Category Archives: Katz on the Cats

My interview with Butch Jones, part III

Posted on January 31, 2010 | Leave a comment

Two weeks ago, I was invited into Butch Jones’ office for a little question and answer session. I hadn’t met Jones yet, so I was interested to see him in his new digs, how he was adjusting to his new job and how he would answer my questions. Here’s part III of III of my interview.

Josh Katzowitz: I saw a little Skyline Chili gift basket outside your office. Have you been to Skyline yet?

Butch Jones: Oh yeah, I’ve been to Skyline a number of times. You saw the basket? That’s one example of the support we’ve received since coming here.

Read the rest here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Katz on the Cats

Tagged

My interview with Butch Jones, part II

Posted on January 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

Two weeks ago, I was invited into Butch Jones’ office for a little question and answer session. I hadn’t met Jones yet, so I was interested to see him in his new digs, how he was adjusting to his new job and how he would answer my questions. Here’s part II of III of my interview.

Josh Katzowitz: Not many people have talked about this, but what kind of defense do you run?

Butch Jones: First of all, we’ll be real multiple with a four-down and three-down front. We’ll be very, very aggressive, but we’re going to be fundamentally sound. We’ll be a great, great tackling team. We’ll pride ourselves on playing with great fundamentals, not only on defense but on the other phases as well.

Read the rest here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Katz on the Cats

Tagged ,

An interview with Butch Jones, part I

Posted on January 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

Last week, I was invited into Butch Jones’ office for a little question and answer session. I hadn’t met Jones yet, so I was interested to see him in his new digs, how he was adjusting to his new job and how he would answer my questions. Here’s part I of III of my interview.

Josh Katzowitz: So, you’ve been here a couple weeks. How’s everything going?

Butch Jones: The transition has been extremely smooth. We really benefitted from being here very early. Getting a head start on everything, a head start on recruiting. Being able to evaluate things, so all of a sudden after the Sugar Bowl, we’ve come in and hit the ground running.

Read the rest here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Katz on the Cats

Tagged , ,

UC-Syracuse preview

Posted on October 30, 2009 | Leave a comment

Brian Kelly sees the similarities between Syracuse and UC. He can think back to 2007, his first year at the helm of the Bearcats squad, and he can compare it to this season’s Syracuse squad – in its first year under coach Doug Marrone.

He comes to this conclusion: the Orange of 2009 and the Bearcats of 2007 are more similar than you might think.

“The first thing that stands out is Doug Marrone has done a great job of getting players to play hard for four quarters,” Kelly said. “I told our team this is the first time I’ve seen some similarities to our team in the first year in terms of playing hard. Everybody has been focused on Syracuse’s quarterback situation. (Greg) Paulus did a good job of coming into this year and adding some maturity and stability to the offense.”

Read the rest here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Katz on the Cats

Tagged , , ,

A presser about Pike (mostly)

Posted on October 20, 2009 | Leave a comment

Naturally, the topic of the day at the weekly presser was the health of Tony Pike and what would happen if he can’t play Saturday vs. Louisville. The big news was that Pike underwent a procedure this morning on his left arm to repair the plate that was inserted last season and was damaged again last Thursday in the third quarter of the South Florida game.

Pike won’t practice today or Wednesday, and from there, his status for the Louisville game on Saturday is unclear.

“We have to get the swelling out of there first,” Brian Kelly said. “It’s something we have to manage day to day.

Read the rest here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Katz on the Cats

A surreal paradigm shift

Posted on September 29, 2009 | Leave a comment

(1:16 p.m.): When Craig Carey first arrived at UC in 2005, he watched during his redshirt year as the Bearcats struggled to win games in their first Big East season.

Penn State gave them a beating. Miami University decimated them by four touchdowns. And West Virginia, South Florida and Rutgers slapped them around in the final three weeks of the season by a combined score of 113-25.

The season was over by Nov. 27, and to a team not used to having a major postseason presence, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for the Bearcats.

Read the rest here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Katz on the Cats

Tagged , ,

UC vs. Ohio State: who wins?

Posted on September 24, 2009 | Leave a comment

(11:45 a.m.): I understand why UC fans want to compare themselves to the school up north, I can understand why they want to be the ones to proclaim that the Bearcats are the best college football program in the state and I can understand why they get excited when sophomore running back Isaiah Pead says something like this about Ohio State:

“If we ever have to strap it on with them, we’re going to win it.

Read the rest here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Katz on the Cats

Tagged ,

A conversation with Brandon Underwood

Posted on September 21, 2009 | Leave a comment

(11:41 a.m.): After a 2008 NFL Draft in which three UC defensive backs were selected, only one has emerged on an active roster. It wasn’t Mike Mickens – who was cut by the Cowboys and then signed to their practice squad. And it wasn’t DeAngelo Smith – who’s been involved with three organizations already this season.

Instead, it was the least-heralded of the group, Brandon Underwood, a player who was highly-recruited out of Hamilton High, flamed out at Ohio State, transferred to UC and transformed himself into an NFL prospect.

Underwood, drafted by Green Bay, made the 53-man roster out of training camp, and although he hasn’t been on the 45-man active roster for the Packers’ first two games this season – including their loss to the Bengals on Sunday – he’s beginning to make an impact at the professional level.

Read the rest here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Katz on the Cats

Tagged , ,

Facing a tough environment

Posted on September 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

(3:28 p.m.): The crowd at Reser Stadium in Corvallis, Ore., on Saturday could present a problem for the UC football team. The fans are rowdy. They’re passionate. They’re liable to disrupt the opposing offense and intimidate the opposing defense.

If you were at the West Virginia game last season – Bearcats senior wide receiver Mardy Gilyard called it the loudest place he’s ever played – you’ll have a sense of what to expect when UC plays Oregon State at 6:45 p.m. ET on Saturday. But the fans in Corvallis might make it even tougher for the Bearcats than the Mountaineers followers did. These fans carry some serious vocal chords behind them.

Take it from somebody who knows: former USC and current Bengals linebacker Rey Maualuga, who played in Corvallis twice in his career and lost both times.

Read the rest here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Katz on the Cats

Tagged ,

Short week isn’t a problem

Posted on September 9, 2009 | Leave a comment

(5:10 p.m.): If you remember last year’s UConn-UC game, you remember what a disaster that game was for the Bearcats.

A 40-16 pounding that had people questioning what kind of team the Bearcats ultimately would be. Quarterback Tony Pike having to leave the game at halftime because he had lost feeling in his arm. The inability to stop Huskies running back Donald Brown. The 0-for-25 stat on third downs.

It was brutal. And you know what the Bearcats did the next day? They practiced. They had to practice, in fact, because South Florida was coming to town five days after UConn pasted UC. That Sunday workout, though, was a huge event. You could make the argument that it turned around the entire season.

Read the rest here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Katz on the Cats

Tagged , ,