Fres(no) fun at all for Bearcats

The very first play was quite a frightening omen. The Bearcats narrowly averted disaster just seconds into their season as Vidal Hazelton took a kickoff off his facemask. In the second quarter starting guard Alex Hoffman took an inadvertent kick directly to his helmet.

Despite a promising first and nfl jerseys
spirited early second quarter, the entire Cincinnati team had to absorb a jarring kick to the head Saturday night, losing 28-14 in Fresno, California.
For all of the anticipation and preparation, UC did not appear ready to begin. The fastest offense in the Big East simply took too long to start the Butch Jones regime. Has ever before a team been saddled with opening play delay of game?
The delay of game provided another harrowing glimpse of what was to come.
The Bearcats took two delay of game (D.O.G.) penalties in the first half and three more times Coach Jones was forced to burn a timeout to prevent a delay penalty. Every first half timeout was used to escape that D.O.G. flag.
The process, from selecting the play up through the snap of the ball, has to be better going forward.
Coming out of the third first half timeout, midway through the second quarter, the momentum pendulum swung dramatically, never to return.
Much like Cincinnati’s first strike, Fresno’s was set up by a spectacular defensive play.
Behind a steadying offensive line, Fresno QB Ryan Colburn hit Robbie Rouse for a swift rebuttal.
The Bulldogs got the ball after Collaros held on to the ball, looking to set up the screen pass. The quiet second quarter of Logan Harrell immediately roared to life as he sacked Collaros for a staggering twenty yard loss. For the second straight series Patrick O’Donnell was punting out of Texans jersey
his own end zone, never a good sign.
Three of Fresno’s touchdowns were quick strikes. Their scoring drives tallied 4, 5, 9, and 3 plays.
In all, Colburn passed for four touchdowns on the night, Collaros one.
The brightest spots for UC were the early play from the defensive line and defensive backs.
In the first quarter, backup safety Patrick Lambert made the first turnover of the game, setting up a short field for the UC offense. The first score needs to be credited to Lambert as much as Woods/Collaros. It took just two plays for the Bearcats to punch in their first touchdown of the season.
First Woods ran a sweet reverse.
Then Collaros hit a wide open D.J. Woods over the middle, giving UC a 7-0 lead. The throw was perfect, but Woods destroyed his defender with a snappy double move. As the first quarter wound down, UC looked to be finding their way.
Cincinnati’s longest sustained drive of the game occurred early in the second quarter. Taking over on their own 23, the Cats zipped up the field. On the strength of four completed passes (three to Woods) Cincinnati glided to a commanding 14-0 lead.
As the game wore on Fresno started to win the trench battles, particularly the Packers jersey
Bulldog D-line. For the game they totaled eight sacks, regularly spinning heads on the UC offensive line.
Cincinnati takes the field again Saturday, September 11th at noon versus Indiana State.