Number Seven Xavier Wins Seventh Straight To Start The Season

http://donatelifeohio.org/

Seven is the lucky number tonight as AP # 7 Xavier won its 7th game without a defeat in an 85-55 romp over the Bison of North Dakota State.

Trevon Bluiett led four other Musketeer players who scored in double figures with 23 points.

Sean O'Mara scored 12. J.P. Macura added 11 and Malcolm Bernard chipped in 10.  Bernard also controlled the boards with a game-high eight rebounds.

http://www.wiedemannbeer.com/

Xavier (7-0) scored the first seven points and never looked back. The Musketeers stretched the halftime lead to 21.

The Bison competed to the best of their ability with red-shirt freshman Deng Geu scoring 18 points for NDSU (5-3).

"Deng has oodles and oodles of potential," Bison coach David  Richman said.  'He's struggled with his confidence. It was good to see him hit his first three. It gave him confidence."

Carlin Dupree had nine points for NDSU and four players had four rebounds but a taller, more physical Xavier team out rebounded the Bison 43-27.

"I think in the first half we played up to our standards," Bluiett said. "In the second half I think we took a step backward as far as the effort on the defensive end."

The statistics bear that out NDSU scored 33 points in the second half after putting up 22 in the first.

NEXT UP

Xavier will fly to Waco, Texas to play Baylor on Saturday.

Bearcats Struggle Against Tigers - Lose Fourth Straight

http://donatelifeohio.org/

Jason Stewart prepares every week like he’s the starter but usually watches Riley Ferguson lead the Memphis Tigers.  This time an undisclosed injury to the starter put Stewart in the spotlight

Stewart threw two touchdown passes and Doroland Dorceus ran for two more scores to lead Memphis to a 34-7 victory over Cincinnati on Friday night.

Memphis (7-4, 4-3 American) has beaten Cincinnati in three straight games.

http://www.wiedemannbeer.com/

Stewart, who transferred from Fort Scott Community College, tossed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Joey Magnifico, and a 22-yard scoring strike to Anthony Miller. Stewart had 138 yards passing after replacing Ferguson after the Tigers' first possession.

"Stewart took care of the football. He managed the game. He really did a great job. He prepares like he's the starter all the time,"  Memphis coach Mike Norvell said. "We wanted to make sure we took care of Riley. It was mostly precaution. I won't go into it in detail but I think it'll be fine. It's tough when a guy has to come in seven or eight minutes into a game."

Stewart appeared in three games this season, completing seven of 12 passes for 63 yards.

 "The team believed in me,” Stewart said.. “The coaches believed in me. I was a little nervous at first but once I got into the flow of the game I was fine. I didn't get a chance to play a lot by I love Riley. I've always supported him. I feel like I've been blessed and wouldn't trade a day. I feel blessed from the way I got here. I didn't have any offers out of high school and went the junior college route.”

His teammates knew they could count  on him.

“I'm proud of Stewart too. Stew prepares every week like he's the starter," Dorceus said.” We went to work.”

Dorceus ran for two scores inside the 8-yard line and finished with 66 yards rushing on 13 carries.

Hayden Moore threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Devin Gray early in the fourth quarter for Cincinnati (4-7, 1-6), which gained just 99 yards in the first half and finished with 244 yards of offense. Moore was 23 of 34 for 144 yards and threw two interceptions.

Curtis Akins and Chris Morely intercepted Moore’s passes in back-to-back possessions as Memphis bolted to a 27-0  halftime lead.

“It was the same old song,” Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville said.  “I didn’t think we’d turn the ball over like we did early.  But again you’ve  still got to make first downs.  We still have to cross the goal line.  We left the defense out there way too long. It was downhill from there.”

Jake Elliot, Memphis’ leading scorer, kicked field goals of 37 and 32 yards

Memphis is bowl eligible for the third year in a row.  Cincinnati will not get the requisite six wins with one game to play.  Memphis improves to 21-13 all time.

TAKEAWAYS

Memphis –  Elliot broke the Memphis scoring record held by Stephen Gostkowski of the New England Patriots.  Elliot has never missed an extra-point making all 192 attempts including four against Cincinnati…The Tigers entered the game tied for third in the nation with 23 forced turnovers.  They added two interceptions and a fumble recovery.

Cincinnati-  Three Cincinnati quarterbacks have started at least two games.  Hayden Moore started his sixth against Memphis.  Gunner Kiel started three and Ross Trail two.  The QB’s have combined for 15 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions. Moore (8 TD-7 Int) Kiel (6TD-@Int) Triail (1TD-6Int).

UP Next

Memphis – The Tigers will host Houston at 2:30 p.m. on Friday November 25.

Cincinnati – The Bearcats, will need a win at Tulsa next Friday, November 25, to be bowl eligible.

Xavier Plays Matador And Side Steps The Buffalo Bulls

http://donatelifeohio.org/

Like the aggressive male bovine the Buffalo Bulls lived up to their name, allowing Xavier to withdraw its red cape, like a matador win going away.

J.P. Macura scored 18 points to lead the Xavier Musketeers to an 86-53 win over last the Buffalo Bulls, the two-time defending champion of the Mid-American Conference.

http://www.wiedemannbeer.com/

Macura has a careeer field goal percentage of .444 but  shot just 4-for-11 from the field with no 5-point shots.

Buffalo was called for 38 fouls.  Macura was the beneficiary and made all 10 of his free throws.

Xavier had 21 fouls called against them but Buffalo made just 13 0f 21 from the foul line while Xavier was 28-for-38.  The Division I record for fouls in a game is 50 by Arizona vs Northern Arizona on Jan. 26, 1953. Yes, 1953. 84 fouls in that game combined, also a record.

"There were a lot of fouls," Xavier coach Chris Mack said. "We were able to use Buffalo's aggressiveness to our advantage.  For the most part we were able to keep them off the foul line."

Xavier put four players in double figures with Edmond Sumner and Trevon Bluiett scoring 13 apiece.  Freshmand Quentin Goodin added 11 points. Freshman Tyrique Jones had a game-high 11 rebounds.

"I thought Tyrique (Jones) and Quentin (Goodin), our freshmen had their best games," Mack said.. "They grew a lot since Friday night. They had to learn the speed of the game and they're getting there. Tyrique is a freshman but has a college body."

Nick Perkins had 15 points to lead the Bulls.  Bufallo's leading scorer from last year fouled out with eight points.  Quate McKinzie fouled out with three points.  Buffalo finished the game with four other players with  four fouls including Perknis.

“They moved the ball we didn’t. We need to learn to play defense without fouling," Buffalo coach Nate Oats said. "“The fouls were 38-21 and we had what two guys foul out.Our guys said they got screwed but those officials worked the tournament.They didn’t cost us 30 fouls.”

“We wanted to play a top 10 team to see where we were.We’re not where we need to be, playing as selfish as we played," Oats said.

BYU Shuts Down Gunner Kiel And The Bearcats

http://donatelifeohio.org/

The Brigham Young University Cougars devoured the young Cincinnati Bearcats like they were middle aged divorcees after a Chippendale Show in a 20-3 win..

Cincinnati put together a seven-play, 59-yard drive after taking the opening kickoff at its own 35.  The drive stalled at the six when Kiel checked down to Tion Green for a four-yard gain that was short of the first down. Josh Pasley kicked a 23-yard field goal.

http://www.wiedemannbeer.com/

The Cougars (5-4) came back to tie the game with a field goal of its own, a 28-yarder by Rhett Almond, but broke the game open with a trick flea flicker play that had BYU quarterback Tayshom Hill connecting with Jona Trinnaman on a 43-yard pass to the Cincinnati 11.  Hill waltzed in from the eight two plays later.

They left 44 seconds for Kiel and the Bearcat offense.

The Cougars took the second half kick and marched.70 yards in 12 plays.

The Bearcats tried to rally, moving the ball from their own 16 during a 15-play drive that reached the BYU 11 but Tion Green lost four yards on a run.  On the next play, Columbus, Ohio native Logan Taele sacked Kiele for a seven-yard loss.  When Josh Pasley missed a 39-yard field goal attempt, the drive turned into tragedy as the Bearcats used 6:43 of the clock without scoring a point.

Brigham Young ran the ball for 207 yards on 47 attempts to control the clock and completing the scoring with a 19-yard field goal by Almond.

"People say a 20-3 game isn't exciting but that's my kind of excitement," BYU head coach Kilani Sitake said.
"The defense played really well after that first drive. They made some good throws but we had a chance to regroup and get back to assignment football. The offense started out slow but once our offense was able to sustain drives, it gave us time to make adjustments on defense. It works hand-in-hand."

UC finished with 295 total yards, 96 rushing and 199 passing.  Kiel completed 19 of 32 passes and one interception.

Not a good performance again today, especially on the offensive side of the ball," UC head coach Tommy Tuberville said. "The defense played well. We made one mistake on their trick play before the half. That should have never happened."

Kiel started the season third on the Bearcat depth chart at quarterback behind Hayden Moore and Ross Trail but took over on October 22 against East Carolina, leading Cincinnati to its last win. The 4-5 Bearcats have now lost two straight games.

"Gunner didn’t have a great game, not throwing a touchdown pass. Just not very good (overall) to be honest with you. No consistency of any length of a drive to get a touchdown," Tuberville said..

"Everybody’s talking about getting to a bowl game. I just want to get a touchdown. We are struggling big time. We’ve got no consistency on offense to help our defense. We’ve got three games to see if we can help them. We have not seen a whole lot of improvement on offense the last three games. We’ve tried it all. We’ve tried every quarterback. We’ve tried every running back"