The University of Cincinnati began spring football drills Thursday trying to deflect, of all things, great expectations.
UC comes off its first bowl appearance in 47 years, a 35-19 Humanitarian Bowl victory over Utah State. The Bearcats finished 8-4, marking the first time they have had three straight winning seasons since the 1970s.
UC quarterback Chad Plummer, who returns for his senior season in 1998, said it's OK for Bearcat fans to think big. Within reason.
''It's good to have high hopes, but not too high,'' he said. ''That happened in my sophomore year, and we didn't come through.''
That was 1996, when UC was picked to win the inaugural Conference USA title but finished third. In 1997, UC was picked fourth in C-USA and indeed finished fourth.
In 1998? Defending champion Southern Mississippi again could be the team to beat and Tulane, which has beaten UC two straight years, returns most everybody on offense.
UC loses 18 seniors from its most talented class in years.
That leaves players such as Plummer, left tackle Brian Uhl, and safety Tinker Keck to lead the way. Keck, who UC is already pushing for All-America, tied an NCAA record by returning four punts for touchdowns last year.
''It hurts when you lose the guys we did,'' Keck said. ''But I think we'll be all right.''
Uhl, from now-defunct CAPE (Cincinnati Academy of Physical Education), said, ''Under Coach (Rick) Minter, we've come to expect more every year. The fans will expect more of us again too, and I think that's fair.''
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