CardinalSports.com - No. 5 Cincinnati dominates Louisville

October 24, 2009

Howie Lindsey
CardinalSports.com Managing Editor

The Keg of Nails will be staying in Cincinnati. The matchup between 6-0 No. 5 ranked Cincinnati and 2-4 decidedly unranked Louisville turned out to be every bit as much of a mismatch as it appeared to be on paper.

Cincinnati jumped to a 21-0 lead, and walloped Louisville 41-10 in a game that was never seriously in doubt. Cincinnati asserted its dominace from the opening kickoff on.

After the first 10 minutes of game action, two drives by Cincinnati and one three-and-out by Louisville, the Cardinals had amassed eight yards of total offense. The Bearcats? 167. Cincy quarterback Zach Collaros passed for 113 yards and the Bearcats rushed for 54 on the first two touchdown drives alone.

Cincinnati marched down the field on the opening drive, gaining first downs on each first down and got a touchdown from Isaiah Pead. They only faced one third down during the impressively efficient drive. Louisville couldn't answer on the opening drive, going three and out before a 62 yard punt by Corey Goettsche.

Despite being pinned at their own 10 yard line, Cincinnati marched back down the field with another impressively efficient scoring drive capped by a 25-yard touchdown pass from Collaros to Armon Binns. The drive included three runs of 10 or more yards by Collaros.

And when Louisville couldn't answer again - another three and out - the tone to of the game was set. Sure, the Cardinals stopped Cincinnati short of a first down on 4th and 1 on UC's third drive, but the Bearcats just forced Louisville to punt again a handful of plays later and then scored again with 9:01 left in the second quarter to go up 21-0.

With 9:01 left in the second quarter, Cincinnati was ahead 21-0 and had outgained Louisville 268-33. But after that quick start, Cincinnati's next push came midway through the third quarter when a pair of field goals and two touchdowns put the game well out of Louisville's reach.

Cincinnati's onslaught subsided midway through the second quarter for a bit as Louisville was able to mount a 15-play 64-yard touchdown drive that ate up a good chunk of the time remaining in the first half. Louisville QB Adam Froman found a cutting Josh Chichester for a four-yard touchdown with 1:01 left before halftime to cut the UC lead to 21-7.

Cincinnati's launched a hurried attempt to march down the field for another TD was thwarted when Collaros was sacked by Louisville linebacker Chris Campa, pushing UC back to the 41 yard line. The Bearcats' attempt for a 51 yarder went wide right.

Louisville opening the second half like it ended the first, moving the ball. Helped by two 15 yard penalties by Cincinnati - one on a personal foul and the other on a pass interference call, the Cardinals pushed the ball into the red zone with just under 11 minutes to play in the third quarter. But UofL's drive was stalled when a personal foul was called on Jeff Adams and Louisville had to settle for a 36 yard field goal by Ryan Payne.

Louisville had scored 10 straight points, but the momentary pause to Cincinnati's onslaught was over on the next play. Cincinnati returned the kickoff 64 yards down to the Louisville 10 yard line and scored on a field goal four plays later. Without starters Adam Froman at quarterback and Victor Anderson at running back, Louisville's offense sputtered.

Meanwhile Cincinnati tacked two more touchdowns on the board in the third quarter. The first came with 6:18 left in the third quarter when Collaros lobbed a perfect pass over the shoulder and into the grip of Mardy Gilyard for a 31 yard touchdown. The second was a one-play, 67-yard touchdown drive by Cincy RB Isaiah Pead.

The Bearcts replaced QB Zach Collaros, and many other starters, on the last drive of the third quarter and UC got a field goal to start the fourth to go ahead 41-10.

INJURY NOTES: Starting offensive guard Mark Wetterer was out with a concussion, Josh Byrom will take his place. Anderson played in the first half, but came out of halftime in street clothes with a separated shoulder. Abdul Kuyateh and Brandon Heath played, despite having the flu. QB Adam Froman left the game just after halftime with a sprained elbow on his non-throwing arm.

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