No. 17 Cincinnati went down to Tampa, Florida to face American Athletic Conference rival USF for a chance to secure a piece of the East division title. The road in conference has been unkind to Cincinnati as of late, just good check out the ECU game, would they have better luck against USF?
In the first half Cincinnati didn’t get much going as USF dominated the visitors early in the game. USF struck first with a 4 yard touchdown run by Trevon Sands. Kicker Spencer Shrader made a 28 yard field goal to give USF a 10-0 run, but Shrader missed three field goals before halftime giving Cincinnati life. USF’s defense dominated Cincinnati in the first half limiting them to 46 total yards in the first two quarters sacking Ridder four times, recovering a fumble and talling 6.0 tackles for loss. Cincinnati’s defense did a heck of a job keeping the team in the game when seven offensive drives ended in a fumble and six punts.
In the second half the defense forced a three and out and then Gerrid Doaks imposed his will getting Cincinnati on the board with a 1 yard touchdown run. Down 10-7, Cincinnati allowed a scoring drive capped by Jordan McCloud 4 yard pass to Mitchell Wilcox putting USF up 17-10. Cincinnati answered with a 41 yard field goal by Sam Crosa to put them down 17-10. Ja’von Hicks made a nice strip and recovery that stopped a USF scoring drive, but the offense didn’t reward the amazing play. Michael Warren II got in the act with a 2 yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 17. Shrader missed his fourth field goal to give Cincinnati live and after a couple of big plays by Warren II, Crosa knocked down a 37 yard field goal to steal a win 20-17.
Thank you @samcrosa10 with another clutch kick #Bearcats #TFON pic.twitter.com/Sw7XwH9vgO
— J.T. Smith (@_JT_Smith) November 17, 2019
Cincinnati now has as at least a share of the AAC East with the win. They are 9-1 overall and 6-0 in the AAC. This game wasn’t pretty, but big games by Warren II and Doaks were huge. Warren II had 26 carries for 134 yards and a touchdown as well as two catches for 30 yards. Doaks had 10 carries for 48 yards and a touchdown as well as two catches for 16 yards. The offense only had 278 yards total and of that amount only 78 yards were from the passing game. That is something that has to be cleaned up soon if they want to finish this trek for a New Years Six Bowl.
They will face Temple, Saturday at Nippert Stadium for Senior Day.
