The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Cincinnati Bearcats' football bowl picture has cleared up.

If UC defeats East Carolina on Friday (7 p.m., ESPN2), the Bearcats will capture a share of the Conference USA title and play in the New Orleans Bowl against North Texas, the Sun Belt Conference champion. That game will be at 7 p.m. Dec. 17 (ESPN2).

UC is 0-7 in Greenville, N.C., site of its regular-season finale. The Bearcats (6-6, 5-2 C-USA) could earn a piece of their first league championship in football since 1964.

If they lose, their season is over.

C-USA is affiliated with five bowls.

The Liberty Bowl has already selected TCU, which has clinched a share of the conference title, to represent the league as its champion and face Colorado State.

The GMAC Bowl awarded a bid to Louisville on Sunday night; the Cardinals accepted and will play Marshall. Southern Mississippi will play a Big 12 Conference team in the Houston Bowl.

If UC wins Friday, Tulane will play in the Hawaii Bowl against Hawaii. If the Bearcats lose, Tulane will take the New Orleans Bowl bid.

PREDICTABLE: UC beat Alabama-Birmingham 31-23 this past Saturday, but needed two fourth-quarter touchdowns to put the game away. Maybe one of the reasons it took so long is because UC's play-calling on first down was so predictable in the first three quarters.

In the 16 times UC had the ball first-and-whatever in the first three quarters, the Bearcats' offensive brain trust called running plays 14 times. They finally snapped out of it with 11:21 left in the game.

The key play on UC's first fourth-quarter TD drive (five plays, 77 yards) to make it 24-23, was a 37-yard first-down completion to LaDaris Vann. A big play on the second TD drive (9 plays, 77 yards) to make it 31-23, was a 9-yard first-down completion to Jon Olinger.

Also on the first fourth-quarter TD drive, Vann had a 21-yard reception on second-and-9 to UAB's 18. If Vann is back to being himself (sprained ankle three weeks ago against Louisville), UC's offense may be ready to explode -- if the brain trust allows it.

"L.V. is vital on possessions and third-down conversions," said running back DeMarco McCleskey (3 TD, two on passes).

"At crunch time, L.V. always steps up,'' said UC quarterback Gino Guidugli (14-of-22 for 243 yards, 2 TD, and no interceptions), noting that Vann only had one catch for 1 yard going into the fourth quarter. "L.V. always tells me, 'Give me a chance - just throw it up there; I'm not going to let it get picked off.'"

Vann ended up with five catches for 89 yards to lead all receivers.

Guidugli, who was 7-of-7 passing in the fourth quarter, wouldn't bite when asked after the game about the conservativeness of UC's first-down play-calling.

"People might say we're predictable on first down, but if we're getting 3 or 4 yards, it's no problem," Guidugli said. "You can't come out and pass every first down, or you'll be stuck in a lot of second-and-10s."

The Bearcats did average 3.4 yards on those 14-of-16 first-down running plays in the first three quarters, but the more they kept running it, the less success they had.

Here is how the running plays on those 14-of-16 went, in order. First quarter: 3 yards, 14, 5, 2, 2, 1, 4. Second quarter: minus 1, 2, minus 1, 0. Third quarter: 12, 3, 1.

PEEK-ING: UC defensive end Antwan Peek (10 tackles, three for losses in UC's victory over UAB) said that playing against UAB's triple-option attack that was run out of the T-formation wishbone, was "like playing Nebraska."

"When we're giving up yards like that," Peek said, "what starts going through my head is, 'We need to create turnovers.'"

UAB was leading 17-14 and facing third-and-five on UC's 25 when Peek busted in to tackle-and-strip UAB QB Thomas Cox and recover the fumble. Jonathan Ruffin kicked a field goal to tie the game at 17.

UC's defense gave up 239 yards net rushing in the UAB victory, but was opportunistic. Besides Peek's stellar play, here were some other standouts: TyJuan Hagler (interception and 15-yard runback for a TD) and Derrick Adams and Trent Cole, each with 1‡ sacks and four and three tackles-for-losses, respectively.