-The Beercat
I’ll try to keep this and the rest of these short although since this is the season opener it might be the longest. Here we go.
Tailgating
As always tailgating on The Grid is a blast. UC does a great job to bring out something for everyone. Music, bouncy houses (for kids), food trucks, and of course beer tents. Last year I was introduced to the tailgating group The Den and had a lot of fun so of course I came back this year and became an official member. How much fun was it? I’ll just show you some pictures.
The Den is just getting started so if you want to join or learn more about it check out http://www.thedenuc.com/
The Game
38,000+ showed up on a beautiful evening in Clifton to watch the Bearcats battle the Bruins and they got their money’s worth. Chip Kelly threw all kinds of weird line formations but at the end of the day his QB could barely throw a football. The Bearcats seemed to physically dominate the game and certainly dominated time of possession by almost 17 minutes which is what you want to do against a team that wants to turn the game into a track meet.
Ridder looked solid throwing for 2 TDs and 1 INT. Although that 1 INT was brutal and came off of an ill advised throw.
Warren II was back to doing things that trucks do. He rushed for 92 and a TD and caught a couple passes out of the backfield for another 27 yards.
Deguara caught 4 passes for 53 yards and a TD and chased down a streaking DB 60 yards after he picked off Ridder saving a pick 6 right before the half.
Alex Pierce WR made steps in the right direction of clearing up the questions at wide receiver. He caught 2 passes for 59 yards.
The Black Cats aka the defense looked solid even without star player James Wiggins in the lineup.
Takeaways
The news of losing James Wiggins for the game had me feeling a little less confident, then after the game Coach Fickell said we probably won’t see him at all this year and a piece of me died inside.
The Bearcats had 9 penalties costing them a total of 63 yards. Yes it was the first game of the season and UCLA committed 6 for 60 yards themselves but that’s a lot to clean up before the Bearcats hit the road in week 2. Most of those penalties came from the newly stocked offensive line.
Beer of the Game
I’m switching it up this year and not highlighting only Cincinnati beers. I’m trying to find beers from the same area as who the Bearcats play that week. Since week 1 was UCLA I present Crazy Hazy from Boomtown Brewery in Los Angeles, CA. It checks in at 8.2% & 35 IBU brewed with Motueka, Mosaic & Cryo Mosaic hops.
Bonus
Check out episode 10 of The Average Joe Beer Connoisseur with my buddy Pat Hela. He was kind enough to make me his first guest on the show!
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