My take on the game!

[Bearcat Chris]

1. Best punter I have ever seen. Wow!!

2. Worst PK I have ever seen. Ugh!!

3. Pike looked better than Mauk, IMHO.

4. Strong Secondary.

5. Why didn't BK let Grutza in for a series?

6. Goodman was off last night.

7. Crowd not bad, considering Thursday and poor opponent.

Slightly better than average start. Oregon State will be a real test. Let's hope the "jetlag" messes them up!!

BC

[CincyBeerCo]

1. Best punter I have ever seen. Wow!!

2. Worst PK I have ever seen. Ugh!!

3. Pike looked better than Mauk, IMHO.

4. Strong Secondary.

5. Why didn't BK let Grutza in for a series?

6. Goodman was off last night.

7. Crowd not bad, considering Thursday and poor opponent.

Slightly better than average start. Oregon State will be a real test. Let's hope the "jetlag" messes them up!!

BC

I completely agree! Esp about Pike looking better than Mauk. Pike looked relaxed (in a good way), strong, fast (at least for a 6'6" guy) and accurate. Mauk put up great stats, but never looked fully comfortable in my opinion (kind of jittery and quick triggered). Pike showed he has good speed and strength on the run, which was the knock on him. Even Mauk's long TD pass to Gilyard was not great. Gilyard was WIDE open and Mauk made him come back for the ball and it almost forced him out of bounds. By no means am I down on Mauk, just think Pike looked better, and esp considering he could have 2 more years as the starer after this (unless Britt, Collaros, Anderson etc, etc, etc comes up huge)...he makes the most sense to me. Overall, great 1st (ok 2nd) showing for BK's squad....GO CATS!!! Oh...and how about that Jacob Ramsey run that was called back....WOW! He and Benton will be a great 1-2.

[General Woundwort]

Mauk struggled on downfield passes. The TD to Gilyard was underthrown (fortunately, he was so wide open it didn't matter). On a couple of other occasions, he overshot guys who had a couple of steps on the defense. I'm not too worried about it, as those types of issues are to be expected with a bunch of guys who haven't played together much.

Pike looked good, but remember two things: Pike came in with no pressure, and Pike never really threw the ball downfield at all. Mauk looked every bit as good as long as he was throwing screens and quick out passes.

They both looked like they will be better than Grutza, and Grutza is not that bad. I honestly can't remember a time when the Bearcats had so much strength at QB.

[Bearcat85]

I thought Pike looked very good, but I wouldn't go so far as to say better than Mauk. For a first game, new system, new playing together, I thought they both did a very nice job. And my perspective was just the opposite on Mauk - I thought he looked in control. A couple overthrows in the first game is not unusual. (any game actually) Other than the obvious bad decision on the INT, I thought the only bad choice was the ball he threw just beyond Barwin's outstretched fingers. He had the underneath man wide open, who would then have run for a very good gain.

All in all, things are looking pretty cool. I just hope the level of competion wasn't so weak that we are completely overestimating what we're capable of.

[Kyle Neumann]

I couldn't watch the game last night (I live in Atlanta) but it was great to see that the CATS were able to run up the score and thump an inferior opponent. Last year's team would have won 24 - 3. I don't think the quarterback "controversy" is the biggest issue, both are serviceable QBs in the BK system. The 3 missed PATs is cause for great concern. The kicking game (or lack there of) could be the difference between being mediocre and really turning some heads this season. BK had a great quote in the paper this morning saying "if he has another day like that, he'll be playing soccer".