The 7-3 Cincinnati Bearcats, two games into a losing skid, welcomed their toughest opponent this season to a night game at Nippert. The 9-1 No. 11 BYU Cougars were in town for a primetime showdown.
UC students started their day early with Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff on campus. Head coach Scott Satterfield joined the show to talk football and fire up the fanbase, a much-needed boost after two straight losses with Big 12 and College Football Playoff hopes within reach.
The momentum from the morning carried well into the evening as Nippert Stadium was packed and ready to explode for an 8 p.m. kickoff.
BYU Quarterback Bear Bachmeier brought the heat, rushing for the first touchdown of the game.
Evan Pryor and Isiah Johnson got the crowd back into it with 20+ yard plays. 4th & 1 at the BYU 3-yard line, Tawee Walker was unable to break through and turned the ball over on downs.
On Cincinnati’s next drive, Stephen Rusnak missed a 42-yard field goal. The defense applied good pressure to Bachmeier and forced a turnover on downs.
BYU punted, Manny Covey scooped the ball off the ground and ran 57 yards, exciting the crowd and the offense. Just a few plays later, Sorsby found Cyrus Allen in the end zone to tie the game.
BYU tacked on a field goal to take a 10-7 lead, while Rusnak hit the upright and missed another field goal attempt to end the half.
Sorsby, on the run, threw the ball downfield right into the hands of BYU. An interception immediately to start the second half. The Cougars turned it around for a touchdown. For the third time in this game, Rusnak missed a field goal.
Sorsby found Jeff Caldwell in the endzone to make the score 20-14, but BYU held Cincinnati there. 26-14 was the final. The Bearcats fall to 7-4, capping a weekend of sports losses across the Queen City.
Special teams were horrendous. Rusnak was 0-3 for field goals, which alone could have kept the Bearcats close. Near the end of the game, an offside penalty during a BYU punt resulted in a Cougar first down, then a field goal. Cincinnati simply could not get out of its own way. Rusnak had a perfect record until last week, and he has completely fallen apart.
Sorsby was 25/38 with 300 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. The offense played sloppily. Dropped passes, blown alignments, and no consistent run game took the crowd out of the game.
The defense was able to hold Bear Bachmeier and LJ Martin for a good amount of time before Martin exploded for 222 yards. Again, the fundamentals disappeared throughout the game. Missed tackles, a slippery running back, and Bachmeier plowing through defenders left Cincinnati struggling to get off the field.
Scott Satterfield is 0-15 when trailing at the half. This hurts knowing the Bearcats were only down by three at the half. With special teams struggles, no adjustments were made at halftime to steer the team in the right direction.
Last season, the late-season slip cost Cincinnati bowl eligibility, and while not the case this year, it is still upsetting for the fans to see a team with so much potential and playoff aspirations fall flat. Satterfield has done a fine job fielding this team and instilling confidence in his players, but shaky fundamentals and inability to make meaningful in-game adjustments have pushed CFP relevance far away.
Cincinnati travels to take on TCU next Saturday at 3:30 PM.
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