Pitarresi: Bearcats are scary

I was watching Cincinnati defeat South Florida Thursday night, doing some scouting for SU coach Doug Marrone – not really, because he hasn’t shown any interest in anything I have to say so far this season – and I became very, very frightened. The Bearcats are scary.

 

The Orange already have lost to USF this season, thanks in part to seven turnovers, and now they are looking at a Halloween date with the Bearcats, a team that once had very little impact on the big time college football scene and now is ranked No. 8. That’s after, of course, SU plays Oct. 24 against Akron, a team that gets little respect except that it beat the Orange 42-28 last season.

 

I was frightened because Cincinnati lost its terrific quarterback, Tony Pike, to a wrist injury early in the second half, leading 17-10. So in comes unimposing looking sophomore Zach Collaros, who almost immediately runs 75 yards for a touchdown, showing both speed and some shake. Then Collaros – who is from Steubenville, Ohio, which I think is where Dean Martin was from, although I’m pretty sure Dean didn’t play football – throws for a long gain to his tight end, Ben Guidugli, then overcomes a Guidugli penalty to score on a 3-yard run. The kid just has a great all-around game, and pretty soon it is obvious why the Bearcats are ranked so high, and why the No. 21 Bulls aren’t going to beat them. They have just as much or more talent, all over the place, and win 37-17. This is a very good football team.

 

SU hasn’t beaten Cincinnati since 2004. It will take a big effort to break that string Oct. 31.

 

Reader “Tony Soprano,” apparently unaware that he was breaking his own code of silence, chastised me the other day because he read about the subject of a recent blog onWoody Strode in Sports Illustrated first. Of course he did. The blog was written because I always liked Woody Strode and enjoyed the story about him and Kenny Washington. I did credit SI writer Alexander Wolff, although “Tony” didn’t seem to notice.

 

Tbat Strode and Washington broke the NFL color line in 1946 was something I knew about only vaguely. I’m sure most SI and O-D readers knew absolutely nothing about it, and I wanted to call attention to it. Yes, Wolff wrote the story. I commented on the story. It happens all the time.

 

See ya around some time, Tony.