The teams play noon on Saturday at Michigan Stadium (ABC/WWJ) .
Tom Groeschen, beat writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer, breaks down the Bearcats for The Detroit News, answering five questions heading into Saturday’s game against Michigan. You can follow his work on Twitter @TomGroeschen
Not necessarily, UC coach Luke Fickell said. “I don’ t know if you’ d say that we held some things back. We really wanted to say hey, this is who we are. I’ m not going to say we saved that for Week 2, we’ re going to save that big shot for Week 3… We had to find out some things about ourselves, maybe do some things they didn’ t do in the past. As we have an opportunity to move forward we’ ll have a better grasp of what it is, and how we have an opportunity to make some plays.”
Moore is a calm customer back there. As a fourth-year junior, he has plenty of game experience and has seen big rushes. But, the UC offensive line was the team’s biggest question mark entering the season. I would expect a variety of quick, short throws by UC so that the Michigan rush does not overpower them.
Good question. Recalling the sight of the Austin Peay QB sometimes running free, and the total rushing yardage (224) against UC does not appear to bode well. The Bearcats have some solid DTs in Cortez Broughton and Marquise Copeland, but I am unsure where the ‘edge’ rush might come from. They had only 1 sack (by LB/Nickelback Tyrell Gilbert) against Austin Peay.
Tommy Tuberville lost the fans as UC struggled to a 4-8 record last season. Fickell was an immediate hit with fans and players and the honeymoon is still on. He brought a youthful energy that had been lacking, and the team appears to have bought in.
The Bearcats insist noise will not be an issue. They are devoting extra time to hand signals and silent communication during practice this week. Music always is played at practices anyway, but the volume is being cranked louder this week. Some of the seniors played before 108,000 as freshmen at Ohio State in 2014, so they won’ t be bothered by the crowd. But, 69 percent of the UC roster is freshmen/redshirt freshmen/sophomores. How will the younger players handle it? That could be an issue for some.
