Know Your Enemy: Previewing Cincinnati Football With Clayton Trutor
Tomorrow afternoon the Boston College Eagle face off with the Cincinnati Bearcats in the Birmingham Bowl. To get a better sense of Cincinnati, we went right to an expert, Clayton Trutor editor of SBNation's Down The Drive. Please follow Clayton on Twitter for all your Bearcats news and opinions.
AJ Black: Sitting at 10-3, Cincinnati was one win away from the Cotton Bowl. What is the mood around the program and how are fans and folks around the program feeling about the 2019 season?
Clayton Trutor: Tremendous optimism. People believe that as long as Luke Fickell is around, these results will be business-as-usual for Cincinnati football. Ever since the Brian Kelly-era, Bearcats fans expect their program to be a winner and a nationally ranked team.
Black: Quarterback Desmond Ridder got banged up at the end of the season, should he be ready to go and what kind of game does he bring to the Bearcats offense?
Trutor: Ridder appears to be ready to go for Birmingham. Despite some hiccups in 2019, Ridder is a veritable cornucopia of intangibles. He doesn't have the biggest arm, isn't the most accurate passer. He isn't build like Tim Tebow or run like Lamar Jackson but he is a playmaker both with his arms and his legs. Any analytics guy who says clutch doesn't exist should watch Desmond Ridder on third downs.
Black: Talk a little about some of the weapons on the Bearcats offense, and what kind of offensive philosophy Luke Fickell and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock have installed.
Trutor: Cincinnati, like Boston College, has a run-first offense, built around the team's ability to blast, iso, and impose its will between the tackles. Even scheme-wise, the Bearcats' offense seems quite similar to the Eagles. The one-two punch of Michael Warren and Gerrid Doaks has a similar feel to Dillon-Bailey. Cincinnati's offensive line is battle tested and will be a challenge for the Eagles to subdue in the trenches.
Black: Even without Steve Addazio calling the shots Boston College is going to run the ball a lot on Thursday. How has the Bearcats run defense performed this season?
Trutor: I still don't know. Cincinnati's run defense looked like the '85 Chicago Bears against much of the AAC but looked uncompetitive when faced with an offensive front like Ohio State. Since the Bearcats were usually ahead, many teams abandoned the run against them in the second half, so it was hard to get a read on them.
Black: Boston College wins if__________
Trutor: They hand the ball off to David Bailey 40 times and he can beat up on the Bearcats' defense.
Black: Cincinnati wins if __________
Trutor: The Bearcats can force BC into third and longs on offense, preventing "Offensive Line U" from turning the turf on Legion Field into a freeway. Also Cincinnati needs to keep their offensive scheme diverse and not rely too much on Desmond Ridder's playmaking ability to pull out a win.
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