Cincinnati needs The 5-5 Cincinnati Bearcats are three or four plays away from being where the 8-2 Hawaii Warriors are now -- sitting pretty with the certainty of a bowl game in the future and perhaps a national ranking in the present.
a win tomorrow
The Bearcats are fighting
to become bowl-eligibleBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com
It would be even better, because UC would have beaten No. 2 Ohio State and changed the entire landscape of college football.
Where: Aloha Stadium Hawaii vs. Cincinnati
When: Tomorrow, 6:05 p.m.
TV: KFVE (Channel 5), delay at 10 p.m. Also available live on Pay Per View. Call 625-8100 on Oahu or (866) 566-7784 on neighbor islands to subscribe.
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
Four of Cincinnati's losses this season were by seven points or fewer. Those include a 23-19 defeat by the Buckeyes on Sept. 21 in which the Bearcats had the ball deep in OSU territory with time running out. If quarterback Gino Guidugli completed one of the four shots he took at the end zone, Ohio State would not be one of the nation's two unbeaten teams right now.
And the Bearcats wouldn't be as worried as they are about securing a bowl berth. Playing Hawaii tomorrow makes Cincinnati's job one win harder -- most teams have a 12-game schedule and must win at least six to qualify for a bowl. But because they got to schedule an extra game for traveling to Hawaii, UC must win two of its last three to qualify for a school-record third consecutive postseason game.
"When we scheduled this game we didn't think it would be a do or die," ninth-year Bearcats coach Rick Minter said. "But we put ourselves in this position by losing those close games and that's why we're not sitting here in a better position."
While playing a tough schedule might hurt Cincinnati's record, senior guard and team captain Kirt Doolin said it's worth it for the credibility points.
"We want to be able to say, 'Hey, we can play with anybody.' And I think the league schedule has gotten kind of tough, too, with Louisville and Southern Miss getting better all the time," Doolin said before practice yesterday at Aloha Stadium. "If we can continue to play and play well against the bigger-name schools like the Hawaiis and the Ohio States we should start to get some big-name recruits."
Hawaii a bigger-name school? That's what a ranking will do.
"Obviously, we were excited to come to Hawaii anyway. Most of the guys have never been here," Doolin said. "But any time you can play against a Top 25 team you want to go out there and show yourself and do well. It's a nice opportunity for us to come out here and test ourselves against one of the better teams in the country."
Doolin also said UC's $10.1 million renovation of Nippert Stadium, which has been the home of Cincinnati football for 100 years, and a $53 million facilities project groundbreaking next spring will help.
"Those are two of the biggest things. Who you're going to play and the facilities," he said.
A good graduation rate (UC is 16th in the nation and second in Conference USA with 73 percent) doesn't necessarily attract the best athletes, but it can certainly help when building a team. Minter said a good academic reputation helps him get the kind of players that don't cause problems.
"We don't put up with nonsense and we expect their best in the classroom," said Minter, who requires all players to check in at the football office each morning before classes. "In order to achieve that, we support them with the kind of academic support, counseling and tutoring that a Division I program should have."
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