There are definitely some more colorful ways of describing the debacle, but they are unprintable here.
Sure, the Bearcats are a quality team, and likely will contest for the C-USA championship once again, but ECU made them look more like national championship contenders. ECU’s offensive line, thought to be the strength of this year’s team looked totally mediocre, but that may have been the result of offensive coordinator Rick Stockstill’s unimaginative and predictable play calling. Cincinnati was able to focus its attention almost exclusively on the Pirates’ running game. The result, only 203 total offensive yards, 57 on the ground and 146 through the air.
Many may want to hang this loss on the defense, and they deserve some of the barbs they are receiving, but after allowing the Bearcats to run through them in the first quarter, the Pirate D made adjustments, and with a little help from the offense could have made a game of it. Unfortunately, they didn’t receive that help and as a result, Bearcat quarterback Gino Guidugli was rarely put in a situation where he had to display his passing skills. Simple handoffs to Richard Hall and Derick Eddington were enough. The two Bearcat running backs combined for more rushing yardage (255) than ECU’s entire offensive unit (203).
The lone bright spot in a game that had few for the Pirates was the kicking game.
Unfortunately, punter Ryan Dougherty had to punt eight times with an average of 45.2 yards per kick. His longest was a 65-yarder. Placekicker Chris Broadwell also looked good in his one field goal attempt, a 36-yarder that netted the Pirates’ only points.
In an understatement, new Pirate head coach John Thompson said after the game, "There's a lot of things we have to get better on. “ Yes indeed.