TicketsBy Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The University of Cincinnati Bearcats had no answer for Navy's vaunted triple-option rushing attack Saturday, allowing 569 yards on the ground – the most ever against a UC team and the second most in Navy history - in a 42-32 loss to the Midshipmen before 33,174 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in UC's first American Athletic Conference game of the season.
Running their trademark triple-option offense to near-perfection, the Navy Midshipmen averaged 7.9 yards in 72 carries for 569 yards, breaking the previous record of 539 against UC in 1989 by Northern Illinois.
"It's not the kids' fault," said UC coach Luke Fickell. "We've got to put them in better situations. We've got to change some things up. We've got to do a better job of tackling. We've got to foresee some things that are gonna happen when we walk into a game like that."
UC (2-2 overall, 0-1 in the AAC) kept the score close through three quarters, matching Navy touchdown for touchdown to remain within striking distance. But when UC quarterback Hayden Moore threw an incomplete pass on third-and-16 on the Bearcats' 32-yard line on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Bearcats were forced to punt, trailing 35-24. Navy then drove 74 yards in nine plays and scored on quarterback Zach Abey's 1-yard run to make it 42-24 lead, seemingly sealing the win, compiling the second
Still the Bearcats weren't finished. They drove 80 yards and scored on Moore's 3-yard pass to tight end Tyler Cogswell with 6:06 left. Moore's run for the 2-point conversion kept their hopes alive, closing the Navy lead to 42-32.
The UC defense then forced a three-and-out on Navy's next possession, forcing the Midshipmen to punt for the first time in the game. The Bearcats took over on their own 37, looking for a repeat of last week's miracle finish at Miami. They advanced to the Navy 11, but on third-and-10, Moore was fumbled as he was sacked by Tyris Wooten. D.J. Palmore recovered for Navy and the Bearcats were finished.
Abey and Malcolm Perry both rushed for more than 100 yards, Abey with 128 and Perry with 100. Three other Navy players gained more than 30 yards and nine players rushed for 20 or more against a UC defense that was helpless to stop them. The Midshipmen are 3-0 overall, 2-0 in the AAC.
"We could have prepared better," said UC middle linebacker Jaylyin Minor. "Things just didn't fall our way. Some plays we didn't have guys in the right spot. You can't blame anybody. You can't blame the coaches. Navy changed up a few things playing us. They changed their blocking schemes a little bit. We tried to adjust to it the best we could, but we just couldn't get it fixed."
If there was a bright spot for the Bearcats it was Moore's passing. The Bearcats used a more aggressive offensive approach, throwing the ball down field more than they had in their previous three games and Moore passed for 381 yards and three touchdowns while completing 28 of 46 passes with no interceptions.
The way the Navy offense was dominating, UC was forced to try to keep up and its passing game was more effective than its running game, which netted only 58 yards. Gerrid Doaks, starting in place of the injured Mike Boone for the second straight week, led the Bearcats with 59 yards on 14 carries with one touchdown.
"We knew coming in that we were gonna have to make plays," Moore said, "that we were gonna have to move the ball and score every chance we got. A couple of times we didn't score and you see the result. We had to keep up with their offense. You can't blame anyone. It's everybody's fault. We had the drive at the end and we had two drives at the beginning where we went three-and-out. If we score on any one of those drives, the whole game changes."
Navy's ground game dominated from the outset. The Midshipmen drove 74 yards in seven plays to take a 7-0 lead on a 23-yard touchdown run by Malcolm Perry. The Bearcats went three-and-out again on their next possession and Navy drove down the field for another touchdown on Abey's 19-yard pass to Tyler Carmona to make it 14-0, Navy.
UC got on the board on Moore's 46-yard touchdown pass to Devin Gray with 1:51 left in the first quarter to complete a 5-play, 75-yard drive. UC's Carter Jacobs then forced a fumble by slotback Jahmaal Daniel that Chris Murphy recovered on the UC 34 with 12 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Bearcats drove to the Navy 34, converting twice on third-and-long and Josh Pasley kicked a 36-yard field goal to pull UC within four points at 14-10 with 12:20 left in the half.
Navy's triple-option offense continued to rip huge holes in the UC defense and the Midshipmen scored again, this time on Brown's 24-yard touchdown run to give Navy a 21-10 lead with 7:10 left in the half. The Bearcats got back within four points on Doaks' 9-yard touchdown win with 4:45 left after a 7-play, 90-yard drive.
Navy plowed right back down the field and was on the verge of scoring another touchdown before halftime, but the UC defense stiffened, aided by a penalty on Navy for an illegal block. Bennett Moehring missed a 24-yard field goal attempt wide left with 16 seconds left and the half ended with UC trailing, 21-17.
But in the second half the UC offense simply couldn't keep up with the steamroller that was Navy's rushing offense, which compiled the second-highest rushing total in school history.
"It's very frustrating when you're unable to stop the outside run like we're normally unable to do," Minor said. "It' something that we'll go home and get corrected and fixed and get better.
The coaches couldn't have prepared us any better, but we just couldn't execute the way we should have today."
Navy was averaging 305 rushing yards per game. Still, it's degree of domination against a UC defense that entered the game allowing 162.3 yards per game on the ground surprised Fickell, who said he thought the Bearcats were better prepared to handle the triple option.
"We were doing stuff throughout the entire camp," Fickell said, "introducing some of the stuff that we thought we were gonna see. We knew the speed of the game was gonna change when we got out there. It always does. But it's inexcusable when guys are running free like that. It's one thing if a guy is missing a tackle, but for them to run free like that, we didn't do a good enough job of preparing. And that's on me."
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.