No. 4 Cincinnati Can Match Best Start

CINCINNATI (AP) — In each of coach Brian Kelly's first three seasons, No. 4 Cincinnati has accomplished a big breakthrough. Another one is only a victory away.

The Bearcats (8-0) will match the best start in school history if they beat Connecticut (4-4) at home on Saturday night. The 1951 Mid-American Conference championship team also won its first nine games and finished 10-1, setting the benchmark at Cincinnati for wins in a season.

Cincinnati matched that 10-win mark in Kelly's first season of 2007, then topped it by one last year while winning its first Big East title and playing in the Orange Bowl. Already this year, the Bearcats have the highest ranking in their history, placing themselves in the national title talk.

Next goal: 9-0.

"Before coach Kelly got here, it wasn't anything like this," sophomore quarterback Zach Collaros said Tuesday. "The first year, we were 10-3 and went to the Papajohns.com Bowl. The next year, we won the Big East. Now, we're No. 4 in the country, which is crazy to think about in such a short period of time."

As long as the Bearcats keep winning, they'll keep going places they only dreamed about before Kelly arrived. They've got a few things in their favor heading into the last four regular-season games.

The next three are at home — against UConn, West Virginia (6-2) and Illinois (2-6). There's also a bye week after the West Virginia game.

The Bearcats finish the season at No. 14 Pittsburgh on Dec. 5, a game that could decide the Big East title.

"It's great that our football team is going to be home for the next month," Kelly said. "We've been on the road a lot. We've won eight consecutive road games. I think that says a lot about our football team, our program, the consistency you need.

"I've talked about that from day one. You have to be a consistent program to gain the relevance nationally, and we're doing that because we're winning on the road as well."

They're also winning with their top quarterback hurt, something that's become the norm for them.

Last year, starter Dustin Grutza broke his leg early in the season, Tony Pike took over and broke his non-passing forearm. Pike got a plate inserted in the left forearm to aid the healing, then missed two games. Collaros and Chazz Anderson filled in while Pike recovered and kept the team going.

Pike damaged the plate during a win at South Florida on Oct. 15 and needed to have it replaced. Collaros has started the last two games and thrown for seven touchdowns, keeping the Bearcats on the mark for that record start.

Although Pike is having the cast on his left forearm replaced by a splint so he can practice more fully this week, Collaros is likely to make his third career start against Connecticut. In only a couple of weeks, he has made the adjustment.

"You're a lot more focused, I have to admit that," Collaros said. "I'm a lot more focused on the task at hand. I'm definitely studying a lot more film — and doing a lot more interviews. There is a difference."

Not in the results. Not so far.