The Bearcats So Far
Cincinnati is 7-2 so far this year, including a 3-1 record in Big East play. They got off to a 5-0 start by embarrassing Pitt on national TV, beating two FCS teams, Miami Ohio and a Virginia Tech team that is experiencing a major down year. They were tripped up on the road against a very good Toledo team, and followed that up by losing an over time thriller to Louisville on a Friday night. They have rebounded in recent weeks by beating Syracuse and Temple, despite going through a quarterback change.
Coaching
The Bearcats are led by fourth year head coach Butch (Bitch) Jones, who is 48-26 as a head coach, winning at least a share of 3 conference titles along the way, during his time at Cincinnati and Central Michigan. Jones, who was a grad assitant at Rutgers once upon a time, is well versed in the spread offense, previously serving as Brian Kelly's offensive coordinator for the Chippewas and Rich Rodriguez's wide receiver coach at West Virginia. As a head coach, he has had some very good offenses running a run heavy spread that is very difficult to stop, and it may have caused Rutgers to change their defensive personnel up a little bit last year in order to stop it. Jones reportedly turned down the head job at Illinois a year ago, and he was also linked to the job opeing at North Carolina that eventually went to Larry Fedora. He made some recent comments urging fans to show up for the games, and there have been rumors that he has grown frustrated at Cincinnati. His name will pop up again for job openings this December, and he may or may not jump ship.
Mike Bajakian is the Bearcats' offensive coordinator, and the Oradell, NJ native was also once a grad assistant at Rutgers. He has been Jones' offensive coordinator every year he has been a head coach, and Bajakian also has a bit of NFL coaching experience. Obviously he guides the spread offense Jones has in place. Tim Banks and Jon Jancek are the co-defensive coordinators, and they run a 4-2-5 defense that utilizes both man and zone coverages.
Offense 36th in PPG, 7th in yards per carry, 58th in pass efficiency, 16th in yards per play
Munchie Leagux said he was better than Teddy Bridgewater in the week leading up to Cincinnati's game against Louisville, and things really got bad for him after that. He went on an interception binge, and he was replaced by senior Brandon Kay late in the Syracuse game. Kay isn't the kind of athlete Leagux is, but he can run the ball and does a decent job as a game manager. He is not accurate, but he can get the ball to receivers down the field. The Bearcats love to run the ball in their spread offense, and they have a two headed running back monster featuring George Winn, who gets the bulk of the carries, and the very speedy Ralph David Abernathy IV. Both backs are averaging over 5.5 yards a carry. Cincinnati's offensive line is very weird. The right side of the line gets pushed around, while the left side dominates. Left tackle Eric Lefeld in particular is a very good player who could get some all conference recognition. Tight end Trais Kelce (I'm assuming he's related to Philadelphia Eagles lineman Chris Kelce, who was also a Bearcat) is their leading receiver with 422 yards and 4 TDs. Nobody on the team has more than 25 receptions, but they have some deep threats at the position. Cincinnati runs a very basic spread offense. The run a lot of zone plays, including zone reads. They run horizontally a ton, but it works for them. They will run some screens and throw deep balls, but they don't have a complicated passing attack.
Defense 21st in PPG, 42nd in yards per carry, 23rd in pass efficiency, 41st in yards per play
The Bearcats run a 4-2-5 defense that emphasizes speed more than size. Their defensive line is very undersized, but they make up for it with quickness and they make a ton of plays in the backfield. They may struggle when you run right at them, but they can penetrate and chase you down on outside runs. Their best defensive player early on, end Walter Stewart, suffered a very unfortunate career ending back injury against Fordham, and they do not have a stand out player up front with out him. Cincinnati's linebackers are very big. Greg Blair is their leading tackler, and he is pretty strong against the run. The Bearcats have their linebackers blitz up the middle on passing downs often, but when they drop into coverage they aren't particularly quick. The Bearcat defensive backs are asked to play multiple zone coverages in addition to man coverage. The corners give plenty of leverage to receivers, so they can be beat on quick passes. Their main goal seems to be to protect the side line, so they are often beat on deep post routes, especially when playing man to man coverage. The defense has a rover who usually plays in the box and sometimes over the tight end or slot receiver. They will play two deep safeties on passing downs, and the strong safety will lurk down on running downs. The free safety some times plays on the hash, so you may be able to hit some long passes to the weakside if your receiver can win a one on one match up. They are ball hawks back there though; their DB's have a combined 9 interceptions this year.This isn't a very physical unit, but they are really fast. They bring pressure up the middle and from the field, but you can out muscle this defense on the ground and through the air and put some points on the board.
Conclusion
Cincinnati has been one of the top teams in the Big East for a few years now, and should provide a major test for Rutgers. They have great teams speed on offense and defense, but they don't have a ton of size, and their passing attack on offense is a bit lacking. If Rutgers can stop the run, I think they will have a successful day and finally end the string of bad games at Nippert Stadium. Nippert the streak in the bud, if you will.
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