Smu 10/24 9:00 espn2

[Lobot]

Hopefully we'll be able to get this game in.

SMU (5-0) has a very good offense led by Shane Beuchele at QB. Beuchele is 2nd in the nation in passing yards despite not having his #1 receiver available in the last game. Speaking of Reggie Roberson, he was the leading receiver in the country prior to a season ending injury. SMU still has good receivers in Rice, Page, Gray and Granson. What they don't have is a serviceable back up RB to Ulysses Bentley IV because TJ McDaniel is also out for the year.

The other side of the ball is a question mark. They rank 27th in the country in total defense but I think that's a function of who they've played. They had trouble with the rush against Texas St on the road. I don't think they did much better against Tulane or Memphis even though they won both games. They probably would not have beaten Memphis if not for a career night from Roberson.

Putting it bluntly, our defense, particularly the secondary, needs to travel for this game and hopefully we'll have everyone healthy.

[Lobot]

This might be Paywalled but if you can read it, here's the local writeup.

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/sm...-loss-of-2020/


Enquirer:

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/spo...ar/6028860002/

[coach]

This offensive line is miles ahead of where we've been the past few years. Hudson really seemed to solidify the left side at the bowl game last year and has kept going. He had that silly penalty yesterday, but the kicker covered for him. He's got a little bit of nasty in him and that seems to be wearing off on the younger guys. Ridder's inability to hit the mid to long range ball though is troubling. They didn't need it yesterday, but after the first quarter they lined up a lot of folks in the box and really started to shut us down. The more tape people get on this team it will become clear how to defend us. Although he ran great yesterday, I'm not sure he can lead us to undefeated in the regular season.

I am always harping on no mistake football, but i'll take the kind of penalty we saw with Hudson. They definitely "out physicaled" them last night, and i think there is an element of intimidation that this team takes on which helps them. A couple of those face mask on the db's were more accidental than anything. Their coverage is outstanding, and i think being in the wr's grills constantly wears on a team over the course of a game. Just have to keep up the intensity each week, and if we avoid giving up points off of turnovers we should win games. D really helped a ton cleaning up those two turnovers last night, but give the offense credit as they ran the ball down their throats. Bad injury looked to be Charles McClelland reinjuring the knee on kick coverage. Tough luck, but looked like he was not able to put weight on the leg. They looked to be working on a knee.

[swilsonsp4]

Here's Justin Williams' take ($) on last night's win, centered on the overall great performance by Desmond Ridder. Ridder wasn't called up to lead the offense with his arm. Although Williams doesn't address this, the game plan obviously was to pound the Mustangs on the ground. When Ridder runs, that opens up so much more, even when he's barfing on national TV. That, in itself, speaks to his toughness and leadership.

https://theathletic.com/2158959/2020...incinnati-smu/

[Lobot]

Stuck here in the UK but was able to watch stream on Youtube...would be great to get an update on all injuries from SMU game and overall health of team to-date. Players were going down all over the place last night - was it hydration-related? Great road-win!

I’m not sure we’ll know much on injury details until Tuesday’s press conference. I don’t think it was hydration issues. I didn’t see anyone go down with cramps last night. I think it was more like conditioning problems from not playing for 3 weeks. Some of the guys we were missing last night from the start did not make the trip at all. I have to believe some of that is Covid related but they don’t release that info.

[GangstaTakester]

This offensive line is miles ahead of where we've been the past few years. Hudson really seemed to solidify the left side at the bowl game last year and has kept going. He had that silly penalty yesterday, but the kicker covered for him. He's got a little bit of nasty in him and that seems to be wearing off on the younger guys. Ridder's inability to hit the mid to long range ball though is troubling. They didn't need it yesterday, but after the first quarter they lined up a lot of folks in the box and really started to shut us down. The more tape people get on this team it will become clear how to defend us. Although he ran great yesterday, I'm not sure he can lead us to undefeated in the regular season.

[JohnFrancis]

Stuck here in the UK but was able to watch stream on Youtube...would be great to get an update on all injuries from SMU game and overall health of team to-date. Players were going down all over the place last night - was it hydration-related? Great road-win!

[Lobot]

Headline: Bearcats blowup Buechele in Barf Bowl.

I agree with RedDog. The PI flags are annoying but better to have our guys draw a flag for 15 yards than give up a big chunk yardage play. Play physical and get in the receivers heads. Not sure if that was the issue with SMU's receivers last night but they dropped a lot of balls. I'm not sure there's another explanation for it other than it was colder down here last night than it has been since March.

I saw a lot of people on on Twitter reference the SMU fans booing during injuries. I think they were booing what they thought was UC intentionally slowing down their offense with fake injuries. Came across really ugly on TV because the injuries were real.

Speaking of which. Look like McClelland blew up a knee again. I hope that's not the case but he was not putting weight on one foot coming off the field. Gardner had some sort of neck issue. I'm hoping it's just a stinger or pinched nerve. I didn't see anyone else go into the medical tent except Ridder. I think all the other injuries resulted in guys coming back on the field.

Ridder was very very good last night. Didn't throw anything long and didn't really need to. That long run tied a UC football record for longest rushing touchdown. If you get a chance to watch that play again, watch the safety in the defensive backfield. He has absolutely no idea where the ball is until Ridder is past him. They highlighted that on the replay in the broadcast last night. They could not have fooled him on the option read any worse.

Big shout out to Jake Renfro for a mostly spotless first start last night. No exchange problems and he might have had 1 penalty? Dylan O'Quinn had a pretty good game as well in his first start. He had one bad false start but was up to the task last night.

Ridder was pretty flawless last night but we do need to fix the fumbling at the RB position.

Game balls to Marcus Freeman on behalf of the whole defensive performance last night. We held SMU to about 3/5 of their usual offensive output. Ridder is an obvious choice for a game ball on offense.

Box:

https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...meId=401212488

[bearcatjd]

Solid win for our Bearcats. Defense was stellar as advertised. Offense is coming around. I don’t think we will ever be a great passing team this year.
Need to win the turnover battle. Bring on Houston. It should be a great game.

[RedDog]

Defense was really flying around and attacking the ball. Open field tackling was overall excellent with only a few misses. very pleased.

I thought the pass interference calls were pretty legit. We would have wanted them called that way if we were on offense. Our DB's are the real deal and play very aggressively. Their scheme seems to be mug the opponent and make the ref's call it. a 15 yard penalty is better than a 40 yard pass completion plus they won't call them all.

Ridder is best when running the ball and only a decent passer. If hes not in the game plan for 10 or more runs then he is of very limited value other than his leadership which is supposed to be good but hard to measure as a fan.

We really have some nice receivers so a passing attack is there for the taking if we can just get them the ball. Ridders side arm, low trajectory, line drive throws are where he gets in trouble. It seemed that coming out of half time, the coaches had calmed him down and he wasn't trying to throw as hard, had more touch and better success.

Penalties and fumbles were the only thing that kept SMU in the game. Their drops helped us several times. Their coaching staff took the gas pipe and looked flustered (at least the top half of their faces did).

Very good result for the image and eye test nationally.

[Greg7173]

Game was closer than the score indicated. Defense won that game for us playing great the whole game but especially with the two big stands keeping them out of the endzone in the fourth quarter. Thought pass interference calls were a little one sided. We had really good coverage and they were going for the ball. Ridder did it with his legs today. Wish he could get on the same page with his receivers. Have to clean up the penalties on the defense side of the ball. The fifteen yarders are just killers, ruining otherwise great defensive play. Anyone notice how much we have cleaned up the penalties on the offensive line? Can't go a post without a little criticism of the play calling. the first two series were very good but then went back to the same old stuff that doesn't seem to work as well. Seems we stayed in that mode until almost the end of the game. But overall a great win that will look good for the pollsters.

[Pharmfam]

Great win for the cats. Beat a ranked team on the road by a wide margin.

[UC4me]

Just call him "Ralphin' Ridder"!!! Hurls his dinner then peels off a 91 yard TD run a little bit later!

[Oldtimer_UC_fan]

How about some BS pass interference calls?

[UC4me]

And now SMU fans booing when three of our guys go down with injuries on the same play. Classless.