The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 29

-r- EDITOR: GREG NOBLE, 3S9-1917 THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1986 SECTION MO Red Sox clinch tieC-3 Stillwell stays hotC-4 Rainbow East wins stakesC-5 Bears' Bell comes homeC-LQ if 3-0 Seahawks, Redskins vieC-1 1' Another rout for CAPEC-1 6 Bears put to the test 0 HinB Tim Sullivan i "-11 Are Bengals for real? Are Bears still unreal? BY MIKE DODD The Cincinnati Enquirer In Cincinnati, fans are comparing it to the day the Dallas Cowboys came to town. In Chicago, some are likening it to the night the Bears visited Miami. Everywhere in between, they're looking for the answers to two questions in today's Bengals-Bears matchup: Is Cincinnati for real? And are Chicago's "problems" imagined? In the most eagerly anticipated NFL game here since the AFC Championship nearly five years ago, the world champion Bears invade sold-out Riverfront Stadium at 1 p.m. today. Unlike Dallas last year, the Bears are not rolling into town looking ahead to a game a week away.

Chicago-land has serious questions about the Bears', pass defense and it expects today's game to provide a test much like the one Miami's Dan Marino administered in the Orange Bowl last December. It was the Bears' only loss in 1985. "We're not coming in the way Dallas came in last year," said Bears' wide receiver Clay Pickering, an ex-Bengal. "The guys are looking forward to this game," he said. "It's a big game, it's not just another Sunday Both teams have something to prove.

Chicago has a lot to prove against an offense like Cincinnati's." And the Bengals, of course, must demonstrate that their performance on prime-time television 10 days ago was not a one-night special. To stay in the game with the Bears, the Bengals will have to meet one primary objective. Contain Walter Payton. The NFL's all-time leading ground gainer, making his first regular-season appearance in town, probably is at the heart of the Bears' game plan. Consider the factors in the equation.

The Bears are starting a quarterback with a bad wing. They likely will be without a starting receiver (Dennis Gentry), a position at which they were (Please see BENGALS, Page C-9) Bears-Bengals at a glance WHO: Chicago Bears (3-0) vs. Bengals (2-1). WHEN: 1 p.m. WHERE: Riverfront Stadium.

RADIO: WKRC-AM 55 and the Bengals network (Phil Samp, Dave Lapham). TV: WCPO, Channel 9 (Pat Summerall, John Madden). TICKETS AVAILABLE: None. ODDS: Oddsmakers favor Bears by 4V4 points. McMahon at odds with Ditka, Page C-12.

Scouting report, Page C-14. Rosters, statistics, Pages C-14-15. UC's McCoin doesn't pass blame for loss McCoin still looks like a boy, but he was taking it like a man. He stood there, a high school baseball cap perched comically on his University of Cincinnati head, detailing for the third or fourth time the interceptions that had provided Kentucky with its most meaningful touchdowns in UC's soggy 37-20 loss Saturday at Riverfront Stadium. McCoin's thin, lineless face could not disguise his youthful pain, but he spoke with the voice of a veteran.

"I can't blame my performance on the conditions," he said. "Those two interceptions were definitely my fault. I just threw two bad passes. There's nobody else to blame." yThe nation's ninth-most efficient passer was not very far from his usual surgical self Saturday. He improved his season's completion percentage to 69.4 less than two points behind Steve Young's 1983 NCAA record by completing 25 of 36 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns.

Yet the two that got away would gnaw at him into the night. Interceptions costly With the Bearcats advancing through Kentucky real estate, once in the second quarter and once in the third, McCoin threw a pair of poorly considered passes that were returned for lengthy touchdowns. A 9-7 lead became a 20-9 deficit, an excellent opportunity had escaped, and a slew of post-game parties were turned into woeful wakes. "I don't know if I'll be able to leave this behind," McCoin said. "It's hard to deal with it.

You try to shake it off. The coaches say everyone says: 'Don't worry about But still, it's there in the back of your mind. I'll probably be thinking about it all night." Such is the tender territory quarterbacks tread. Decisions are so many and must be made so suddenly that recriminations are as inevitable as bruises. "The first one I tried to force in there," McCoin said.

"It was a 5-yard curl and I saw the defensive man (Chris Chen-ault), but I thought I could get it to the back (Eddie Johnson). If I could have hit him in the numbers, the linebacker would have come up and made the tackle. Instead, I threw it to the right of Eddie and the linebacker stepped right around him." It was the sort of ill-advised pass a quarterback attempts when he is sure enough of himself to not measure his margin for error. Chenault, who would return the interception 65 mostly unopposed yards for the go-ahead touchdown, suspected that the ball had slipped "It was floating a long time," he said but McCoin wasn't interested in excuses. "The ball didn't slip once today," he insisted.

"The referees did a good job of keeping the ball dry." McCoin, generally, did a good job of keeping the ball moving. The Bearcats outgained Kentucky, 423-288. But UC's terrible tackling following the interceptions magnified McCoin's mistakes in microscopic detail. When David Johnson latched onto a McCoin overthrow early in the third quarter, he was able to return it 95 yards through heavy traffic. "I had the defense wrong," McCoin explained.

"And I shouldn't have even thrown it. I thought the safety was going to break with Jason (Stargel) doing a flag route, but he didn't. As soon as I let it fly, I knew I lofted it up a little too much." Ambition over reason It was another case of ambition overcoming reason, perhaps a natural result of the stunning success McCoin has had this year. With 1,256 passing yards in four games, he is on a pace to pass Greg Cook's school record of 3,272 yards in one season. The wonder is that he has not made more foolhardy passes.

"I saw Danny getting a little down on the sidelines, but I don't blame him at all," Stargel said. "I think what happened today was that we had practiced so much against their coverage throughout the week that Danny wanted it to be open. It had opened up all week in practice I think Danny was just sitting back in the pocket, waiting for us to get open and we weren't effective in doing that." I McCoin found little solace in this. When a quarterback throws a pass, he assumes responsibility for it. "I remember throwing an interception that was returned for 103 yards when I was in the playoffs in high school," McCoin said.

"We lost the game, 21-14. The guy who intercepted it is playing for Kentucky now, Guy Neal. It would have been terrible if he had been one of those guys running them back today." Interceptions ruin UC, 37-20 2 TD returns lift Kentucky BY TOM GROESCHEN The Cincinnati Enquirer A quick summation of Kentucky's 37-20 football victory over Cincinnati: "Robbery committed while 36,233 look on." Kentucky's defense returned interceptions 65 and 95 yards for touchdowns which sprung the Wildcats from a 9-7 second-quarter deficit to a 20-9 third-quarter lead and propelled UK to victory Saturday afternoon at soggy Riverfront Stadium. "I've never had two (interceptions) returned on me like that in 17 years of coaching," said UC head coach Dave Currey. "Those really hurt." The pickoffs were crucial in helping UK's record rise to 2-0-1 (Please see UC, Page C-9) Scoreboard Chicago offense struggles BY MIKE KILEY Chicago Tribune CHICAGO The Chicago Bears were first in the National Football League last season because they could transform a first effort into second effort whenever they chose to switch gears.

Bears' offensive coordinator Ed Hughes is the first to say he hasn't seen that same transition from this season's blockers. "You know you're not getting a second effort when you don't even get a first effort that's 100," he said. "If we keep blocking this way, we won't wind up in Pasadena in January. "I don't know why I'm seeing all this hesitancy on the field. Some guys just aren't getting out there and giving it their all.

They're not playirg like it means everything this oie game and to heck with next eek. "I want to see us block harder all of the time, as long as we can. It is not happening now. We haven't made strides individually or collectively we should have made this year. "This offense could be better than it was last year, but somehow the offense isn't jelling.

The players should quit worrying if they'll be around the next game and play hard every game." Hughes' diatribe was unexpected. What problems the 3-0 Bears have don't appear to include the blocking because the team ranks second in the NFL in rushing. So why does Hughes want more from the Bears? The explanation lies in the standards the Bears now set for themselves. They are no longer satisfied with second. Coach Mike Ditka has convinced them they can romp with the youthful enthusiasms of sweet sixteen as in 16-0.

The Cincinnati EnquirerMichael E. Keating UC receiver Jason Stargel grabs a pass for a 37-yard gain while being covered by Kentucky's Rob Mack in the third quarter. The play put UC on the 4-yard line and led to a field goal. Hurricanes claim No. 1, 28-16 Region Kentucky 37, Cincinnati 20 Miami 24, Bowling Green 7 Ohio St.

64, Utah 6 Notre Dame 41, Purdue 9 Indiana 41, Missouri 24 AP Top 20 (2) Miami, Fla. 28, (1) Oklahoma 16 (4) Nebraska 48, Oregon 1 4 (5) Michigan 20, (20) Fla. St. 18 (1 2) USC 20, (6) Washington 1 0 (7) Penn St. 42, East Carolina 17 (8) Auburn 34, Tennessee 8 (9) Arkansas 42, New Mex.

St. 11 (10) Arizona 24, Colorado 21 (11) Arizona St. vs. Wash. (N) N.

Carolina St. 28, (13) Maryland 16 (14) Texas 16, So. Miss. 7 (15) Iowa 69, Texas-El Paso 7 (16) UCLA vs. Long Beach (N) (17) Baylor 45, Texas Tech 14 (19) Mich.

St. 45, W. Michigan 10 (N) Night game Miami wins with defense, Page C-6. Buckeye revival, Page C-6. UK opportunistic, Page C-9.

ship and Heisman Trophy won on the same steamy afternoon in the Orange Bowl? The case can be made after the Hurricanes (4-0) beat the top-ranked Sooners for the second straight year, 28-16. Vinny Testaverde picked the Sooners (2-1) apart as if they were a scout team at Tuesday practice, throw ing four touchdown passes. "There are no words for it," said Oklahoma halfback Spencer Tillman. "They just dominated us." "To beat them convincingly, that's what feels good," said Miami linebacker George Mira, who (Please see MIAMI, Page C-5) BY MIKE LOPRESTI Gannett News Sevice MIAMI They had their showdown. They had their words, and, of course, they had their fight.

When it was over and Miami once again owned Oklahoma lock, stock and No. 1, only one question remained. Were the national champion Tim Sullivan is Enquirer sports columnist..