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TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com

Behind Enemy Lines: A conversation 
with Cincinnati’s football beat writer

By BETELHEM ASHAME

Managing Sports Editor

To gain an inside perspective 

on the Cincinnati football team, 
the Daily reached out to our 
counterparts at The News Record, 
the student-run newspaper at 
the University of Cincinnati. On 
Thursday, we spoke on the phone 
with Jason Szelest — the sports 
editor at The News Record — to 
talk about the upcoming game 
between No. 8 Michigan and the 
Bearcats.

Here’s 
a 

look into our 
conversation:

The 

Michigan 
Daily: 
What 

was 
the 

immediate 
reaction 
over 

there 
after 

playing a team 
like Austin Peay 
pretty close in 
that opener?

The 
News 

Record: I’d say the immediate 
reaction 
was 
disappointment. 

When you look at what we had 
last year — last year was a very 
disappointing season for us. Lot 
of high expectations that were 
not even close to met, finished 
with a 4-8 record and really 
just looked listless throughout 
most of the season. I think a lot 
of people were thinking that 
(former 
head 
coach) 
Tommy 

Tuberville was the problem and 
then, while no one was expecting 
(current head coach Luke) Fickell 
to take us 12-0 in his first season, 
they were expecting to see some 
sort of improvement; and I really 
don’t think that anyone saw 
improvement in what we put out 
there last Thursday.

TMD: Is there something in 

particular from your perspective 
that went wrong against them 
in the opener. Was it an energy 
thing?

TNR: Oh, I absolutely think 

it was an energy thing. I mean, 
we don’t have the most talented 
roster, but we have a roster good 
enough to put a team like Austin 
Peay — who I believe has lost 28 

straight games at the FCS level 
— we had enough talent that 
we should have put them away 
early and then never let off the 
gas pedal. I believe defensively 
we gave up almost 200 yards 
rushing and offensively we didn’t 
get a push, and that’s not a talent 
thing, that’s an effort thing. And I 
don’t think that we really had the 
energy and enthusiasm needed to 
play a college football game, and I 
think a lot of that was because of 
the fact that we were looking at a 
team that we knew wasn’t going 
to be too good and thought we 
could just coast by.

TMD: So coming into Michigan 

— Michigan just jumped to (No. 8) 
— I saw that quote in your story, 
the “shock the world” quote, is 
that a soundbite or is that the 
general feeling you’re getting 
around their facilities, that they 
actually are confident coming 
into this one?

TNR: It’s hard to say ‘cause, 

when you look at someone like 
Luke Fickell — I think he’s a 
very confident coach in general 
— obviously he has had success 
against Michigan in the past. He 
knows that he doesn’t have the 
roster that he had at Ohio State, 
obviously, but I think he wants 
to put across the mentality that it 
doesn’t matter who UC is playing. 
He said it multiple times. He 
doesn’t care who the opponent 
is, he’s worried about what UC 
does, and I feel that he believes 
it, to some degree at least. That if 
we do what we need to do, we can 
still come away successful.

TMD: So in order to pull off 

the upset, what is one thing that 
you think Cincinnati really needs 
to lock down on?

TNR: No question about it. I’d 

say there’s two things: running 
game and running defense. If 
our run defense performs the 
way they did against Austin 
Peay, Michigan will run for 
500 yards on us. The way that 
Michigan’s offense is designed, 
with a power running game like 
that, we have got to stop that. We 
have got to make (redshirt junior 
quarterback 
Wilton) 
Speight 

throw the ball. That is our only 
chance at victory. Speight, I still 

say, is a decent quarterback, but 
I’d much rather put the ball in 
his hands than have to deal with 
Michigan’s running game the 
entire time. Offensively, (running 
back) Mike Boone is our most 
talented player, hands down. 
On the entire team, he’s the guy 
that has to be a playmaker. I 
would be absolutely shocked if 
we were able to just power down 
Michigan’s throat, through the 
tackles, so I think we need to 
come up with more dynamic 
ways of getting him involved in 
the offense. I think maybe lining 
him up in the slot a little bit, just 
trying to get him on the edge 
and get some perimeter blocking 
going because we are not going 
to just shove it down Michigan’s 
throat every play and get four or 
five yards a carry. That’s just not 
going to happen.

TMD: 
I’m 
curious 
about 

Hayden Moore. I want to say now 
he has two years of starting under 
his belt, am I wrong there?

TNR: Sort of two years. His 

freshman season, he came in for 
an injured Gunner Kiel and kind 
of took over. Then obviously 
Gunner had a situation where he 
left the program before the bowl 
game and then Hayden Moore 
started. Gunner had sort of come 
back and taken the job over again 
when he got healthy, but when he 
left the program, Hayden Moore 
got to start the bowl game as well 
his freshman year. So I’d say he 
started maybe six, seven games 
his freshman year. Last year, 
Hayden Moore was named the 
starter at the beginning of the 
season and he played throughout 
the majority of the start of the 
year then got hurt. When he 
came back, he wasn’t really all 
that effective and he was kind 
of battling between Gunner Kiel 
and Ross Trail for the starting 
position later on in the year. So he 
has started games in two years, 
but he’s never had a full season 
where he’s started every game.

TMD: Either way, that’s a 

collection of experience that he 

has going against a Michigan 
secondary that, for the most 
part, doesn’t really have any, 
so is he the type of player that 
can be an X-factor or is he the 
type of quarterback that will be 
serviceable?

TNR: 
Honestly, 
that’s 
the 

question a lot of UC fans ask 
because the first game Hayden 
Moore ever played was against 
Memphis when Gunner Kiel went 
down. As a freshman — never 
playing a snap of college football in 
his life — in about three quarters, 
he threw for 550 yards and five 
touchdowns 
against 
Memphis. 

Though he can be that playmaker, 
the X-factor, the bottom line is, 
since that time, it seems like he’s 
more concerned about making 
mistakes and not just being that 
player that I think he can be. So at 
this point in his career, I’m more 
concerned with Hayden Moore 
being serviceable and not turning 
the ball over against Michigan

Jason’s Prediction: Michigan 
38-10 Cincinnati

Cincinnati at 
Michigan

Matchup: 
Cincinnati 1-0; 
Michigan 1-0

When: Saturday 
12 P.M.

Where: 
Michigan 
Stadium

TV/Radio: ABC

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh will coach against former Ohio State defensive coordinator Luke Fickell on Saturday.

