Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell took part in the American Athletic Conference coaches teleconference on Monday. He did a little bit of recapping this past weekend’s win over UCLA and then took several questions about the Bearcats’ upcoming matchup with the Ohio State Buckeyes. Here are the highlights of what Fickell had to say.
+ Saturday was a great win. “Any win is a great win.” The community did a great job. It wasn’t the cleanest game in the world. They didn’t play great, but they found a way to win and battled through the momentum shifts.
+ Very unemotional coming into this game because he can’t allow himself to get emotional. They are staying focused on the preparation and doing what they have to do to win this game. He’s not talking about getting tickets for family and stuff like that. He is avoiding all of that.
+ “We’ve got our hands full.” The FAU game was over before it started. OSU stayed vanilla defensively and didn’t have to do a lot of things offensively. They can still be explosive like that, however.
+ You’re always curious watching a new staff to see how the efficiency works. Not everybody does that well in week one but OSU had no issues there.
+ On adding former OSU receiver Garyn Prater to the roster, Fickell is hopeful to get him back healthy and doing more things with the offense. They recruited him early on in high school, but he was set on being a Buckeye. They are hoping his back is healed and ready to roll. It can be hard to get them back in the mix after the season has started.
+ Being without star safety James Wiggins last week, he said his defense ran around, but wasn’t the cleanest defense. They overcame some mistakes with great effort. UCLA created some of those issues with their shifts and motions. The greatest thing they learned was that they can play through some situations and they don’t have to be perfect as long as the effort is there.
+ Asked if he keeps in touch with the guys he recruited at OSU, he says he keeps up with how they’re doing. The first year, some guys would come down and see him on the bye week. But now in year three, everybody has a lot of stuff going on. He isn’t in contact with them much anymore, but he’s also not in contact with his family all that much during the season.
+ He doesn’t know Ryan Day. They have crossed paths one time at a charity event, but have since talked during some transfer situations for Blue Smith where Day was great to him.
Dissing UCLA’s team and UC’s win over them is ignorant and short sighted to say the least. I can’t anyone seriously that calls it garbage. UCLA has been down recently while trying to establish a new coaching regime but they are a great program that’s been down. By that rash measure half of the Big Ten would be called garbage today. UC could probably beat half of the Big Ten this year. Maybe the Bruins too for that matter. Hardly the time to trash talk after underachieving in the first game ourselves. At least it’s not in all caps.
Well, we do have one thing common Buckeye- we don’t take each other seriously. If the point is that UC is a good program- and I think they are- then highlighting a win over UCLA is off base. UCLA is a joke and US should be expected to handle them. Troy Aikman isn’t their QB and Freeman McNeil isn’t the tailback. Kenny Easley is no longer in the defensive backfield, either. They are BAD (and so are half of the Big 10)…
Finally, absolutely nothing in my comments have been “trash talk” which extolled the virtues of OSU. I think UC has the potential to give OSU a bunch of trouble this weekend. My point is that pollsters/CFP folks would view a narrow OSU win with skepticism rather than what it truly deserves, which is a shame. Even a somewhat careful reading of my remarks indicates you weren’t paying attention, which leads to real “ignorance”. In conclusion, the replay booth has reviewed your message, and you are still wrong. Next, please…
Anyone remember when we played UC in 2002 and Craig Krenzel was qb and some freshman RB named Maurice? The buckeyes pulled out a close win 23-19 in the end. Next Saturday may be another close game.
Don- yessir, I remember it well. I also remember the Minnesota game in 1979, a magical year. OSU sneaked out with a 21-17 win versus a Gopher team that would finish the year 4-6-1. Sadly, those days are both gone. A 1 point OSU victory vs UC this Saturday, while better than a 1 point loss, isn’t actually THAT much better than a 1 point loss. OSU will be roasted, in the present and future, if it wins by just one point.
UC’s win over a dumpster fire team demonstrates they are going to be good? UCLA was 3-9 in 2018 and in FIFTH place in their half of the Pac 12, which is itself a joke. It’s more accurate to say that a good team should expect to win those games, regardless of the initials on the opponent’s helmet. (Now, a win over OSU would demonstrate something entirely different…). I have nothing against Luke Fickell or UC, it’s the idea of calling them good after beating a garbage team that has me scratching my head. Swing and a miss!
The only problem I have with that is UC and Fickell return the bulk of their roster from a team that WAS pretty darned good.Should they be able to beat Ohio State head up? Probably not. Then again, the Buckeyes looked pretty “normal-average” after jumping up early, getting outplayed for 3 quarters + by a TRUE dumpster fire of a program.
Cincinnati isn’t going to be nervous or afraid of the Buckeyes. This game goes 1 of 2 ways. Cincinnati plays the Buckeyes maybe into overtime, or the Buckeyes blow them out. The Bearcats ARE a good football team. Nope, they shouldn’t be at the same level as the Buckeyes but they are every bit as dangerous as Purdue from last year or Iowa from the year before. Top to bottom the Bearcats ARE better than both of those 2 opponents.
The Bruins’ recent downturn notwithstanding, UC’s win over UCLA is a big deal and demonstrates that the Bearcats are going to be good this year. Regardless of the outcome this Saturday it seems Luke has Cincy on track.
agree All Star,
cinci has some speed, some athletes (all of whom will be attitudinal towards the bucks), fickel knows osu and he knows defense. and this is cinci’s super bowl. and bucks still rolling out a very, very inexperienced qb, who had more than a few indecisive, hold the ball, deer-in-headlights plays last week for me to think this will be anything but an ugly, grinder kind of game, yeah, i’ll take a 1-pt win.