College Football 2011: 10 Dream Scenarios for the Cincinnati Bearcats

Cincinnati's football program has been hard at work this offseason, stumbling its way into 2011. It is coming off only four wins in '10—the Bearcats went 12-1 in 2009.

Although they owned the No. 1 offense in the Big East, their defense allowed 28 points per game and ranked last in every major statistical category in the conference.

However, expectations are beginning to rise for the 'Cats.

Senior quarterback Zach Collaros returns with a chip on his shoulder. He's more than ready to prove that his team is prepared to contend for a conference championship.

Isaiah Pead is looking to improve from an outstanding junior campaign.

And the defense returns all 11 starters.

Experience will not be a problem in 2011, but the big question is, can the Bearcats bounce back from their worst season since 2005?

It's time to buckle down and apply the finishing touches to prepare for the upcoming football season.

How can we not get excited about the potential success for this year? Let's take a look at the possible dream scenarios for the Cincinnati Bearcats in 2011.

Cincinnati has had its eyes on quarterback Maty Mauk for quite some time now.

This may be due to the fact that his older brother, Ben Mauk, was UC's starting QB in 2007 and gave the Bearcats their first 10-win season since 1951.

Maty Mauk has a combination of physical resources and talents. His intelligence and experience at his position sets him apart from others and he has ridiculous arm strength for his size (6'1", 190 pounds). His speed also makes him dual-threat—Mauk ran for 974 yards and 16 touchdowns last season.

He is a shotgun, high-flying type of quarterback and would fit well in Cincinnati's fast offense. Mauk has a high completion percentage (62.9 in three years of high school) which makes him an attractive recruit. He passed for 5,670 yards and 69 touchdowns his junior season, and is up to 13,519 yards and 151 scores for his career.

And he still has a year left.

The Bearcats have some competition, though. Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, and Vanderbilt have all offered Mauk, but the main concern is Brian Kelly's Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Mauk has shown high interest in the Irish and it is up to Butch Jones' recruiting staff to reel him in.

Cincinnati's defense was atrocious last season, allowing an average of 28 points per game. This leaves a lot of stress on the offense to continuously have to catch up; a big reason why the Bearcats went 4-8 in 2010.

Opponents rushed for over 130 yards per game against Cincinnati and averaged 234 through the air—a total of 369.4 yards.

The defense will also have to do better at forcing turnovers. It only came up with 14 last season and this number needs to be better if the Bearcats want to see more W's.

And with the entire defensive squad back in 2011, plus the addition of freshman outside linebacker Nick Temple (No. 38 at his position), positive development is expected.

The Bearcats' defense will have the experience and talent needed to keep Cincinnati in ball games this year. It will be vastly improved from last season and will ultimately be the deciding factor in multiple games in 2011.

If you watched the Bearcats in 2010, you would remember seeing Zach Collaros running for his life most of the time.

Not only was he sacked 30 times in 11 games, but he was forced to move around the pocket quite a bit as well; Collaros averaged 11.0 "carries" a game. He had just 202 yards and four touchdowns to show for it.

With a struggling offensive line, it was bound for Collaros to have some trouble.

Collaros completed 75 percent of his passes for 1,434 yards and 10 touchdowns while backing up Tony Pike in 2009. He also rushed for 344 yards and four touchdowns off of just 57 touches during that time.

Cincinnati's offensive line is improved and wide receiver Kenbrell Thompkins will be a nice weapon added to the offense.

Thompkins is a slick 6'2", 180-pound wideout whose quickness will give corners headaches come game-day. He runs a 4.4 second 40-yard dash and is a great route-runner.

Collaros' senior season is being set up for success. 3,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards on the ground should be no problem for the dual-threat two-headed monster in 2011.

Isaiah Pead carried the ball 157 times for 1,029 yards and six scores in 2010.

Be ready for these numbers to explode in 2011.

He did not play in early season matchups against Indiana State and North Carolina State last year. Pead could quite possibly have combined for a good 200-plus yards if he played, giving him a season total of over 1,200 yards.

He averaged 6.6 yards per carry in '10. This statistic goes unappreciated when Cincinnati's offensive line struggled year round.

The Bearcats were 3-1 when Pead rushed for more than 100 yards last season—their one loss was a 31-29 defeat against No. 8 Oklahoma (he rushed for 169).

Pead has gradually seen the ball more and more throughout his college career. If Cincinnati wants to make another run at the Big East title, he will have to contribute big time.

Connecticut's Jordan Todman led the conference with 1,695 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2010. Bilal Powell, Delone Carter and Dion Lewis trailed behind, leaving Pead as the Big East's No. 5 rusher last season.

He is the only one returning from that list.

The versatile tailback should be the favorite to lead the conference in yards on the ground this year.

A Big East title could be on the line.

The West Virginia Mountaineers make a trip to Paul Brown Stadium (home of the Cincinnati Bengals) on Nov. 12 in hopes of making back-to-back wins against the Bearcats since 2006-07.

But a hopeful-rejuvenated Bearcat squad will have something else in mind.

West Virginia does not return prodigy running back Noel Devine, wide receiver Jock Sanders and eight defensive starters from 2010.

Mountaineer quarterback Geno Smith is back and with Dana Holgorsen as the new head football coach, the offense should be dynamic. It'll be up to Cincinnati's defense to stifle West Virginia's side of the scoreboard and allow Zach Collaros to stay on top.

The Big East isn't one of the best conferences in the country, but it's clearly always competitive.

Cincinnati has a great shot at winning its conference for the third time in four years.

Pittsburgh will be without NFL draft pick Dion Lewis. It also offseason staff problems with the hiring and firing Mike Haywood within two weeks. It then hired Todd Graham nine days following this action. The Panthers will be good, but beatable.

West Virginia is a nine-win football team. One of its three losses should be to the paws of the Bearcats.

Syracuse hasn't had back-to-back winning seasons since who-knows-when. I don't expect the Orange to be much of a threat, even though they handed it to the 'Cats in 2010.

The Connecticut Huskies are the reigning Big East champs, but this won't last very long. UCONN is losing six offensive players that include QB Zach Frazer and fullback Anthony Sherman. Head coach Randy Edsall departed for Maryland and had a large part of the Huskies' recent success. The defense will have to be outstanding for Connecticut to make a bowl in 2011.

The battle for Ohio may not be as unanimous as usual.

The Ohio State Buckeyes have dealt with numerous offseason issues, including the departure of coach Jim Tressel and star quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Four starters are suspended the first five games of the season due to NCAA violations.

The Buckeyes are used to the "reloading" instead of the rebuilding process, but may have to begin to settle for the latter. August is creeping up on OSU and the NCAA may possibly take away scholarships and even bowl eligibility.

2011 is a great opportunity for Cincinnati to prove to the nation that it is in business for taking Ohio's helm. It'll also help the hype for the big matchup between these two schools on Sept. 8, 2012.

It would be hard to follow a 4-8 record with a Big East title and not receive some credit.

After adding on six to eight more wins than he did in 2010, Jones would be the front-runner for coach of the year.

Especially if Cincinnati were to receive a BCS bid.

Instead of fighting for his job, the University of Cincinnati would probably be fighting to keep Jones in the Queen City.

And to not pull a Brian Kelly.

After possibly tripling their 2010 regular season record and finishing as the Big East champions, the Bearcats should be invited to the Orange Bowl.

This would be their third BCS invite in the last four seasons.

Cincinnati would then face the ACC champs. The Florida State Seminoles are the hands-on favorite to fit this title, as they are pre-ranked in the Top 10 and return a superb group of talent.

The Bearcats return a solid group of players for 2011—one that holds plenty of potential NFL prospects.

According to the NFL draft site, wide receiver D.J. Woods, defensive tackle Derek Wolfe, quarterback Zach Collaros, running back Isaiah Pead, offensive lineman Alex Hoffman, and linebacker J.K. Schaffera are all projected to be selected in the 2012 NFL draft.

If so, these athletes would be joining 11 other Bearcats currently in the NFL. This would be an outstanding accomplishment for the University of Cincinnati's football program.

Along with the nine other dream scenarios for the upcoming season.