CINCINNATI -- Tommy Tuberville rolled the dice Thursday night and he lost. Well, he should have lost. If not for the right foot of redshirt freshman kicker Andrew Gantz, Tuberville and the Cincinnati Bearcats would've lost.
Gantz drilled a career-long 47-yard field goal with 15 seconds left to give UC the lead in an eventual 54-46 victory against East Carolina at frigid Paul Brown Stadium. Defensive end Terrell Hartsfield scooped up a forward lateral and returned it for a 20-yard touchdown on the final play of the game, but it was Gantz who proved decisive. His kick had plenty of leg to spare and gave Tuberville a leg to stand on after the head coach had gambled on a fourth down play deep in UC territory that led to East Carolina taking the lead with 1:02 left.
The native of Centerville, Ohio has been practicing for this moment all season. Making long kicks at the end of practice got his teammates out of extra running during spring drills. This long kick made them bowl eligible and kept them alive in the race for the American Athletic Conference championship.
The Bearcats are 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the American after a fourth straight victory. East Carolina (6-3, 3-2) was in the initial College Football Playoff rankings but now has lost two straight.
Bearcats quarterback Gunner Kiel threw for a season-high 436 yards on 29-of-44 passing. He needed three final completions for 35 yards on the game-winning drive. Three straight completions, including a 16-yarder to Mekale McKay that got the ball to the East Carolina 30-yard line, were followed by three straight incompletions. That brought out long snapper Kirk Willis, holder Sam Geraci and Gantz.
"What just happened? That's what I felt," said Gantz, who said this was the first game-winner he's kicked at any level. "I told Sam and Gunner when we got the ball just give me a chance. It's going to come down to us, so get your head right. It's going to end with us, and it did. Sometimes you just have a feeling. I had that feeling."
Gantz is now 12 of 13 on field goals the season. His only miss was from 38 yards against Memphis on Oct. 4 but he's now made 10 in a row. He made a 33-yard attempt early in the second quarter to give the Bearcats a 17-6 lead. He's now 3 for 3 from beyond 40 yards. His previous long was a 46-yarder against Miami (Fla.) in much warmer surroundings.
The temperature was 27 degrees at kickoff. Four hours later it was colder. It didn't matter.
"I told myself it was just another kick," Gantz said. "It's something everyone dreams of when you start kicking a football, whether you're an 8-year-old or an 18-year-old. That's the moment you dream of. To be in the position to win a game for your team, for your brothers that you've worked so hard with. It was just indescribable. I can't thank God enough to put me in a position to succeed like this. I can't thank our offense enough, our line, our snapper, our holder. It was unreal."
Gantz was in that position because the Bearcats failed miserably on a fourth-and-2 play from their own 33 a few minutes earlier. Conventional wisdom says they should've punted with just more than two minutes left, but there was nothing conventional about this game. The two offenses had dominated their defensive counterparts for the majority of the game.
The numbers were staggering: There were a combined 172 plays run that produced 1,158 yards, 59 first downs and 12 touchdowns on the offensive side.
Given those stats, no wonder Tuberville decided to go for the first down and run out the clock. The Bearcats were leading 45-40. One more first down effectively would end the game. But instead of sealing the win, the Bearcats nearly fumbled it away, literally. Kiel ran an option play to the left with running back Rod Moore in the trail position for the pitch. East Carolina linebacker Montese Overton read the play, forced Kiel's hand and in the process forced a bad pitch that gave the Pirates the ball at the UC 27. It was the fourth turnover of the game by the Bearcats.
"If I knew we were going to run that play like that, I promise you we would have punted," Tuberville said.
East Carolina quarterback Shane Carden didn't complete any of the four passes he attempted on the drive, but aided by two pass interference calls, Carden gave the Pirates a 46-45 lead with a 2-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion was no good but the Bearcats were in trouble.
"Having a minute left, your mind is racing. It just goes back to playing pitch-and-catch. You just have to do the little things right and the offensive line did a great job giving me protection and guys came up with some big plays," Kiel said. "(Gantz) came up to me before and said 'It's me and you. If you get me down there, I'm going to hit it. We're going to do it.'"
Tuberville said he was watching the fans who were behind the goal posts in the south end zone when Gantz let the kick go. They told him all he needed to know.
"I put our guys in a bind and I told them they dug me out of a hole," Tuberville said. "I don't have to listen the next couple of weeks about how stupid that (fourth down) call was. It was a stupid call. I just saw our defense give up a touchdown in one minute and we were on our heels. Not that I didn't have confidence in them, but I had more confidence in our offense in making that first down.
"We didn't make it but fortunately our players were able to dig us out."
