By Bill Koch
On Sept. 8, 2001, UC freshman quarterback Gino Guidugli entered the game at Army late in the first quarter after the starter, senior Adam Hoover, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, and led the Bearcats to a 24-21 victory.
He passed for 311 yards, with three touchdown passes and no interceptionns, and threw a 12-yard touchdown pass with seven seconds left to clinch the victory.
Guidugli called the game a “fairy tale.” Certainly the elements for a fairy tale were in place. Guidugli had grown up in Greater Cincinnati. He had turned down overtures from Notre Dame to play at UC, and he had yet to take his first snap as a collegiate quarterback when he took the field in the first quarter.
But this was not quite the case of a wide-eyed freshman being shoved into the spotlight with no warning. Guidugli knew he was going to play that day. He just didn’t know he would be called on in the first quarter.
“That season we opened with Purdue and lost at home,” Guidugli said. “At training camp at Higher Ground, they told me I had done enough to win the (starting) job. Later, coach (Rick) Minter told me that he didn’t want to play me in the first game because it was an ESPN game and because it was a Big Ten opponent. I guess he didn’t think I was ready for that big stage for my first start.”
Guidugli had been instructed to warm up twice during the Purdue game the week before. After the game, the coaching staff told him he would play in week two at Army “in some capacity.”
Still, the timing was a surprise. “Adam went down and the next thing I know I’m in the game,” Guidugli said.
He doesn’t remember his first completion, but he does remember his first play. After he broke from the huddle and saw how the defense was lined up, he checked to a quarterback trap, as he had been instructed. The play went nowhere.
“I got my face mask blown off,” Guidugli said. “That really wasn’t my forte.”
The first of his 78 career touchdown passes was a 25-yard strike to Jon Olinger with 12:56 left in the game and UC trailing, 7-3. The Black Knights, following a 58-yard kickoff return, regained the lead three plays later on a six-yard touchdown pass.
Guidugli responded by leading the Bearcats on a 14-play, 65-yard drive that ended with his 7-yard touchdown pass to Tye Keith with 4:48 left, giving UC a 17-14 lead. Army came right back to take a 21-17 lead with 1:16 left.
The UC offense trotted back onto the field hoping for a miracle. Guidugli had been impressive in his first game, but maybe it was too much to expect from a freshman quarterback playing in his first game to march the Bearcats 70 yards with so little time left.
“I wasn’t thinking about the game-winning drive,” Guidugli said. “You’re just a freshman out there playing ball, trying to figure out exactly what’s going on.”
He figured it out more quickly than anyone could have expected, using 11 plays – nine of which were passes – to drive the Bearcats down the field for the winning touchdown on a 12-yard pass to Keith with seven seconds left.
The Gino Guidugli Era was off to a flying start.
Guidugli, now the quarterbacks coach at his alma mater, still owns five career UC passing records – yardage (11,453), completions (880), attempts (1,556), touchdowns (78) and interceptions (48). He also holds the season records for attempts (472), completions (258), passing yards (3,543) and interceptions (21), all in 2002.
He originally committed to Kentucky and was looking forward to running head coach Hal Mumme’s wide-open passing attack. But when Mumme was fired a week before the signing date, Guidugli reopened his recruitment. He visited Notre Dame, but didn’t get a good feeling there even though he had grown up a Fighting Irish fan.
UC’s Minter and his staff had continued to stay in touch with him, letting him know that if something happened, they were still interested. Guidugli liked the fact that because he lived just across the river from UC he could get a head start on learning the Bearcats’ offense, which would enhance his chances of playing early.
He also provided UC with a marketable local product to sell at a time when the Bearcats were struggling to draw fans. Minter knew how good Guidugli could be, but he tried to dampen expectations for his prized freshman.
“The worst thing we can all do is expect him to come in and be the guy,” Minter said in April 2001.
But that’s exactly what Guidugli did. Once he took control of the offense, he didn’t let go. He started every game of his career until his final regular-season game at No. 7 Louisville when a broken right hand (his throwing hand) prevented him from playing against the Bearcats’ long-time rival.
The rumor was that Guidugli had broken his hand in a fight, but that’s not how it happened. “That story sounds really good,” he said, “but no.”
What really happened is that he slipped on an icy step leaving his house and tried to use his right hand to break his fall.
The Bearcats, in their first year under head coach Mark Dantonio, had won four straight games leading up to their Nov. 27, 2004 regular-season finale against Louisville and were looking forward to playing the Cardinals. But without Guidugli they had no chance and absorbed a 70-7 beating.
Guidugli returned to play in the Fort Worth Bowl against Marshall on Dec. 23. On a bitterly cold night, wearing a padded glove on his swollen right hand, which hurt every time he threw a pass, he completed 24 of 36 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns in a 32-14 victory. After throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown, he completed 10 straight passes and 14 of 16 in the second quarter.
It was a fitting way to close the circle on a record-setting career that had started with such a bang four years earlier at West Point.
On the day before that game, the Bearcats took a tour of Army’s campus. When they reached the statue of Union Gen. John Sedgwick, the tour guide explained that according to legend, if a cadet who’s struggling academically goes to the monument in full dress at midnight on the night before his exams and spins the general’s spurs, he’ll pass his exams.
“A lot of people that tour West Point spin the spurs for good luck,” Guidugli said. “When we got to that point the person on the bus tour is explaining it. Hoover is sitting right next to me. I said, ‘Man, I’m spinning the spurs,’ because I knew there was a chance I might play the next day. I give Hoove a little elbow and I’m like, Hoove, you want to go spin the spurs with me? He said, ‘No, I’m good.’ I’m like, I’m going out to spin the spurs. Obviously the outcome of the game the next day was what it was.”
On Sept. 8, 2001, UC freshman quarterback Gino Guidugli entered the game at Army late in the first quarter after the starter, senior Adam Hoover, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, and led the Bearcats to a 24-21 victory.
He passed for 311 yards, with three touchdown passes and no interceptionns, and threw a 12-yard touchdown pass with seven seconds left to clinch the victory.
Guidugli called the game a “fairy tale.” Certainly the elements for a fairy tale were in place. Guidugli had grown up in Greater Cincinnati. He had turned down overtures from Notre Dame to play at UC, and he had yet to take his first snap as a collegiate quarterback when he took the field in the first quarter.
But this was not quite the case of a wide-eyed freshman being shoved into the spotlight with no warning. Guidugli knew he was going to play that day. He just didn’t know he would be called on in the first quarter.
“That season we opened with Purdue and lost at home,” Guidugli said. “At training camp at Higher Ground, they told me I had done enough to win the (starting) job. Later, coach (Rick) Minter told me that he didn’t want to play me in the first game because it was an ESPN game and because it was a Big Ten opponent. I guess he didn’t think I was ready for that big stage for my first start.”
Guidugli had been instructed to warm up twice during the Purdue game the week before. After the game, the coaching staff told him he would play in week two at Army “in some capacity.”
Still, the timing was a surprise. “Adam went down and the next thing I know I’m in the game,” Guidugli said.
He doesn’t remember his first completion, but he does remember his first play. After he broke from the huddle and saw how the defense was lined up, he checked to a quarterback trap, as he had been instructed. The play went nowhere.
“I got my face mask blown off,” Guidugli said. “That really wasn’t my forte.”
The first of his 78 career touchdown passes was a 25-yard strike to Jon Olinger with 12:56 left in the game and UC trailing, 7-3. The Black Knights, following a 58-yard kickoff return, regained the lead three plays later on a six-yard touchdown pass.
Guidugli responded by leading the Bearcats on a 14-play, 65-yard drive that ended with his 7-yard touchdown pass to Tye Keith with 4:48 left, giving UC a 17-14 lead. Army came right back to take a 21-17 lead with 1:16 left.
The UC offense trotted back onto the field hoping for a miracle. Guidugli had been impressive in his first game, but maybe it was too much to expect from a freshman quarterback playing in his first game to march the Bearcats 70 yards with so little time left.
“I wasn’t thinking about the game-winning drive,” Guidugli said. “You’re just a freshman out there playing ball, trying to figure out exactly what’s going on.”
He figured it out more quickly than anyone could have expected, using 11 plays – nine of which were passes – to drive the Bearcats down the field for the winning touchdown on a 12-yard pass to Keith with seven seconds left.
The Gino Guidugli Era was off to a flying start.
Guidugli, now the quarterbacks coach at his alma mater, still owns five career UC passing records – yardage (11,453), completions (880), attempts (1,556), touchdowns (78) and interceptions (48). He also holds the season records for attempts (472), completions (258), passing yards (3,543) and interceptions (21), all in 2002.
He originally committed to Kentucky and was looking forward to running head coach Hal Mumme’s wide-open passing attack. But when Mumme was fired a week before the signing date, Guidugli reopened his recruitment. He visited Notre Dame, but didn’t get a good feeling there even though he had grown up a Fighting Irish fan.
UC’s Minter and his staff had continued to stay in touch with him, letting him know that if something happened, they were still interested. Guidugli liked the fact that because he lived just across the river from UC he could get a head start on learning the Bearcats’ offense, which would enhance his chances of playing early.
He also provided UC with a marketable local product to sell at a time when the Bearcats were struggling to draw fans. Minter knew how good Guidugli could be, but he tried to dampen expectations for his prized freshman.
“The worst thing we can all do is expect him to come in and be the guy,” Minter said in April 2001.
But that’s exactly what Guidugli did. Once he took control of the offense, he didn’t let go. He started every game of his career until his final regular-season game at No. 7 Louisville when a broken right hand (his throwing hand) prevented him from playing against the Bearcats’ long-time rival.
The rumor was that Guidugli had broken his hand in a fight, but that’s not how it happened. “That story sounds really good,” he said, “but no.”
What really happened is that he slipped on an icy step leaving his house and tried to use his right hand to break his fall.
The Bearcats, in their first year under head coach Mark Dantonio, had won four straight games leading up to their Nov. 27, 2004 regular-season finale against Louisville and were looking forward to playing the Cardinals. But without Guidugli they had no chance and absorbed a 70-7 beating.
Guidugli returned to play in the Fort Worth Bowl against Marshall on Dec. 23. On a bitterly cold night, wearing a padded glove on his swollen right hand, which hurt every time he threw a pass, he completed 24 of 36 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns in a 32-14 victory. After throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown, he completed 10 straight passes and 14 of 16 in the second quarter.
It was a fitting way to close the circle on a record-setting career that had started with such a bang four years earlier at West Point.
On the day before that game, the Bearcats took a tour of Army’s campus. When they reached the statue of Union Gen. John Sedgwick, the tour guide explained that according to legend, if a cadet who’s struggling academically goes to the monument in full dress at midnight on the night before his exams and spins the general’s spurs, he’ll pass his exams.
“A lot of people that tour West Point spin the spurs for good luck,” Guidugli said. “When we got to that point the person on the bus tour is explaining it. Hoover is sitting right next to me. I said, ‘Man, I’m spinning the spurs,’ because I knew there was a chance I might play the next day. I give Hoove a little elbow and I’m like, Hoove, you want to go spin the spurs with me? He said, ‘No, I’m good.’ I’m like, I’m going out to spin the spurs. Obviously the outcome of the game the next day was what it was.”
Comments
Post a Comment