Not even if you're a friend, neighbor or relative of University of Cincinnati quarterback Gino Guidugli should you bother to ask.

        Not even if you're an old flame.

        Don't bother to ask Guidugli for tickets to Saturday's showdown at Nippert Stadium between UC (4-2) and Louisville (6-1), both undefeated in Conference USA.

Gino Guidugli posed with some of his trophies and awards in August at his family's Ft. Thomas home. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        “I only get four tickets, anyway,” said Guidugli, the true freshman out of Highlands High who is ranked 12th nationally in QB efficiency (153.1) and completions per game (21.2).

        “Normally I'd be able to get a few more tickets from the other players, but everybody's using them this week.”

        UC is hoping to crack the 30,000 mark in 35,000-seat Nippert Stadium for the 2p.m. game, which will be televised on WXIX-TV (Channel 19).

        “Louisville is the powerhouse of the conference,” Guidugli said. “Defending conference champions, defending conference player of the year (quarterback Dave Ragone). This is definitely a big game, exactly where we wanted to be at this point in the season. Four-and-0 in C-USA; you can't ask for anything better.”

        If the 3 1/2-point-underdog Bearcats can upset Louisville (2-0 in conference), they will be in a position to vie for their first C-USA football title. Another league power, East Carolina, visits Nippert on Nov.10. The Bearcats' final conference game is Nov.24 at Memphis.

        Though Guidugli's emergence as a collegiate phenom hasn't gone unnoticed, it has been obscured because he has played only one home game — and not at all on TV.

        His come-from-behind win at Army seven weeks ago was arguably the most exciting debut by a rookie college or pro athlete in Cincinnati in years.

        Guidugli, 18, is recalling the greatness of former UC star Greg Cook (1966-68) even sooner than people thought he might.

        So far, Guidugli is everything UC hoped. He chose UC too late in the recruiting year to make an impact on this year's recruiting class, but he should affect the next one.

        In the preseason, Louisville was picked to repeat as league champion (East Carolina was second), and the Bearcats were picked to finish sixth. But Guidugli's electrifying emergence and a favorable early-season conference schedule have UC at the top.

        “It amazes me every day I look at him and know that he's just a freshman, both in his ability to throw, as well as the way he conceptually understands the things we're asking him to do,” UC coach Rick Minter said.

        If the Bearcats' offensive line can keep UofL's talented defensive line out of UC's backfield Saturday, fans could be in for a treat. To watch Minter's weekly TV show Sunday after UC's 29-28 victory at Houston was to be startled at how polished Guidugli looked on his play-action sequences, throwing the ball on the run (rolling right or left), displaying his accuracy. He has a quick release. Sometimes he doesn't step all the way through the throw; he just snaps it off.

        Among the plays that stood out was an option-left. Guidugli had a defender draped on him and shifted the ball from his left hand to his right to pitch to the back for a TD.

        “We don't want to make a living with him running the ball,” Minter said. “But they put some pressure on him — I was holding my breath, "How's he going to respond to this?' — but he ducked up like he was going to run it, then his body got turned and he still made the play.”

        “He's not going to beat you with speed,” offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin said. “He's going to beat you with intelligence and football smarts and his ability to make plays.”

        It's not as though the Bearcats braintrust is shocked by all this. Before Guidugli hurt his arm in the preseason, he was going to see action in the home opener against Purdue, which UC almost upset with fifth-year senior Adam Hoover at QB. Again, UC intended to play Guidugli some at Army but had to turn to him for good when Hoover suffered a season-ending knee injury on UC's second possession.

        “Our plan was to have Adam run the ball a lot, (use) a lot of options,” Baldwin said. “When Gino came in, it was Page 2. We didn't want Gino to run the ball. So we went more to rollouts, to get him comfortable. We said, "Let's get some of the short passing game going underneath that he throws so accurately.'”

        All Guidugli did was go 31-of-41, with all three of his TD passes coming in the fourth quarter.

        In front of a boisterous Army crowd, Guidugli led UC on three comeback drives. With UC down 7-3, he threw a 25-yard TD pass; down 14-10, he rallied UC with a 16-play, 60-yard drive capped by a 7-yard TD pass; and down 21-17 with 1:16 left, he led a 70-yard drive, completing seven of nine passes — the last a 12-yard TD with seven seconds left.

        “When you're put in that situation, you have two options: You win or you lose,” Guidugli said. “You do everything you can do to get the win. I wasn't thinking of anything except the next play. "What's the clock like? What's the down and distance? What play might work? Who can we get the ball to? What coverage are they in?' You're out there going through all your reads, just playing ball, basically.”

        Minter still regrets not turning Guidugli loose in UC's next game, a 21-14 loss to Miami in Oxford.

        “Gino came out there freelancing on Army, because that's what we had in the game plan,” Minter said. “(Against Miami), we're thinking, "Maybe we need to hold it down a little bit.' In reality, he knew our offense. He'd been in it for two or three months (working in the summer).”

        A Guidugli throw in the 46-33 victory over Tulane caught Baldwin's eye. The call was for a fake-screen/throw deep. With a defender on him, Guidugli pumped the ball, stepped back and lofted a pass 30 yards downfield, on target.

        “Wow,” Baldwin recalled thinking. “For a freshman to do that — the touch he laid on it, somebody in his face and an accurate throw — that was quite a play. He's a special kid.”

        None of this appears to be going to Guidugli's head. He has been well-grounded by his father, Dave, a physical trainer who has worked with prep, college and pro athletes. Gino was well-tutored at Highlands under coach Dale Mueller. He reads defenses well. He throws the ball before receivers come out of their break.

        “It's a game inside a game. The defense is playing games with you, and you're out there playing games with them,” Guidugli said. “Coach Mueller does a great job. He really prepared me to be a college athlete — the work habits, the foundation to be a (college) quarterback.”

        Mueller and Highlands produced two Division I quarterbacks who threw for 300 yards on the same day Saturday — Guidugli and Kentucky's Jared Lorenzen.

        “Gino was tremendously coached in high school,” Baldwin said. “He came here with great knowledge of the passing game. He's way ahead of a lot of quarterbacks coming out of high school.”

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