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Ohio State or UC? Cincinnati RB says Bearcats best in state

Poll: UC or OSU?

Who would win if the UC Bearcats and OSU Buckeyes played football this season?

Is UC really better than Ohio State?

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University of Cincinnati running back Isaiah Pead (left) says his Bearcats would beat Terrelle Pryor (right) and the Ohio State Buckeyes if the two teams played each other this season.

AP Photos University of Cincinnati running back Isaiah Pead (left) says his Bearcats would beat Terrelle Pryor (right) and the Ohio State Buckeyes if the two teams played each other this season.

By JOE KAY, The Associated Press Updated 7:55 AM Wednesday, September 23, 2009

CINCINNATI — While Ohio State fans up in Columbus debate whether their team is the best in the Big Ten, folks down south are asking a much different question three games into the season: Who’s the best team in Ohio?

Buckeyes? Or Bearcats?

In years past, it would have been a ludicrous question. But Cincinnati’s impressive 3-0 record and Ohio State’s spotty 2-1 start have left the two teams nearly dead-even in this week’s Top 25 poll. Ohio State is No. 13, followed by Cincinnati.

Bearcats? Or Buckeyes?

“Hey, if we ever have to strap it on with them, we’re going to win,” Cincinnati running back Isaiah Pead said Tuesday, Sept. 22, not even flinching when the question was raised.

Head coach Brian Kelly coached at Grand Valley State in Michigan and Central Michigan before coming to Cincinnati, so he knows all about Ohio State’s lore and how fans get wrapped up in the program’s history. He also knows it stings when a Cincinnati player hears that a fan chose to watch Ohio State lose to Southern California 18-15 on Sept. 12 instead of watching the Bearcats win again on a different TV channel.

“I think as long as you’re in the state of Ohio and you’re not looked at as an equal or partner, you’re going to play with a chip on your shoulder,” Kelly said Tuesday. “And I’m not saying we should be looked at as an equal or a partner. But our players sense and feel that every day by who they talk to and who they see at the mall and, 'Did you see the Ohio State-USC game?’ 'Yeah, did you see our game?’

“So they’re going to carry that (chip), and I’m certainly not going to tell them to change the way they think because as a coach, I kind of like that role that we have.”

Pead knows well that his opinion will be anathema to the Buckeye fans who inhabit every corner of the state. He grew up in Columbus, where he topped one of Ohio State’s greatest players: Pead broke two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin’s career rushing record at Eastmoor Academy, then had to choose between the two schools for college.

Buckeyes? Or Bearcats?

“I liked the situation they have here,” the sophomore running back said. “They were an up-and-coming team and I love the coaches. The coaches were nice, whereas the OSU coaches were, 'If you come here, you come here. If you don’t, then that’s fine, we’ll get the next guy.’ I felt these coaches, they cared about you.”