UC/Rutgers Livebloggeroo- The Second Half

Quarter 4

FINAL- CINCINNATI 28- RUTGERS 23. Good game.

1:07- 3rd and 5. Greg Moore runs...for a first down. Game over. Praise be to God. The chains confirm the first down. BEARCATS WIN!!!! All is right with the world.

1:07- Mauk...passes? Fair enough. Pass is caught for a few yards. My dad screams, "Stay in bounds you dumbass!" He listened. Rutgers is out of timeouts now.

1:15- Rutgers has one timeout left. Cincy is on their second down. The Rutgers fans are streaming out of the stadium. Beauty is found.

1:19- INTERCEPTION BY MANALAC!!!! THIRD INTERCEPTION BY THEM TONIGHT. Perfect. Teel blows it again! Jabu wouldn't have thrown. He would have run for the touchdown. Jabu needs justice!!!!!

1:44- Tim Brown catches a tipped pass, gains a first down. He's got a better case than Ray'R does for Heisman tonight.

2:03- Straight pass for twenty yards. DeAngelo Smith wrestles with him to the ground. First down.

2:13- Teel's repeating from last week. Starting at their own twenty, two minute drill, need a touchdown to score. Rice a la flambe for a first down to their own 43.

2:13- Cincy's MVP, their punter, boots it nicely to within the ten, but it bounces into the endzone. Damn that would have been sweet.

2:24- Moore up the middle for a short gain. Timeout by Rutgers, who have two remaining. 3rd and 4 on their own 48. Short screen broken up. Fuck me. They're punting.

3:26- Cincy's at the point where they're sitting on the line, wasting time. That is a good sign. Ramsey up the middle for a short gain.

4:00- Short pass to Moore. First down? Maybe. Jason McCordy stops him. That twin will not be killed in the sacrifice. First down!

4:44- I think Bob's running out of stuff to talk about. This is the fifth mention of Mauk's arm troubles and his multiple pins this half. He's probably on repeat at this point. Like a parrot. Or Dr. Sbaitso.

4:53- Ray'R's out, so guess what? PASS. Teel's pass is....deflected and almost intercepted. Dear God, you're playing with my heart. Punt goes into the end zone for a net punt of 21 yards. Smart move there, Schiano. Show some guts.

5:45- I'm not the only one making the rice jokes. Cue Bob Davie! Now if only there were bionic rice...

6:50- Ray'R gains six. Oh noes!!! He's gaining steam in his wooden steam basket!

7:00- Ruters starts from their own 37. Ray'R gets a first down. Menu up!

7:00- Mauk fumbles. He will be our ruin during the Golden Age. Life is over. Fuck you Mauk.

7:30- Mauk runs. He gains. He will save us from ourself when the world ends. Mauk Mauk.

8:50- I think Moore, of the running back by groupthink, had a better day than Ray'R. I'll check that later.

9:48- Moore in motion, rolls to his right, short pass, nice first down.

10:00- Ito kicks a field goal. It-o. RUTGERS 23- CINCY 28

10:05- Teel tries to be Mauk and fails. BUT, Tolbert, free safety for the Bearcats, did manage to knock out DeAngelo Smith, his own teammate. Good play.

10:43- 2nd down and 5 from Cincy's 25. Nakamura, he of the many blackbelts, makes a nice open field tackle against Ray'R. Dinner is served.

10:43- Brian Kelly calls his last timeout of the half. Why? Only God knows. And even he's confused. Omniscient and confused. Think about it. It's a riddle.

11:50- But he can catch. Ray'R gets a huge gain from a short reception.

12:45- Ray'R stuffed for a loss. Before this drive , he was 27 carries for 71 yards. Not a good day.

13:00- Jabu! Runs for a first down. Keep him in! The Xena attack hasn't failed you yet. Do it for the children.

14:30- Dubious reception by Rutgers, but whatever. It's a pity call.

15:00- Ray'R runs! Really far! For him today, at least.


Quarter 3

END OF QUARTER- Man, that was exciting. 30 seconds can make a huge difference. Tits.

0:28- Mauk goes deep to Gilyard...again. Touchdown. RUTGERS 20- CINCY 28

Fun fact about Gilyard: Slept in his car last year. I like his style. I would make a New Jersey mechanic joke, but it's too easy.

0:33- Put in Jabu! Teel intercepted by Revels. Jabu cries.

0:48- Holding? On a kickoff? That NEVER happens! Well refs, you've given Rutgers their necessary penalty. Now you can continue to shit on the Bearcats.

0:52- Barnett up the middle. TOUCHDOWN! Tits. RUTGERS 20- CINCY 21

1:30- Cincy lines up with not enough men on the line of scrimmage. Call a timeout. Holy fuck, guys, c'mon! You weren't making this many mistakes against San Diego State, the powerhouse of the Mountain West Conference. What's going on?

1:30- 2nd and goal, Mauk sticks to his legs and goes to the two. Trust yourself, Mauk. You can beat them by yourself.

2:01- HAHA! Gameclock turned back. Cincy lines up. False start! Great concentration dudes. And....my dad goes livid. Lifelong Bearcats fan.

1:57- Odd play. Handoff from Mauk, Moore drives to the 1, fumbles forward, picked up by Cincy. Touchdown! Or is it? The review looks like he was down at the one. Damn.

2:11- Mauk finds Gilyard again thirty yards away. He's open, high pass. Caught. First down.

3:15- Dear lord, Mauk throws a beautiful 50 yard pass to Gilyard, who catches it and drops it. The cybernetics wins again.

Oh Haruki. Your ninja powers wouldn't let you get that interception? You shame your city and your coach. But I still love you.

3:30- Near interception. Bring out the field goal unit! it's good. RUTGERS 20- CINCY 14

3:40- Teel chucks it into the endzone. Broken up by...Nakamura, he of the many blackbelts.

4:38- Jabu returns! First down. Apparently that's a single wing offense. I'll call it the Xena attack. I know football.

4:57- Ray'R has a positive run for once! And he nearly gets a first down. He about doubled his rush stats with that four yard gain.

5:38- Tim Brown is the unsung hero of the Rutgers offense. The little man went up. First down on the Rutgers 20.

5:53- 3rd and ten at their own twenty, Underwood receives the short pass and gains about twenty, thanks to an uncalled block to the back. Ballsack

6:39- Rice gets stuffed. Give it up to the Bearcats' defense. They've taken Ray'R off the menu. Lolz

7:04- Who's got the ball? Oh yeah, UC. Punt! Almost downed on the 1 yard line, but the greased pig jumped over the UC defender. Balls.

USC lost. Booty. Back to the game.

Brief intermission as I watch the end of the Stanford/USC game

HOLY SHIT: Stanford up 1 on USC with a minute left in the game. Holy shit, go trees.

8:53- 4th and 6, Rutgers punt from Cincy's 47. Punt lands on the 10, rolls toward the endzone with three Rutgers players chasing it, a dive and.....touchback. The greased pig got away.

OTHER SPORTS UPDATE: Cubs lost. Suck it, Cliff.

9:26- Tim Brown runs for a yard, gets drilled out of bounds, refs call a late hit penalty. Fucking bullshit. That was momentum, asshole. Mickens knocked himself out to get that late hit. Give him some credit.

9:33- Little side note- The last time the Bearcats were 5-0 was the same year my dad was born. The ciiiiircle of life (my dad's not dead, I just find this cyclical). Ray'R runs for a first down.

10:16- Hey, remember when you guys pulled the no-huddle offense and scored? Think it'll work again? Well, doesn't matter. Glatthaarr runs to the left and scores!!!! Ggllaatthhaarrrrrrrrrr!! Peter Saarsgaard, somewhere, is crying a tear of joy. RUTGERS 17- CINCY 14

10:30- They're going for it! QB sneak. Mauk's bionic arm throws him through the crowd for a first down.

10:30- Fourth and inches at the 6, ready for the quick run. Guess what? Let's call timeout to mull it over! As my dad says, "If you can't get six inches, you don't deserve to play." Another lifelong Bearcats fan.

11:10- Redzone offense. Mauk throws high, close to a first down. 4th and 1. What to do, what to do?

12:25- Moore runs for a big gain up the middle, thirty yards. Nakamura blesses us all!

12:45- Teel throws deep. Nakamura interception! Jabu wouldn't have thrown the ball. Food for thought, Rutgers.

13:35- Jabu's back! And he runs for 3 yards. And now Teel's back. I like this scheme.

14:30- Teel goes deep on 2nd and long. Twenty yard gain or so. Ball at midfield.

15:00- Opening kickoff to Rutgers. Halftime stats: 20 yards rushing for Rutgers. Ray'r isn't having a Heisman game thus far.

HALFTIME STORY TIME

Like I said, I've been a lifelong Cincy football fan. That's kinda like saying I enjoy mediocrity for a living. I mean, I could root for OSU, but then again, I could be a douchebag as well. It's a lifestyle choice. Don't persecute me for my beliefs.

I attended UC's last home game, a beatdown of Marshall. It was the first time that Nippert Stadium had been sold out in decades. Well, at least sold out for a college football game. That stadium sells out all the time for minor league amateur football (I mean high school ball) all the time. But it really was something special to see 33,000 people at Nippert. And to root for the Bearcats too! There were even students attending! They get in for free, so I know how difficult it is to go to a game that occurs right in the middle of campus. It was nice to see commitment.

I arrived in the second quarter of the game. Oktoberfest Zinzinnati took precedent over a football game for me. When I arrived, I received a shirt saying, "Come Early, Wear Black, Be Loud." I wore gray and was silent/unconscious. I'm a great fan. It wasn't much of a game, which is a complete shame because I lived in the middle of Marshall territory until recently and really wanted to at least see them do well. But no. I sat under the nice awning, talked to my relatives, drank some beer, and then went to play Guitar Hero. On the way out, I stumbled and knocked over a pile of chairs. It was a good night.

Anyway, my point of this is: even if UC doesn't win the game, I'll still have my hazy memories of them beating sub par teams. Where huh, Bearcats. Where huh.