Happy Thanksgiving!

Issue: So, what are you thankful for this holiday season?

Short Answer: I'm thankful that the University of Cincinnati still stinks...

Reasoning: I have written about my hatred for the University of Cincinnati many times.  I can't stand them.  It used to be all about the basketball team, but now I pretty much hate everything about them.  Their fans are obnoxious as can be.  This year, since their football team sucks (like they have every year in their existence, except one, in which they were embarrassed by Florida in the Sugar Bowl - but UC fans will tell you that not only would they have beaten Ohio State that year, they had then taken over as the best college football team in Ohio - like, forever) all the chatter is about their basketball team.  Now, I am the first to give credit where credit is due, and the UC basketball team is pretty good this year.  You won't catch me rooting for them anytime soon, but at least it makes their fans sound a little less moronic when they are actually talking smack about a team that has some talent.  Just don't forget, UC fans, that your team is led by a guy named Cashmere.  His brothers Nylon and Polyester weren't good enough for UC, so they had to settle for Division II schools.  Seriously, his name is Cashmere.  But, again, dude has some talent.  Just an awful name.

Alright, now that I got that off my chest, on to the real reason for this Bearcat bashing post.  I take you back a couple weeks ago to when Michael Vick suffered a concussion and was knocked from the game.  Coming on to replace him in that game was rookie QB Nick Fowles.  This was not news in and of itself, but when Vick couldn't return the next week, Fowles started the game for the Eagles.  (I realize you may be confused at this point, but bear with me.)  This is significant because Fowles became only the second QB from the University of Arizona to start a game in the NFL.  Shocking because Arizona has good football teams almost every year and has alumni such as Rob Gronkowski, Teddy Bruschi, Chris McAlister, Lance Briggs, Mike Bell, Antoine Cason, Chuck Cecil, Dennis Northcutt, and Antonio Pierce all who play or have played in the NFL.  The only other Arizona Wildcat to start at QB in the NFL was Bill Demory who started 3 games for the New York Jets in 1973.  Crazy stuff.  So, what does this have to do with UC?  I'm glad you asked (or, I'm glad I just asked myself).

The Wall Street Journal grabbed onto this story and published a list of colleges and how many starts QB's from those colleges have made in NFL history.  At the top of the list is Purdue.  Drew Brees, Jim Everett, and Bob Griese all help put the Boilermakers there.  Surprising, but not overly surprising.  The rest of the top 10 is also surprising, but nothing really blows your mind.  Washington (Warren Moon, Chris Chandler), Miami (Vinny Testaverde, Jim Kelly), USC (Carson Palmer, Rodney Peete), Notre Dame (Joe Montana, Joe Theismann), Stanford (John Elway, Jim Plunkett), Michigan (Tom Brady, Jim Harbaugh), UCLA (Troy Aikman, Jim Schroeder), Oregon (Dan Fouts, Chris Miller), and Maryland (Boomer Esiason, Neil O'Donnell) round out the top 10.  The surprises are the one's that fall further down the list.  T.J. Yates is the only North Carolina Tarheel to ever start a game in the NFL, and he's only started 5.  My beloved Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have had only one former player start at QB in the NFL.  His name was Mike Kelley, and he started one game for the San Diego Chargers in 1987. And then there is the University of Cincinnati.  The storied program who can't even sell out a 35,000 seat stadium.  The historic program that has exactly 7 bowl wins in their entire history (with wins over Utah State (1997), Marshall (2004), Western Michigan (2006), Southern Miss (2007) and Vanderbilt (2011).  How have these guys been overlooked for National Championship consideration?!?!).  So, how many games have former Bearcat QB's started in the NFL?  You guessed it - ZERO.  Not one.  Shocking, I know.  I'm a little worried about how happy that stat makes me.  And here I thought Tony Pike was going to lead the Panthers to a Super Bowl.  Or not.

For the entire list, click here.  Just make sure you scroll ALL THE WAY DOWN to see where the Bearcats sit.