CINCINNATI — Scott Shafer didn’t have to face the true Cincinnati offense, the one that has ‘by far’ the best receivers in the Big East in his opinion. The Syracuse defensive coordinator didn’t have to face his favorite player in the Big East in the Bearcats’ regular starting quarterback, Zach Collaros.

‘Obviously I feel bad for Collaros,’ Shafer said. ‘He is my favorite player in the league. I love that kid.’

All week, Shafer at times had to think of and prepare for the chance that the injured Collaros would make his way onto the Nippert Stadium field. And he, of course, had to expect that Cincinnati’s loaded receiving corps — including Armon Binns, D.J. Woods and Marcus Barnett — would be playing at a level that could dismantle his defense.

But the Cincy offensive attack didn’t dismantle Shafer’s defense. The Bearcat-attack — minus its most important player in Collaros — had one of its worst games as a unit. From the beginning, Shafer’s crew put a muzzle on the UC’s offensive stars with what is becoming its trademark brand of blitz-happy, change-in-coverage football. The Bearcats, which averaged 30.3 points per game entering Saturday, didn’t score in the first quarter.

Collaros’ replacement at quarterback, Chazz Anderson, accounted for only eight passing yards in the first quarter. A far cry from the performances of the quarterback that warrants the title of Shafer’s favorite. But it wasn’t an overly complex plan of attack for Shafer’s defense when prepping for the possibilities of the game.

It was just another performance of Shafer football.  There were a few wrinkles added in, but nothing special.

‘Not so much with the pressure, (we) hanged up a few coverages,’ Shafer said. ‘Things with Binns and Woods, because they are both such good football players.’

Added Shafer: ‘The kids played schematically, they didn’t change a lot. But it was a tough duty.’

Paramount for that duty with Collaros out was negating the effects of Binns, Woods and Barnett. By the end of the game, Cincinnati would only muster seven points on a Woods touchdown. Woods only finished the game with 56 yards through the air — and it was the best mark on the team. Shafer’s coverage schemes, which were meant to tease and confuse, did just that to Anderson. The junior quarterback looked lost at times with his quirky delivery in trying to find Binns and Woods. Deep passes fell yards from breaking receivers.

By the end of the night, eight different Bearcats receivers had caught a ball. But Woods, Barnett and Binns did not have career days like Binns did last week against South Florida. He and Barnett were held to 28 yards each. The success of cornerbacks Da’Mon

Merkerson and Mike Holmes — along with free safety Phillip Thomas — in coverage threw Anderson off and kept the receivers at bay. SU head coach Doug Marrone was happy with it as well.

‘Strategically, we went into the game, we had some things and we mixed some things up,’ Marrone said. ‘We were going to match them underneath and play with some coverage behind it. I think that Coach Shafer and some of the players did a good job.’

Perhaps the best statistic reflective of that job was the lockdown on Binns. After last season’s game, during which he found the end zone twice in the Bearcats’ 28-7 win over the Orange in the Carrier Dome, Binns touched the ball just three times Saturday.

Those are numbers Shafer and SU linebacker Derrell Smith can live with.

‘We didn’t know who was going to play quarterback all week,’ Smith said. ‘But we came out and made our plays. It didn’t really matter.’

This and that

The loss was UC’s worst at Nippert Stadium since a 38-0 loss to WVU on Nov. 9, 2005. … With the loss to SU, Cincinnati lost two straight games after winning 13 in a row in Big East conference play. … SU has kept five of eight opponents scoreless in the second half of games this season. … SU held possession for more than 11 minutes of the first quarter, as opposed to just 3:52 for the Bearcats. … The average starting field position for the Orange in the second quarter was midfield.

 

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on October 30, 2010 at 12:00 pm