Saturday, August 14, 1999

Turnovers key to UC turnaround

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BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Deontey Kenner throws the football during media day. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        They looked a lot more like an 0-0 team than 2-9. The black uniforms the Cincinnati Bearcats wore on the field Friday at Nippert Stadium were stained by nothing but their sweat from standing too long on the steaming turf. There were a lot of smiles.

        As UC introduced itself to the news media just before its veterans were to begin training camp, there remained hope this team would not encounter the same sort of disaster as its predecessor.

        There is every reason to believe it should produce similar results to 1998, when UC lost its first nine games, rallied to win the final two but basically undermined any goodwill created by the 1997 Humanitarian Bowl victory.

        • UC returns fewer starters than any team in Conference USA.

        • There are only nine seniors on the two-deep depth chart. Only one of four team captains is a senior.

        • The schedule includes consecutive September games against Big Ten powers Wisconsin and Ohio State, which won a combined 22 games last season.

        • Leading rusher DeMarco McCleskey, who gained 861 yards as a freshman, was charged with rape in May and immediately suspended from participating in athletics. He is no longer part of the program or enrolled at the school.

Andy Weinheimer, 71, lets out a big yawn as he and the rest of the team prepare for the team photo on media day. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        UC cannot become more experienced immediately, and the talent level is what it is, but the Bearcats can help themselves immeasurably if they play more carefully.

        “The whole game of football can always be traced back to one single factor, and that's turnovers,” coach Rick Minter said. “And we were the worst in America last year at turnover ratio.

        “Last year's team was very porous on defense, and the offense was very generous in giving it away. It was the worst of two worlds you could ever mix together.”

        UC lost 16 fumbles and 21 interceptions and picked up a total of only 20 turnovers in return.

        Minter is haunted at least as much by statistics that show UC averaged a healthy 418 yards on offense last year but still scored fewer than 25 points in eight of 11 games.

        “That's plenty enough yards,” Minter said. “But what was around that yardage? There were turnovers and fail ing to produce touchdowns and field goals consistently. They were hollow yards.

        “I think people get too hung up on trying to discover ways to win games. I look at it from the other side and say the way you win games is to eliminate the reasons why you lose.”

        It's partly for that reason the Bearcats will shift to a 4-3 defense that will focus less on negative-yardage tackles and could produce more opportunities for interceptions. But it's the offense that needs to be more responsible about what it does with the ball.

        “It seemed like it was coming from everywhere,” quarterback Deontey Kenner. “I know a lot came out of my hands. It seemed some nights we couldn't hold onto the ball. And there were times the bounces weren't going our way.

        “It's basically not concentrating and knowing what you're doing that causes the majority, and those are the ones we can cut out.”

        The offense seemed to lose a lot of its spirit last season when it quickly became obvious, in the Tulane opener, the defense would be overmatched. Kenner said this team cannot be divided that way. “It's kind of like a bargain, a deal,” he said. UC did not arrive at any sort of cooperation until last season was nearly over. This team at least kept it intact for the spring. Junior-college recruit Mario Monds, expected to fortify the defensive line that was so abysmal last season (the Bearcats generated only six quarterback sacks), said he was surprised by the intensity in spring practice.

        “There was a will to want to go out and give your best every play,” Monds said. “That inspired me.”

       

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