CINCINNATI -- The little things can be found in the freezing temperatures of a predawn workout.
They're down in the mud for players willing to dig around and get a little dirty. Or on a rain-soaked practice field that makes even a spring practice a bit tougher. And in a unit room stripped of all graphics and decorated only with the school colors painted on the walls, they're the only focus when the Bearcats sit down for meetings.
The tiny, important details so crucial to winning obviously slipped over the last few years for Cincinnati, which not too long ago had built itself into a fixture in the national polls and an annual threat to make an appearance in a BCS bowl game.