By Tim Gelehrter
FOX Sports Ohio
Monday, November 1, 2010
CINCINNATI - Had someone told Cincinnati head coach Butch Jones prior to Saturday's loss to Syracuse that his defense would hold the Orange under 300 yards of total offense, record four sacks and create two takeaways, he would have been more than pleased. Had they told him those numbers would come with 31 points surrendered, he would have been confused. However, that was the story Saturday at Nippert Stadium as the Bearcats dropped their second consecutive home game 31-7. Afterwards, the Bearcats head coach was frank about his teams result, "Is everyone embarrassed? Absolutely," Jones said. "Is everyone disappointed? Absolutely. Is this what we expect? No. But I am going to be honest with you, it's part of being a head coach is to be prepared for these situations and there are no surprises to me. I love our kids and I am going to keep coaching them every day along with our coaching staff."
ADVERSE SITUATIONS: The Orange offense received a big lift from their defense twice (on back-to-back possessions in the first half) getting the ball in the red zone following a Bearcats turnover. The first came on a fumble by starting quarterback Chazz Anderson and the second after a fumble by wide receiver DJ Woods. Both times the turnover came on the first play of a UC possession and both times resulted in points for the Orange. Syracuse scored the first 17 points of the game before surrendering a touchdown to the Bearcats that cut the deficit to 10 at the half. Jones knows that in those tough situations it is crucial to get a defensive response, "We turn the ball over and part of growing up as a defense is being able to handle sudden change. We gave up all touchdowns but on one occasion. You got to force a team to kick field goals. You can't give up touchdowns in those sudden change situations."
BYE WEEK SCHEDULE: With the Bearcats not returning to the field until November 13th at West Virginia, Jones said Monday he will use this week to get some of his players healthy while his coaching staff will hit the recruiting trail early in the week. The team will not practice again until Thursday and seven coaches will be out of the office on Tuesday and Wednesday to cover recruiting. The team will practice Thursday, Friday and Saturday (as they did during their first bye week) before beginning a usual game week on Sunday. It is expected that the game time for the Bearcats trip to Morgantown will be announced sometime Monday afternoon.
WOLFE BACK ON HIS FEET: Bearcats junior defensive lineman Derek Wolfe was injured in the first half against Syracuse on a scary play in which he lay motionless for almost 60 seconds. Wolfe was evaluated for a neck injury and did not return. Jones said Monday that Wolfe is expected to be 100 percent for the game against the Mountaineers in two weeks.
