TicketsBy Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – No matter how bad things have gotten during his first season as the University of Cincinnati's football coach, Luke Fickell has remained upbeat and determined.
But when he walked into the post-game interview with reporters late Friday night, he looked shaken for the first time after UC's 35-24 loss to Temple before 22,773 fans at Nippert Stadium.
"Obviously we're very, very disappointed in the way we really handled this whole situation and completed this game," Fickell said. "For the first time, I think I told the guys that. Disappointed in the way we coached, disappointed in the way we prepared them. I don't know. To not be able to put things together from working as hard as we do, I'm a little bit lost for words.
"We keep talking about penalties, we keep talking about these situations and the things we've got to do better and yet we go out and continue to do the same things over and over again."
The Bearcats had come into the game looking to build momentum after ending a five-game losing streak last week at Tulane, but they fell behind, 13-0, at halftime. They pulled within six points twice in the second half, but each time Temple answered.
UC hurt its cause with another surfeit of penalties – 11 for 107 yards. The Bearcats also fumbled a snap for a punt that resulted in a turnover, allowed a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and had a punt return for a touchdown called back because of an illegal block.
The loss assures the Bearcats (3-7 overall, 1-5 in the American Athletic Conference) of their second straight losing season, something that has happened since 1998 and 1999 when Rick Minter was the head coach. Temple (5-5, 3-3) won for the second straight week.
"Any loss you take is disappointing," said senior middle linebacker Jaylyin Minor, "but the thing (Fickell) is talking about is as hard as we work and as much effort as we put into everything that we do it's very disappointing not coming out successful when we lose a game ourselves as we did tonight. We didn't execute as we should have and that's just on us. We can't blame the coaches. We're the ones on the field playing. We're the ones to put the blame on."
Temple gained 429 yards to 405 for UC, which had another good night running the ball, with 184 yards on 35 attempts, even though running Gerrid Doaks got "nicked up," according to Fickell. Doaks had only four carries for 13 yards. UC quarterback Hayden Moore was 20-for-36 for 217 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. He also ran for a team-high 75 yards.
After playing a miserable first half, the Bearcats drove 68 yards on nine plays on their first possession of the second half and scored on Moore's 29-yard pass to Thomas Geddis on fourth-and-six from the Temple 29, to get back in the game at 13-7.
The Owls needed only 1:39 to get that score back, moving 75 yards in four plays and scoring on a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Frank Nutile to Keith Kirkwood to make it 20-7 with 9:51 left in the third quarter.
This time it was UC's turn to strike quickly. The Bearcats drove 71 yards in seven plays. The last two were a 28-yard by Mike Boone and 21-yard run by Boone for a touchdown. The entire drive lasted only 2:16 to pull UC back within six at 20-14 with 7:40 remaining.
Temple's Isaiah Wright then scurried 98 yards for a touchdown on the kickoff return. The Owls made the 2-point conversion on a pass from Wright to Nutile to give them a 28-14 lead. After going three-and-out, UC tried to punt, but punter James Smith was unable to handle a low snap from center and was tackled on the UC 27. The Owls took over and Aaron Boumerhi missed a 44-yard field goal with 3:12 left in the third quarter.
The Bearcats kept plugging away and drove to the Temple 11-yard line before settling for Ryan Jones' 26-yard field goal. That made it, 28-17, with 14:56 remaining.
But any hopes the Bearcats had of coming back to win were dashed when Nutile ran into the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown to increase the Owls' lead to 35-17 with 11:03 to play. UC added a touchdown on a 3-yard pass from Moore to Boone with 2:34 left. The Bearcats then tried an unsuccessful on-side kick.
"The ability to put these things together is what's really baffling me," Fickell said. "The defense can play really well in the first half and have a lot of really big stops in really tough situations while the offense doesn't move the ball very well and then in the second half it completely flips and the defense can't come up with a play."
In the first half, the Bearcats failed to capitalize on two early scoring opportunities. After freshman Marquese Taylor picked off a Temple pass at the UC 42-yard line, the offense went three and out was forced to punt. Two possessions later, Devin Gray returned a punt for an apparent UC touchdown only to have it called back due to an illegal block.
Temple then scored on a 27-yard field goal by Boumerhi with 33 seconds left in the first quarter. The Owls drove 79 yards in 13 plays to set up the kick, but failed to get into the end zone after having a first down and goal at the UC 10.
On UC's next possession, Moore fumbled while scrambling out of the pocket. The ball was recovered by Temple's Sean Chandler at the UC 20. Again the UC defense held on third-and-5 at the UC five and Boumerhi kicked another field goal, this time from 22 yards to make it 6-0 with 13:15 left in the first half.
The Bearcats went three and out again and Temple took over on its own 16. The Owls drove to the UC 38. On on third and eight, UC's Chris Murphy was initially called for targeting and unsportsmanlike conduct. After a review, the targeting call was overturned, but the other penalty stood, giving the Owls a first-and-goal at the seven. Three plays later, David Hood scored from one yard to give Temple a 13-0 lead with 6:39 left in the first half.
On its last possession of the first half, UC drove from its own 20 to the Temple 29, but Ryan Jones' 46-yard field goal attempt was wide left as time expired.
The Bearcats have two games remaining – next week at East Carolina and the following week at home vs. Connecticut as they try to finish off the season on a high note.
"Me being a senior it definitely hurts," Boone said, "but we can't really dwell on it. We have two more games left and we've got to come out and continue to do what we do."
Actually, as Fickell pointed out, that's precisely what they don't want to do.
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.