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By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI - Nine games into a difficult football season at the University of Cincinnati, it's come to this.
"Everybody talks about going to a bowl and all that," said UC coach Tommy Tuberville after the Bearcats were dominated, 20-3, by BYU on Saturday at Nippert Stadium. "I just want to score a touchdown. We are struggling big time."
Before 37,522 fans on Military Appreciation Day, a large portion of them rooting for the Cougars, the Bearcats failed to score a touchdown for the second time this season. They've now gone six quarters without crossing the goal line. During that time, they've been outscored, 27-3. They have not scored a second-half point since they put up 17 in the second half against East Carolina on Oct. 22.
"Six quarters without a touchdown is not gonna win any games," Tuberville said.
The Bearcats (4-5) saw a streak of 30 straight wins against non-conference opponents at Nippert come to an end. They have lost four of their last five games and now have to win two of their last three to become bowl eligible.
UC's defense did what it could, limiting the Cougars (5-4) to a respectable 336 yards, but the Bearcats mustered only 295 yards and converted only four of 13 third down situations compared with 10 of 16 for BYU, which had the ball for 37:57 to 22:03 for UC.
"We played a pretty good football game on defense," Tuberville said. "You can't be out there that long. In the second half we didn't play well on third down. They had way too many third down conversions. We've got no consistency on offense to help our defense."
Defensive tackle Alex Pace refused to accept that as an excuse.
"I would never blame those guys," Pace said. "They're not out there playing defense. It's up to us to just toughen up, man up and make those plays. There's no reason the quarterback should run 13 yards on third and long."
UC played the second half without running back Mike Boone, who suffered a leg injury after gaining 22 yards on two carries. Tuberville said Boone would undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.
"Mike got beat up pretty good," Tuberville said. "It doesn't look good for him."
Senior quarterback Gunner Kiel completed 19 of 32 passes for 199 yards with one interception. Running back Tion Green carried 16 times for 86 yards. BYU's Jamaal Williams, the fourth-leading rusher in the country with an average of 134.6 yards per game, gained 96 yards on 25 carries. Quarterback Taysom Hill was 15-for-15 for 130 yards.
The Bearcats got off to a good start when they accepted the opening kickoff and drove to the BYU 6-yard line. On fourth and one, Josh Pasley kicked a 23-yard field goal to give UC a 3-0 lead. It was the first time all season the Bearcats had scored on their opening drive.
Kiel threw his first interception of the season later in the first quarter when BYU's Austin McChesney picked off a pass at the UC 37 and returned it to the 49, but the UC defense forced a three-and-out. The Cougars tied the score at 3-3 on Rhett Almond's 28-yard field goal with 38 seconds left in the period.
The Cougars took control of the game by scoring a touchdown on their last possession of the first half and another on their first possession of the second.
The go-ahead touchdown came on Hill's 7-yard touchdown run to complete a 13-play, 92-yard drive. The key play in the drive was a 43-yard Hill pass off a flea flicker to Jonah Trinnaman to the UC 11-yard line to give the Cougars a 10-3 halftime lead.
After UC kicked off to start the second half, BYU drove 70 yards in 12 plays, with Squally Canada scoring from one yard out to make it 17-3 after Williams, who had run 13 yards to the UC one, hobbled off the field. Williams returned with about 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
UC drove inside the BYU 20 on its next possession with a chance to get within seven. But on third-and-14 from the BYU 15, Kiel was sacked for seven yards. Pasley then missed a 39-yard field goal attempt to keep the score at 17-3 with 1:39 left in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Bearcats drove from their own 15 to the BYU 37 behind Green's running. But on fourth and two, Green was stopped short of the first down and UC turned the ball over on downs with 11:20 remaining. BYU's Almond kicked a 19-yard field goal with 1:39 left to make it 20-3.
So the frustration continues for the Bearcats, especially on offense.
"I'm not saying guys do, but guys just can't sit around looking for the next person to make a play," Green said, "We just want to score a touchdown. We just want to get in the end zone. I think tonight BYU did a great job schematically with their game plan against us. In the game of football, it's whoever game plans better and those guys did a better job on third down. They just got us. They beat us on third down."
A week ago, after the Bearcats were shut out in the second half by Temple, Tuberville talked about opening up the offense, but there didn't appear to be much of a difference in their approach against BYU, perhaps because their personnel won't allow it.
"In three weeks this thing is over with," Tuberville said. "And we want to make some improvement and we haven't seen a whole lot of improvement on offense the last couple of games. We've tried it all. The big thing is we get hurt on first down too much. Our receivers just don't have enough confidence to make that play. We'll make one here, we'll make one there, but there's no consistency going down the field."
These are indeed difficult times for the UC football program, especially with a fan base that has grown accustomed to winning over the past 10 years.
"When it's tough like this you have to rely on your faith," Pace said. "It's the only thing you've got. The crowd's not on your side, the people outside, the students, are not on your side. So in tough times like this we make sure we rely on our faith."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years - 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer - before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January, 2015.