The No. 25/23 Cincinnati Bearcats welcomed American Athletic Conference foe USF Bulls up to Nippert Stadium on a cold Saturday night. It has been the first primetime game at Nippert and might be the biggest of the Fickell era so far. The temperature was around 28 degrees at kickoff which is a huge advantage for the home team. A win for the Bearcats and it makes their matchup against UCF next week for the top of the East division.
USF starting quarterback Blake Barnett was out due to injury and Chris Oladokun started in his place.
First play by the USF offense Chris Oladokun found Ryeshene Bronson for a 72 yard touchdown to shock the UC crowd. On the extra point was blocked by Michael Pitts. The Bearcats went three and out on the next drive, but a great punt by James Smith pinned USF at the one yard line. The defense forced a three and out, Auden Knight had a great punt return to put them deep in USF territory and Desmond Ridder hit Kahlil Lewis for a eight yard touchdown to take a 7-6 lead.
Down 9-7, Ridder hit Mike Warren out of the backfield for a 13 yard touchdown to take a 14-9 lead. USF answered on the next drive with a 38 yard touchdown from Brett Kean to Mitchell Wilcox where linebacker Malik Clements fell in coverage to make it pretty easy and give USF a 16-14 lead. The next drive Ridder lead the offensive into the red zone after Warren ran for five yards in wildcat formation on 4th and 1 to lead to a 36 yard field goal by Cole Smith that was pulled wide right. After huge stop Aulden Knight fumbled a punt return around mid field and USF recovered, but the defense forced a three and out before the half.
The Bearcats forced a stop and on the first drive Warren rushed for a 57 yard touchdown to get the Bearcats the lead at 21-16 and go over 1,000 yards rushing for the season. In the second half the defense played stout without giving up big plays they rushed the passer at a better rate and seemed to make played on the back end very well. Warren scored two more times to give him the single season lead in touchdowns with 18 on the season, Tyre McCants scored on a 23 yard touchdown, but when it all broke down the Bearcats were up 35-23 in the fourth quarter.
The Bearcats could’ve scored on their final drive, but chose to sit milk the clock holding the ball over eight minutes. They won 35-23 to move to 9-1 overall and 5-1 in the AAC East setting up a huge matchup against UCF next week on the road.
They held USF to 313 total yards, 2 of 15 on third down and had four sacks. Warren finished with 151 yards rushing and four touchdowns total. Jarell White playing for the injured Perry Young finished with a team high 10 tackles.
