Welcome to my world: Cincinnati QB Dustin Grutza

Published: September 5, 2008

My career, it's been a story. You don't know exactly what's going to happen. But it's a blessing to be out there playing again. I feel like we've got a good team. I feel comfortable with them and glad to be back in there for my last season.

I just tried to prepare like I was going to be the starter, and tried to work my hardest and get the best I could. Ben (Mauk) and I, we're good friends. We talked about the situation. How things turned out, I'm just trying to take advantage of being the starter and getting to play with this team.

It was difficult at first, having to watch last year. But I accepted it and it was all part of God's plan. The whole season, I was kind of like a coach on the sideline. Coaching up, talking to guys, reading coverages, that sort of thing. It was sort of like I was in a coaching role. To go from playing to coaching back to playing, I think is more helpful than anything.

We feel like Oklahoma's a big-time team. To be able to come down and play a big game at their stadium, it should be fun. Big game. Big crowd. We're looking forward to it.

We've played before some big crowds, been around some big stadiums. Virginia Tech. Penn State. But definitely, we're looking forward to this. We love playing in front of big crowds. That's why you play Division I athletics, you want to play in the big time.

It would be big for our program to win at Oklahoma. Playing a Big 12 team, to be able to win on the road, it would mean a lot.

I've watched them on TV, but I've never been a big Oklahoma fan being from Kentucky. I was always into the SEC.

The West Virginia game showed that people from our conference can play with teams like Oklahoma. We saw what they were able to do. And we were right there with West Virginia last year, so we know we can go and play with a team like Oklahoma. It should be a great game.

Being a fifth-year guy, I think the mental part of the game, the knowledge and just knowing football, football IQ I guess you could say, being able to make the right reads and put us in the right play is one of my strengths. Being able to scramble if I need to.

By John Helsley

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