Cincinnati’s Offense Can’t Find Answers for Second Game in a Row (BearcatJournal)
BY Keegan Nickoson | BearcatJournal.com
Thirteen days had passed since the Bearcats had last played. The nasty taste in everyone’s mouth had, for the most part, subsided. The focus was on the next three weeks, which had become a three-game season: if Cincinnati won its remaining games, it’d play for a chance at the Big 12 Championship.
Visions of AT&T Stadium danced in UC fans’ heads.
Then, the ball was snapped, and as Brendan Sorsby’s first pass floated through the air, all those visions reverted to what had transpired in Salt Lake City, UT, just less than two weeks ago. Three plays after intercepting the first play of the game, Arizona scored and took the lead. Punch thrown.
Outside of three drives, that was the story of the day for Cincinnati’s offense in its 30-24 loss to the Wildcats, which continues to look borderline inept at times against man coverage. Over the last two games, Sorsby has thrown for 375 yards and is 26/61, for a 42% completion rate.
“ It’s the truth,” Sorsby said when asked what he’d say to critics who point out he and the offense can’t beat man defense. “There’s nothing else to say about it. Whenever you play man against us, we’re having trouble right now.
“We gotta figure it out ’cause that’s what we’re gonna get the rest of the way. I got nothing to say to those people. We gotta stay within us and find a way to beat man coverage or else we will get beat these next two games. We know what we’re gonna get.”
Time and time again, Sorsby dropped back and couldn’t find his usual guys as open as normal. Cyrus Allen had five catches for 58 yards, with a long of 37. He was targeted nine times. Jeff Caldwell had a good day, pulling in five catches for 68 yards himself; he was targeted nine times.
But Joe Royer has gone missing from the game plan. The one-time projected first round has three catches in the last three games for a total of 30 yards. According to PFF, he’s been targeted just four times in that same span.
“ We called a couple more [plays for him] and they were doubling him,” Satterfield said postgame.
“We’re not going to force the ball into him when they’re double covering him, we had more [plays called for him] coming into this game, maybe than we had the last several games. Early in the game, we had a target for him. I bet probably at least three other times where we’re calling his number and they have a guy outside and a guy inside, so now we gotta take it to the field. Obviously, there is some frustration there a little bit.”
Royer’s frustrations with the loss – and possibly his lack of involvement – were evident. He swung the locker room door open with force, slamming it into the concrete wall behind it after he walked off the field. Heads hung low as Cincinnati didn’t just lose the game; they may have cost themselves a chance at history, becoming the first Bearcats team to play in the Big 12 Championship.
“ We’ve had too many weeks where Joe only has one catch,” Sorsby said. “I think people are doing a good job of scheming him up, but you still gotta find a way to get him the ball. He’s one of the best tight ends in the country, but one catch a game is not going to show that.
“We gotta find a way to get him the ball. He’s a really talented player, and what we got going right now is not very good for any of us as far as execution goes. We’re not doing what we need to do. The way that Joe gets the ball more is we gotta execute and then find a way to get him more targets.”
The issue is Cincinnati’s offense isn’t in a lull, as Satterfield said postgame. They’ve been exposed. The Bearcats have not been able to muster any consistent remedy to defenses playing man coverage.
They’ve also gone away from Isaiah Johnson, who hasn’t recorded a rush or reception since the Bearcats’ game against Baylor. He has 177 yards on 11 touches, good for 16 yards a touch. General Manager Zach Grant called Johnson “the best receiver with the ball in his hands” on Cincinnati’s roster at Wednesday’s radio show, so his decline in involvement is head-scratching, especially when his touches have been easy pop-passes or end-arounds and not fully developed routes.
The defense didn’t play lights out by any means, but it did enough to give the offense a chance to win, which has been a winning formula for Cincinnati this year.
Tackling was better than against Utah, but the defensive backs’ tendency to play soft coverage on crucial 3rd-and-mediums hurt the Bearcats on multiple plays Saturday. One 4th & 3 when Arizona converted easily in the exact scenario forced Satterfield, notoriously an offensive mind, to get involved in the defensive scheme.
“ We’d love to tighten it down,” Satterfield said.
“We’ll go back and watch the film. There were a few times we were tightened down, and they still got the ball in there. You gotta knock it down. On the 4th & 3, we were too deep on that. He just went up four yards, turned around, first down. We gotta tighten that down. That’s no question about that. But then we did do that several times, and they still got the ball or made the play. We were trying to bring some pressure there, and we got a couple guys loose out there, and those guys made the play.”
Tyson Veidt’s defense, which has famously prevented the big play, allowed 15 plays of 15+ yards against Arizona, six of which went for 25+ yards.
Cincinnati hosts BYU at Nippert Stadium next week. Kickoff is set for Saturday at 7 pm on FOX.