TicketsSept. 13, 2005
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Game Facts
Cincinnati vs. Western Carolina
Date: Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Nippert Stadium (35,000, FieldTurf)
Cincinnati, Ohio
TV: None live. Highlights on the Mark Dantonio Show, Sunday 11:30 p.m. on WXIX-TV 19
Radio: WSAI-AM 1360 (Dan Hoard, Jim Kelly and Scott Springer). Also available on-line via UCBearcats.com
Records: Cincinnati 1-1; Western Carolina 2-0
Series: First meeting
Tickets: $22 Adult Reserved, $17 Section C; $11 Youth (12 and under).
Tickets for all UC home games are on sale at the Athletic Ticket Office (9 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily) and are available on-line via www.UCBearcats.com, or by phone: 513-556-CATS.
Storylines
Improvement will be the No. 1 objective when the University of Cincinnati hosts Western Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 17 in Game 3 of the 2005 college football season. Kickoff is 7 p.m. EDT at Nippert Stadium
UC, sporting the nation's third-youngest Division I-A football team, has seen its freshmen-sophomore dominated squad make progress through its 1-1 start, which featured a hard-fought 28-26 win over Eastern Michigan and a 42-24 setback at Penn State. The Bearcats will use the next two contests--Saturday's home game vs. Western Carolina and the Sept. 28 visit to area rival Miami (Ohio), to continue to prepare those young players for the school's first season in the BIG EAST Conference.
Cincinnati, which rushed for 293 yards in its season opener vs. Eastern Michigan, had its ground game limited to just 31 yards by Penn State's veteran defense in last Saturday's loss. The Bearcats passed for 329 yards and a pair of scores, 286 of those by redshirt freshman Dustin Grutza, who completed 27 of 47 passes (57 percent).
UC's defense gave up 393 yards to the Nittany Lions, but 145 of that came on three long passes. Sophomore safety Haruki Nakamura recorded a career-high 12 tackles while making an interception and a fumble recovery, with first-year freshman cornerback Mike Mickens gathering eight tackles.
Western Carolina is off to a 2-0 start. The Catamounts, with a dozen returning starters divided evenly between offense and defense, defeated Furman, the No. 2-ranked team in Division I-AA, 41-21, last Saturday.
Saturday's game is the Skyline Chili Classic. Coupons which will allow the purchase of two adult tickets for the price of one (limit four tickets per coupon) are available at all participating Skyline Chili locations. Additionally, the game has been designated as part of the NCAA's Take a Kid to the Game promotion, with youth age 12 and under receiving a free ticket when accompanied by an adult purchasing a regular priced ticket. Tickets for both promotions must be purchased in advance at the UC Athletic Ticket Office, located at One Edwards Center, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday's game will also be Band Night at Nippert Stadium with 13 area high school bands joining the Bearcat Marching Band.
UC vs. Western Carolina/SoCon
Saturday's contest will be the first ever for the two schools. In fact, Cincinnati has played only one current school from the Southern Conference, the nation's third-oldest Division I athletic conference. In 1974, the Bearcats defeated Chattanooga, 35-20.
Coaching Ties
UC offensive coordinator Don Treadwell and Western Carolina head coach Kent Briggs served together on the North Carolina State staff in 1999, Treadwell as running backs coach and Briggs as co-defensive coordinator.
On This Date
Cincinnati is 2-2-2 in games played on Sept. 17. In 1994, Jon Bacon kicked a UC-record long 58-yard field goal to give Cincinnati a 17-14 lead over rival Miami (Ohio) with 1:19 to play. Miami managed to get off 11 plays in the next 79 seconds to move 60 yards and set up a 37-yard game-tying field goal by Chad Seitz.
1994 at Miami (Ohio) T, 17-17
1988 Austin Peay W, 52-7
1983 Oklahoma State L, 27-17
1977 at Louisville T, 17-17
1960 Hardin-Simmons W, 15-14
1949 Nevada L, 41-21
1955 Bearcats Recognized
The University of Cincinnati will observe the 50th anniversary of its 1955 football season, with over a dozen members of that team expected to return for the reunion. The returning members will be recognized at halftime.
Honorary Captain
The honorary captain for Saturday's game vs. Western Carolina will be Jonathan Ruffin, the Bearcat who won the Lou Groza Award in 2000. Ruffin, a native of Metairie, La., will be present representing those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Head coach Mark Dantonio began recognizing former Bearcat players and coaches by naming them honorary game captains last season. The honorary captains participate with the elected captains in the pregame coin toss. Donnie Goodman, who scored one of two touchdowns in UC's 1983 upset of Penn State, served as the honorary captain for last week's Penn State game.
Captains
Three seniors and a junior will take on the leadership role as team captains. The four, who were elected by their teammates, are offensive tackle Steve Eastlake (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson), defensive end Adam Roberts (Brooklyn, N.Y./Milford (Conn.) Academy), wide receiver Derick Ross (Marion, Ohio/Harding), all seniors, and junior tight end Brent Celek (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle).
Grutza Earns BIG EAST Honors
Dustin Grutza's successful debut as a college quarterback was capped by his earning BIG EAST Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors on Sept. 6. Grutza passed for two touchdowns and ran for a third in the Bearcats' 28-26 victory over Eastern Michigan in the season opener. The redshirt freshman from Maysville, Ky., completed 17 of 26 passes for 176 yards and ran for 49 yards, including a 21-yard TD.
Young Bearcats See First Action
Five more Bearcats saw their first college playing experience in last Saturday's game at Penn State. First-year freshmen Dominick Goodman and Marshwan Gilyard, redshirt frosh DeAngelo Smith and junior college transfers Nick Davila and Leo Morgan, got on the field for the first time. Over the first two games, a total of 19 Bearcats have seen their first college game action. Nine are first-year freshmen and six others are redshirt freshmen. Four of those frosh were in the starting lineup: true freshmen Terrill Byrd (Cincinnati, OH/Colerain) at defensive tackle, Corey Smith (Salem, NJ/Salem) at outside linebacker, Mike Mickens (Huber Heights, OH/Wayne) at cornerback and redshirt freshman Dustin Grutza (Maysville, KY/Mason County) at quarterback.
Eastlake Builds on Streak
Steve Eastlake, one of the few veterans on the Bearcat offense, will try to extend a personal streak in Saturday's contest. The 6-6, 305-pound senior will be making his 27th consecutive start at left tackle, a position at which he has been a fixture since 2003.
Notes from the Penn State Game
Haruki Nakamura recorded career highs of eight solo tackles, four assisted tackles and 12 total tackles. The sophomore, making his second start at free safety, also garnered his first career tackle for loss. Nakamura also came up with a pair of turnovers. He intercepted a pass in the first quarter and stopped a Penn State drive with a fumble recovery in the third quarter.
Kevin Lovell's second quarter field goal, his first of the season, extended his streak of consecutive successful field goal tries to four. Lovell has made 12 of 16 field goal attempts in his UC career.
Junior college transfer Nick Davila made his UC debut. He completed his first three pass attempts, hitting Connor Barwin for 38 yards, Earnest Jackson for five yards and a TD, and connected with Jackson for a two-point PAT.
Brent Celek achieved career highs with seven receptions for 73 yards. With first-year freshman Connor Barwin adding two receptions for 72 yards, the tight ends had nine catches for 145 yards, almost half of UC's receiving yardage.
Dominick Goodman gained 31 yards on a late-game kickoff return, the first time the true freshman touched the football.
Cat Attack Diversified
The Cincinnati passing attack has used eight different receivers in each of the team's first two games. In last Saturday's game at Penn State, the 29 completions were divided among three wide receivers, three running backs and two tight ends.
How Young Are Those Cats
Cincinnati is one of the nation's youngest teams, in terms of returning starters and in terms of projected senior starters. UC has starters returning at eight positions--tackle Steve Eastlake, tight end Brent Celek and fullback Doug Jones on offense; end Adam Roberts, cornerback Antoine Horton and Dominic Ross and JaJuan Hall, who shared the strong safety position on defense; along with punter Chet Ervin and kicker Kevin Lovell. Only two schools have fewer returning starters, Navy with six and Marshall with seven.
UC projected five senior starters on offense and defense, entering the 2005 season, second fewest to Rice which has three projected senior starters.
What a Difference a Year Makes
When the Bearcats opened the 2004 season, they boasted 26 seniors, 17 of whom were projected starters and seven more who were listed as backups. The total starting experience of the 2004 Bearcats was 256 games, 127 on offense and 129 on defense. The 2005 team enters the season with 85 games, 57 on offense and 28 on defense.
Cincinnati Begins BIG EAST Play
Cincinnati, which finished first or second in Conference USA in four of the past five seasons, begins play in the BIG EAST Conference this season. The Bearcats' first BIG EAST game will be on Oct. 8 when they visit Pittsburgh. UC's first BIG EAST home contest will be on Oct. 15 when Connecticut visits for Homecoming.
Dantonio Second-Winningest Rookie Head Coach
Cincinnati's Mark Dantonio had the second-best record of any of the new 13 Division I-A head coaches in 2004, and the best among first-time head coaches. Dantonio directed UC to a 7-5 record, including a win over Marshall in the Fort Worth Bowl. Only Mike Price, who led UTEP to an 8-4 season, had a better record.
Dantonio had the fifth-best season of any head football coach in his first season at Cincinnati.
A New Trophy Game
The University of Cincinnati will add another trophy rivalry game to its football schedule. The Bearcats will begin battling the University of Pittsburgh in the River City Rivalry for a soon-to-be created trophy. UC already plays Miami University for the Victory Bell and the University of Louisville for the Keg of Nails. UC and Pitt, both located along the Ohio River, will begin playing each other on an annual basis with the Bearcats' entry into the BIG EAST Conference, beginning this season. The teams will clash for the first time as BIG EAST rivals on Saturday, Oct. 8 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
New Championship Trophy
The University of Cincinnati will be eligible for the coveted Lambert Meadowlands Trophy, which recognizes the best Division I-A team in the East, due to the Bearcats affiliation with the BIG EAST Conference. To be eligible for the Lambert, a school must either be located in the East or play half of its schedule against teams eligible for the Lambert Trophy. UC, along with new BIG EAST members Louisville and South Florida have been deemed eligible for the award since they will play at least half of their games against Lambert-eligible teams via their new conference alignment. The ECAC will conduct weekly polls and issue a final poll in early January to determine the trophy winner. The team will be presented with their awards at the Eastern College Football Awards Banquet on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at the Pegasus Restaurant at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
Nippert Renovations
Fans have observed several changes in Nippert Stadium, all leading to enhanced decorum for Bearcat home football games.
A new 19-foot by 53-foot video board, with over twice the display area of the previous board, has been installed in the revamped scoreboard structure, which also contains a team statistics panel and 8-foot by 83-foot message center. Elements of the old video board will be installed in the Baseball Stadium and Gettler Track/Soccer Stadium, benefiting those playing venues.
New permanent seating has been constructed in the North end zone. The new seating structure also contains a full locker room for the visiting team, a first aid room and a halftime room for the Bearcats.
The FieldTurf playing surface has been replaced, with all markings and logos inlaid in the new artificial surface.
Entry and access to the stadium has been improved, with all barriers removed from the West, Northwest and South sides. The stadium now opens to Bearcat Plaza, outside of the Tangeman University Center, on the West side, adding to the atmosphere. Access via the East side is limited by the construction of the Richard E. Lindner Athletic Center.
Looking Ahead
The Bearcats visit area rival Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday, Sept. 28 for the 110th edition of the nation's fifth-most played college football rivalry. The 7 p.m. contest will be televised nationally by ESPN2.