No. 5 Football Heads To No. 14/15 Pittsburgh For BIG EAST Showdown

Dec. 2, 2009

Game Notes | Roster | | Live Audio

AT A GLANCE
Date: Dec. 5, 2009
Time: Noon (EST)
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.
Venue: Heinz Field
Capacity: 65,050
Surface: Grass
Live Stats: GoBEARCATS.com
Series Record: Pittsburgh leads 7-1
In Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh leads 5-0

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• Pittsburgh Alumni Event On Tap
• Quinn A Finalist For Broyles Award
• Pike Named Finalist For Manning Award
• Kelly Named AFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year
• Bearcat Into Finals Of Capital One Mascot Challenge
• Gilyard Named To AFCA All-America Squad
• Forest A Finalist For National Award
• UC-Pitt Watch Party At Dave & Buster's Saturday

ON THE AIR
The game will be televised nationally in HD by ABC. Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Matt Millen (analyst), and Holly Rowe (sideline) will have the call.

The game will air over the Cincinnati Bearcats Radio Network presented by IMG College starting at 11:30 a.m. on 700 WLW AM, XM 102, and Sirius 125. Dan Hoard (play-by-play), Jim Kelly Jr. (analyst), Tom Gelehrter (sideline), and Mo Egger (host/engineer) make up the UC broadcast team.

The radio broadcast can also be heard over the internet at GoBEARCATS.com.

No. 5 Football Heads To No. 14/15 Pittsburgh For BIG EAST Showdown
The University of Cincinnati football team, which has clinched a share of the 2009 BIG EAST Championship, faces Pittsburgh on Dec. 5 at noon in Heinz Field. The game will be televised nationally by ABC with the winner earning the BIG EAST's automatic Bowl Championship Series bid. UC trails 7-1 in the all-time series and has lost five straight in Pittsburgh. The teams will play for the River City Rivalry Trophy, a 46-inch tall, 96 pound replica of a riverboat telegraph - a device for signaling the engine room - and a silhouette of the Ohio River. UC knocked off Pitt 28-21 in Nippert Stadium a year ago. Tony Pike was 26-of-32 for 309 yards and three TDs and Mardy Gilyard had eight catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.

THE SERIES
Saturday marks the ninth meeting between the Bearcats and Panthers, with Pitt holding a 7-1 advantage in the series.

THE COACHES
Brian Kelly, the two-time reigning BIG EAST Coach of the Year, is in his third full season at the helm of the Cincinnati football program with a 33-6 record and a 19-year career mark of 170-57-2. Kelly led the Bearcats to a school-record 11 wins, a BIG EAST Championship, and a Bowl Championship Series game berth in 2008. He won two NCAA Division II National Championships at Grand Valley State and led Central Michigan to the 2006 Mid-American Conference Championship. He is the leader in victories among active BIG EAST coaches and is the only current BIG EAST coach with 150 or more career wins.

DAVE WANNSTEDT is 34-25 in his fifth season at Pittsburgh. He is 3-1 against the Bearcats.

A LOOK AHEAD
UC, bowl eligible for the fourth-straight year and eighth time in 10 years, will learn its postseason destination on Sunday, Dec. 6. With a win over Pittsburgh, UC would win its second-straight BIG EAST Championship and earn the league's automatic bid into the Bowl Championship Series for the second year in-a-row.

STREAKS, STORYLINES, SIDEBARS ...

• Cincinnati remains one of six unbeaten teams in the nation.
• Cincinnati 11-0 start is the best in school history.
• Cincinnati has clinched a share of the 2009 BIG EAST title.
• Cincinnati has won 17-straight regular season games.
• Cincinnati had 3 consecutive double-digit win seasons under head coach Brian Kelly. Prior to Kelly's arrival, Cincinnati had one season with double-digit wins (1951).
• UC's 32 wins over the past three seasons trail only Boise State (34), Florida (34), and Texas (34) among NCAA FBS teams.
• UC sits at No. 5 in the Associated Press poll, USA Today Coaches Poll, and the BCS rankings. UC is 19-7-1 as a ranked team.
• QB Tony Pike made his first start in four games against Illinois, going 32-of-46 for 399 yards and a career-high six touchdowns.
• Pike has thrown eight touchdown passes in the last two weeks.
• WR Mardy Gilyard, a semifinalist for the Walter Camp Award, averages 187.4 all-purpose yards per game.
• Gilyard has 10 touchdown receptions this season and 24 for his career, putting him atop the UC record book.
• UC has turned the ball over seven times in 2009, the fewest turnovers in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.
• UC was the last NCAA FBS team to lose a fumble in 2009.
• LB Andre Revels has a team-high 96 tackles.
• DE Alex Daniels has 5.5 sacks to lead the team.
• UC leads the nation in passing efficiency (171.91) and ranks second in tackles for a loss (8.6), fourth in total offense (472.7), and fourth in kickoff returns (28.0).