Bearcat Football Now King of Queen City

CINCINNATI -- A few days ago, a former long-time resident of the Queen City was asked if he ever could have imagined that the University of Cincinnati's football team would overshadow the Bearcats' tradition-rich basketball program.

Without hesitation, Bob Huggins replied: "Not in my lifetime."

These are strange days indeed in Cincinnati, where the football team -- not the basketball program -- is a legitimate national title contender.

On Saturday, coach Brian Kelly's big, bad Bearcats kept steamrolling through the Big East with a 41-10 seal-clubbing of Louisville in the battle for the Keg of Nails.

It was Cincinnati's first home win against Louisville since 1997. Back then, Cincinnati fans would have been giddy with a 31-point rout of their rivals located just down I-71.

Saturday, on the Bearcats sideline there were some former UC players, who were actually upset that fifth-ranked Cincinnati (7-0, 3-0 Big East) didn't run it up even more on the Cards (2-5, 0-3). It seems they're still seeking payback for a 70-7 loss to Louisville in 2004.
Even though that loss was only five years ago, it seems like it was 55 years ago -- which, ironically, is the last time Cincinnati started 7-0 -- in 1954 under a pretty decent coach by the name of Sid Gillman.

Oh by the way, the Bearcats have a pretty decent coach these days, as well.

Shortly after the 2006 regular season ended, former Cincinnati coach Mark Dantonio bolted for Michigan State. Left behind, said Cincinnati senior wide receiver Mardy Gilyard, was a team that was "bummed and heartbroken."

Five weeks after Dantonio left, Kelly guided those bummed and heartbroken Bearcats to a victory against Western Michigan in the International Bowl. Kelly's heroes haven't let up ever since.

Under Kelly, the Bearcats are 29-6.

In his three years, Kelly has lost as many games as starting quarterbacks that he's had to use. Some schools may have the same starting quarterback for two or three years. These days, Kelly is lucky to have the same starter for two or three weeks.

Despite suffering more injuries at the quarterback position than any school in the country, Kelly continues to plug another one in and mashes even harder on the pedal. The Bearcats have totally bought into and embraced Kelly's "next man in" motto.

"When we first came in, we weren't really competing [against Louisville] and it was a landslide," Cincinnati senior linebacker Andre Revels said.

With senior Tony Pike sidelined with a left arm injury, it was Zach Collaros' turn to make his first start Saturday. Collaros is the sixth different starting quarterback Kelly has used at Cincinnati.

Despite having "some butterflies" before kickoff, the redshirt sophomore was 15-of-17 for 253 yards and three touchdowns. He finished with 305 yards total offense. Imagine how well he might have done if he wasn't nervous?

"Really, [Friday night] and [Saturday morning] was when I was most nervous," Collaros said. "When I got on the field, it was like playing football again."

Winning as a starting quarterback is old hat for Collaros, who was 30-0 as the starting quarterback and won two state titles at Steubenville (Ohio) High School. He said the last time he lost as a starting quarterback was seven years ago as a freshman.

Gilyard, who rolled up 225 all-purpose yards and tied a school-record with his 22nd career touchdown reception, said the Bearcats aren't concerned who plays quarterback.

"It don't matter who is under center with our offense, Coach Kelly can be under there," Gilyard said. "We're not worried who's under the center."

What matters, though, according to Gilyard is "Who's running the show? Coach Kelly's running the show."

The Greatest Show in the Big East mesmerized the once-proud Cardinals. On Cincinnati's first two TD drives, nine plays were 10 yards or longer and the Bearcats didn't have to punt until seven minutes remained in the contest.

The Bearcats, who entered the game 11th nationally in total offense (457 yards per game) and fourth in scoring offense (41 points per game), had 422 yards and 41 points -- by the end of the third quarter.

Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe -- who is five games from becoming former Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe -- had a perfectly good explanation.



"To be honest with you, I was hoping Tony would play today because I knew they would be one-dimensional and I knew that they would throw it," Kragthorpe said. "I really felt that if Tony played, even if he hadn't been hurt, it would've been a lot better matchup for us. They're a little more one-dimensional with Tony in there."

Still, whether it's Collaros or Pike or Pike or Collaros, it doesn't matter to the Bearcats.

"We just flip flop so many quarterbacks that we used all of them on the depth chart," Gilyard said. "No worry about it."

When Saturday's victory, played before a record Nippert Stadium crowd of 35,099, finally ended, Cincinnati's players grabbed the Keg of Nails. It's a barrel trophy that says "Rival Battle for the Nail Keg." It was initiated by fraternity chapters from both campuses back in 1929 signifying that the winning players were "tough as nails."

Cincinnati's players grabbed the barrel and high tailed it to the southeast corner of the stadium where the Bearcats' band jubilantly played on.

Gilyard bounced around autograph seekers on the sidelines before grabbing a homemade sign from a fan and presenting it to Kelly. The sign read: "Happy B-Day Brian Kelly."

Sunday, Kelly will enjoy a very happy 47th birthday. Indeed, these are happy days in Cincinnati.