Bearcats coach Rick Minter is taking his squad to another bowl. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        University of Cincinnati president Joseph Steger was so excited he botched the name of the bowl game to which his school had just been invited.

        “We're going to win the Motor Bowl,” he proclaimed to the fans and players who had gathered for the official announcement. “We're looking forward to it and we greatly appreciate a second chance.”

        Actually, it was the Motor City Bowl that had just extended an invitation to the Bearcats immediately following their 42-10 pounding of Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday afternoon before a Nippert Stadium crowd that was announced as 15,047.

        In reality, there couldn't have been more than 5,000 fans in the 35,000-seat stadium, but the fans who showed up were happy to stick around to celebrate the Bearcats' second straight invitation to the Motor City Bowl and their third bowl invitation in five years.

        Last year, UC lost the bowl to Marshall 25-14. This year, the Bearcats' opponent will be Toledo, which scored a come-from-behind victory over Marshall Friday night in the Mid-American Conference championship game.

        This year's Motor City Bowl is scheduled for noon Saturday, Dec.29, in the Pontiac Silverdome and will be telecast nationally by ESPN, with each participating school receiving a $750,000 payout.

        UC also has a men's basketball game scheduled for Dec. 29 against Akron, as part of the Rock 'n Roll Shootout in Cleveland.

        UC is 4-1 all time vs. Toledo, including a 33-13 victory in the 1949 Glass Bowl in Toledo.

        Ken Hoffman, executive director of the Motor City Bowl, said the invitation officially was extended at halftime of Saturday's game. He said that, despite all the talk about a deal that might have sent UC to the Humanitarian Bowl so Michigan State could play in Pontiac, Motor City officials knew after Thursday's Southern Mississippi-Alabama game that UC was the team they wanted.

        “We had a lot of people we had to touch base with,” Hoffman said, “sponsors and television partners and bowl conference partners.”

        As for the courtship of Michigan State, Hoffman said it was something worth exploring, but in the end, Motor City officials decided their best bet was to go with UC, which took 11,000 fans to Pontiac last year.

        “This time of year, every year, there are these type of discussions going on,” Hoffman said. “Very seldom does anything happen other than the contracts that you have. We felt we had a great game no matter what happened.

        “At some point along the way, (Michigan State) was a viable option,” Hoffman said. “It was an option that could have happened but didn't. Like many other bowls who look for a team in the area to play, that was something that we had to look at. But in the final analysis, our absolute best situation was to offer Cincinnati to come back again. We want teams that are bowl-hungry.”

        UC (7-4) wasted no time jumping ahead of ULM (2-9). Defensive tackle Dan Wortman recovered a fumble on the Indians' first play from scrimmage at the ULM 10-yard line and two plays later, quarterback Gino Guidugli connected with Jon Olinger on a 13-yard touchdown pass. The Bearcats scored again on their next possession, on a 43-yard pass from Guidugli to Tim Walker, to make it 14-0 fewer than four minutes into the game.

        But the big news happened after the game when Hoffman made the bowl announcement on the field and the UC seniors sang the school fight song in celebration.

        “This was my choice all along,” said UC coach Rick Minter. “If we were not going to win the championship of the league, I'd just as soon go to Detroit. We're wanted there. Our fans can get there ...

        “The fans who really, really love our team were out there today. And the ones who were out there today, we're going to see in Detroit.”

        Defensive end Antwan Peek said he had two distinct memories of last year's trip to the Motor City Bowl.

        “I remember the weather (bitter cold and snow) and the feeling that I had after we walked off the field with a loss,” Peek said. “I'm going to try to not have that feeling this year. We're going to go up there and prepare well and hopefully we can come out with a win this year.”
        Louisiana-Monroe ....... 0 7 0 3—10
        Cincinnati ....... 21 7 7 7—42

First Quarter

        Cin—Olinger 13 pass from Guidugli (Ruffin kick), 13:55.

        Cin—Jackson 1 run (Ruffin kick), 11:36.

        Cin—Olinger 7 pass from Guidugli (Ruffin kick), 3:43.

       Second Quarter

        Cin—Jackson 24 pass from Guidugli (Ruffin kick), 14:29.

        ULM—Brown 1 run (Kuecker kick), 10:18.

       Third Quarter

        Cin—Jackson 2 run (Ruffin kick), 9:08.

       Fourth Quarter

        Cin—Keith 35 pass from Murray (Ruffin kick), 12:19.

        ULM—FG Kuecker 27, 8:09.

        A—15,047.

        INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

        RUSHING—Louisiana-Monroe, Smith 8-44, Brown 6-30, Jacobs 10-27, Thomas 4-15, Broadway 1-16. Cincinnati, Jackson 14-49, Wize 11-48, Murray 6-32, McCleskey 6-18, Harwell 4-10.

        PASSING—Louisiana-Monroe, Vige 8-21-1-100, Smith 1-5-0-11. Cincinnati, Guidugli 17-30-1-218, Gonzalez 0-0-0-0.

        RECEIVING—Louisiana-Monroe, Broadway 2-34, Turner 2-33. Cincinnati, Keith 5-58, Vann 5-56, Jackson 3-40, Deatherage 2-31.

Bearcats bound for Motor City Bowl Guidugli follows UK but keeps focus on his team UC pours it on... and on and on UC notebook

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