highlights of the win were the performances of 's running backs and the debut of redshirt freshman Dustin Grutza as the successor to Gino Guidugli at quarterback. Four Bearcats rushed for 50 or more yards and Grutza clocked in with 49. Bradley Glatthaar led the running game with 75 yards in 14 carries. His 11-yard TD blast up the middle, in which he pushed an EMU defender into the endzone, gave UC a 28-20 lead with remaining.
finished with 64 yards in 13 tries. Greg Moore and Mike Daniels each got 50 yards on seven and 10 carries, respectively.
Grutza looked poised for a rookie making his first college start. He completed 17 of 26 passes for 176 yards and a pair of TDs and scored on a 21-yard scramble.
"I felt that the strength of our team is our running backs," Dantonio stated. "I think you saw that we have four tailbacks who are very capable. You saw that Dustin Grutza is a guy who can make some plays."
UC took the opening kickoff and Grutza marched the Bearcats 60 yards in 10 plays, staking to a lead with a 10-yard pass to Antwuan Giddens.
responded with a 67-yard scoring drive which culminated in a 20-yard field goal by Wellock. An offensive track meet seemed to be on as UC scored on its ensuing possession, Grutza finding with a screen pass in which showed his speed and power in a 38-yard TD play.
Eastern scored on Matt Bohnet's 27-yard pass to Eric Deslauriers, who made an outstanding catch despite the leech-like coverage of UC's Antoine Horton. The Eagles added a touchdown by Conner and a 38-yard field goal by Wellock to take a 20-14 lead just before halftime.
"I thought we played a lot better in the second half," Dantonio noted. "We got off to a good start offensively in the first half, then we sort of faded a little. I told our players at halftime that we've got to establish our leaders. We know we made mistakes. We need to learn from our mistakes. We need to grow as a team."
The Bearcats did a lot of that growing in the second half. The defense turned in a three-and-out on EMU's first possession, and it took the offense just two plays to retake the lead--a 24-yard Grutza-to-Brent Celek pass and Grutza's 21-yard run.
UC limited EMU to 29 yards offense in the third quarter, leading to Glatthaar's score early in the final period. The lone defensive letdown in the second half occurred after Glatthaar's score. The Eagles moved 81 yards in only six plays, Conner scoring on a 33-yard run. UC fought off EMU's game-tying two-point PAT try, then began running out the clock.
Notes - Grutza became the first freshman to start at quarterback in a Cincinnati season opener since at least post-World War II, according to available records, dating back to the post-World War II era.
- A total of 16 Bearcats made their college debut during the game, including seven first-year freshmen (DE Trevor Anderson, TE Connor Barwin, DT Terrill Byrd, DT Thomas Claggett, CB Mike Mickens, LB Corey Smith and FS Cedric Tolbert) and five redshirt freshmen (Grutza, Huber, OT Khalil El-Amin, LB Ryan Manalac and WR Carlos Simpson). Byrd, Mickens, Smith and Grutza started.
- Cincinnati improved to 70-38-10 in season openers and 50-37-3 in home openers.
- Glatthaar (14 att, 75 yards) and Moore (7, 50) set career highs for rushing attempts and yards.
- Adam Roberts set career highs for tackles for loss (3) and sacks (2).
- Kevin McCullough's 8 total tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss were career bests.
- Just as the ball-carrying was widely distributed among six backs, there was balance in the passing game. Grutza employed eight different receivers, three wideouts, a tight end and four running backs.
- Kevin Huber, a second-year freshman, made his debut as UC's punter. Huber punted four times for a 29.2-yard average and had another punt blocked. Dantonio explained that the decision to go with Huber was based on the performance of the three punters--senior Chet Ervin and junior Brian Steel were in the battle--during preseason.
- Mike Daniels had two kickoff returns for 53 yards. He had a 43-yard gain on his second return, but a holding penalty nullified it to a 16-yard return.