Football
Collaros forces QB controversy
By C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted November 8, 2009 12:39 AM ET
Quarterback Tony Pike's coming back to the No. 4 Cincinnati Bearcats, but he's got a battle on his hands for the starting spot.
Following Saturday's 47-45 victory over Connecticut, UC head coach Brian Kelly said the quarterback position is open for the 9-0 Bearcats.
"Based on the way (Collaros) has played the last three games, I have to reconsider my decision," Kelly said.
Kelly had previously said Pike was his guy when he returned from the wrist injury suffered in the Oct. 15 victory at South Florida. Collaros not only came in to rescue the team in that game, he's led them to three more victories and Saturday's was his most impressive yet.
Against the Huskies, the sophomore set a Big East and school record for total offense with 555 yards - 480 passing and 75 rushing, with one passing touchdown and two rushing. Collaros finished 29 of 37 with no interceptions. His 480 passing yards is the second-most in school history and third-best mark in Big East history.
"I'd have to be a real, real bummer here to pick apart his performance," Kelly said. "He sees the field extremely well and made plays all over the place. He's got great help, we've got three great receivers, we have great balance, we ran the football for 280 yards, I don't know what else you can say offensively. With all of that offense, we didn't turn the ball over, and I think that says a lot about the discipline and the execution of the offense."
Since taking the reigns from Pike, Collaros is 70 of 89 for 1,100 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception, good for a passing efficiency rating of 209.9.
Kelly said Pike will finally get to fully participate in practice this week. He's been able do throw the ball some in practice, but not like a starter needs to heading into a game week.
"He's going to practice the whole week finally, he got the brace in late on Thursday, we'll see how he practices and we'll make it later in the week," Kelly said.
Kelly said Pike could have played and there was a chance he'd get into the game.
"We thought about doing it if the circumstances were right," Kelly said. "I'd have preferred to get him in and throw a couple of balls around there and kind of get the butterflies out, but it never really presented itself. I thought we were going to be able to extend the game out and have it in control, then I was never going to do that. You get your second offensive line in there and something happens."
Pike wasn't needed.
As good as Collaros has been in wins over South Florida, Louisville and Syracuse, Collaros was twice as good Saturday. The Bearcats didn't punt in the first half and Collaros had thrown for 333 yards at the break, with the Bearcats leading 30-10.
"Everyone on the offense was just saying that they can't beat us if they can't stop our offense," Collaors said.
They tried, however.
After the Bearcats' first punt of the day, UConn's Jordan Todman busted a 46-yard run for a touchdown - the second of his four touchdowns. He ran for 162 yards on 26 carries. The Huskies also returned a punt 87 yards for a touchdown and had a chance to tie the game with 5:03 left, but linebacker Curtis Young sacked Zach Frazer on the two-point conversion, to preserve UC's 40-38 lead.
"I'm thinking we need to score more points," Kelly said. "I'm just lining up the next play, the next call. We needed to be aggressive. What I was thinking was we can't just sit on this thing, we've got to throw the football, and we did on that drive and we stayed aggressive."
On the final drive, Collaros completed all four of the passes he attempted and nearly ran for a first down. On fourth-and-1 from the Huskies' 14 and less than two minutes remaining, Kelly decided to go for the first down, not a field goal that would give the Bearcats a 5-point lead.
"I just felt like the way Connecticut was playing, that I didn't want to give them any more chances," Kelly said.
UConn head coach Randy Edsall said he wasn't surprised Kelly went for the first down.
The Huskies had a shot as safety Robert Vaughn caught up to UC running back Isaiah Pead around the line of scrimmage, but Pead used a stutter step to get by him and then 14-yards to the end zone.
If Pead hadn't scored, the Huskies were out of timeouts and UC would have been able to take three knees to run out the clock. Instead, UConn was able to mount another scoring drive, but was unable to convert an onside kick.
"Sometimes you just have to find a way to win," Kelly said. "(Winning) by one point is enough for me. Today our offense had to pick it up for our defense, a lot of that has to do with the way Connecticut played. It was an exciting game, I think we helped the rating for ABC. It was a sell-out crowd. That's what BCS college football is about, Cincinnati - and it's fun."
Categories: College, Featured Stories, Football, News, University of Cincinnati Bearcats
Tags: Brian Kelly, Isaiah Pead, Mardy Gilyard, Tony Pike, UC, UC Bearcats, UC football, UConn, Zach Collaros
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