Nic Cardwell isn’t interested in letting a weekly award blur the picture for Cincinnati’s offensive line.
The Bearcats picked up Big 12 offensive line of the week honors after the opener, but Cardwell still came away focused on the mistakes he saw from a unit that’s still getting comfortable together. After Tuesday’s practice, he broke down 13 missed assignments from the new-look group and made it clear that the standard inside that room is much higher than what the box score might suggest.
Even with those issues, the protection held up. Pro Football Focus credited Cincinnati with no pressures allowed in the game, and that means no sacks and no quarterback hits either. But for Cardwell, the absence of damage in the passing game didn’t erase the teaching tape.
"There's an ID; there's a person we're supposed to be working to, whether it's a linebacker, whether it's a safety, or whether it's a corner," Cardwell noted. "There's somebody we're supposed to be working to, and we didn't identify correctly.
There are 13 times where we didn't do that. Okay, there are times when he did the ID correctly, and then we didn't execute it on the right side or the left side because everything comes off that ID.
So you have the ID that everybody else kind of communicates where they're supposed to go, and it didn't always get communicated down the line. And those are the things you're going to have happen with a first group like that, and in their first ball game playing together.
"So you take it, but throughout every single game, we're coaching, right? It's not a practice.
I get it. There are a lot of people here, but you're watching the iPad, and you're coaching them through.
Okay, your hands aren't good here. The ID's wrong here.
We should have been doing this on this side. Are we good?
This was nice. You tell them the good things they did as well.
But at the same time, that's our job. My job is to execute at a high level and get these guys to execute at a high level, and I didn't think it was as good as I would have liked to see."
That mindset carries into this week’s matchup with Western Carolina, a team Cincinnati will see as the weakest opponent on its schedule. The Catamounts are 1-1, with both of their games coming against other FCS teams.
Cardwell said the Bearcats were happy to get the win, but not satisfied with how much room there still was for cleaner execution.
"The win is awesome, but there were things that we thought, okay, we could have gotten better, and it could have been more," Cardwell said. "And we're always chasing how we can be great at the details and be great with our execution and be great with our IDs. And so, we were happy to win, but at the same time, we know there's stuff we've got to work out."
For Cincinnati, that means the praise has to stay temporary. The line can wear the label of Big 12 offensive line of the week, but Cardwell is looking for something closer to near perfection moving forward. In his view, the strength of the Bearcats has to be almost spotless if they’re going to hit their top goals this season.
In Other News...
Bearcats Face A Dangerous Test To Keep Momentum Alive At Nippert
The Bearcats get a chance to keep their early-season momentum rolling when Western Carolina comes to Nippert Stadium on Sept. 12 for the annual Nipp at Night setting. Cincinnati will have the home crowd, the primetime atmosphere and an opponent that arrives with some confidence of its own, with the Catamounts sitting at 1-1 under Kerwin Bell and bringing a passing attack that can make a night game a little less comfortable than it looks on paper.
Lex Thomas has given Western Carolina a clear identity through two games, and that means Cincinnati has to stay sharp from the opening series rather than assume the matchup will sort itself out. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., and with ESPN+ handling the stream, the Bearcats will be under the spotlight again as they try to protect what theyve built so far and avoid letting a dangerous test turn into a momentum check. [Read more 🡒]