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Fresh off a Homecoming romp of Louisville, the University of Cincinnati football team looks to take down Syracuse University in a Big East match at noon Saturday, Oct. 31.
The Bearcats improved to 7-0 after their 41-10 dismantling of the Cardinals; and now have their sights set on another conference foe as they prepare for their Halloween trip to New York.
The Syracuse Orange are 3-4 overall, 0-2 in the Big East and are coming off a 28-14 victory over Akron last week.
After an up and down start, the Orange have settled down new quarterback Greg Paulus and developed a solid ground attack with Delone Carter. They also have the leading receiver in the conference Mike Williams who is averaging 119 yards per game.
Paulus is a transfer from Duke University where he was the starting point guard for one of the most distinguished basketball programs in the country. After being the 2004 Gatorade National Player of the Year in football and Mr. Basketball in New York for Christian Brothers Academy, he chose basketball – and Duke – over Syracuse.
After three mediocre seasons in Durham, N.C., Paulus has come back to his hometown and to the game of football.
As for the UC quarterback situation, Tony Pike continues to recover from his arm operation and is experimenting with different casts to see what is most comfortable.
“Tony has to feel confident in his ability to go out there and do what he needs to do,” UC head coach Brian Kelly said.
Until Pike feels he can play, the Bearcats have a sufficient backup in Zach Collaros, who was 15 for 17 with three touchdowns against the Cardinals.
With Collaros taking over for Pike, the bigger story this week has been the lack of respect the team has received in national polls.
After moving up to No. 5 in the BCS rankings last week, their highest appearance on the poll since its inception, Cincinnati fell to No. 8 after being jumped by Texas Christian University, the University of Southern California, Boise State and Iowa. They also fell one spot in the Associated Press poll to No. 5.
To Kelly, the rankings are meaningless at this point in the season. The entire team is focused on the games, not stats or rankings.
“We have so much football ahead of us that I really wasn’t looking at it that carefully, nor were our players,” Kelly said. “They look at things they can control, and that’s a Big East championship.”
Kickoff against the Orange is set for noon at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., and will be aired on ESPNU.
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