The Cincinnati Bearcats traveled down to Tampa, Florida to take on the USF Bulls. Cincinnati put their 9-0 record on the line against the AAC foe.
Note:
Cincinnati is No. 2 in the AP, No. 3 in the Coaches Poll and No. 5 in the College Football Playoff Rankings
Justin Williams of the Athletic reported that running back Jerome Ford and center Jake Renfro wouldn’t play due to injuries and Charles McClelland and Vincent McConnell would start in their place. Would the Bearcats miss two important starters in Tampa?
The first drive the Bearcats defense forced a three and out, but a silly encroachment on special teams allowed USF new life and they ended up draining more than six minutes off the clock. Cincinnati got the ball and on the first offensive play Desmond Ridder hit Michael Young and Young fumbled, USF recovered and on the next play Joel Dublanko recovered a fumble to get the ball back. Next drive, Ridder throws a ball to Alec Pierce that is tipped and intercepted by Christian Williams, he almost took it to the house. Jaren Mangham ended up scoring from 2 yards out to strike first and go up 7-0. Cincinnati drove down fast capped by a 12 yard Ryan Montgomery touchdown to tie the game at 7. Ridder followed that up with a 13 yard score to push the lead to 14-7. Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner picked off Timmy McClain to set the Bearcats up in USF territory and Ridder hit Tre Tucker for a 1 yard touchdown to tie quarterback coach Gino Guidugli’s record of 78 passing touchdowns, while pushing them up 21-7. After a defensive stop the offense was able to get an Alex Bales field goal from 27 yards out before halftime to push the lead to 24-7.
Cincinnati held USF to 39 yards in the first half, while getting 260 total yards themselves.
Cincinnati started the second half fast as Ridder found Josh Whyle for a 21 yard touchdown to push the lead to 31-7 and also take over the touchdown record with 79. After pushing the lead to 24, USF went on a 14-0 run as Mangham scored from 1 yard out and McClain hit Jimmy Horn for a 80 yard touchdown to get the score to 31-21. Cincinnati answered with a 1 yard Ethan Wright touchdown to push it to 38-21. Cincinnati had the ball on the one yard line after Leonard Taylor’s touchdown was called back and USF stood tall getting a turnover on downs. That stop was a big swing as it seemed Cincinnati was about to go up 45-21, but now it was 38-21 and USF drove 98 yards to score on a 2 yard McClain run to push the score to 38-28. After a Deshawn Pace interception, Montgomery hit USF with a nasty spin move to go 55 yards for a score to put the final score at 45-28.
Ridder went 31-39 passing for 304 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He also had 13 rushes for 65 yards and a touchdown. Montgomery had six carries for 72 yards and a touchdown. Wright had 37 yards and a touchdown. Tucker had six catches for 51 yard and a touchdown. Whyle had five catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. Darrian Beavers, Bryan Cook and Ty Van Fossen all were tied with seven tackles.
Cincinnati is now 10-0 and 6-0 in the AAC, they will welcome SMU into Nippert Stadium next Saturday.
Note:
McClelland didn’t finish the game, Cook injured his shoulder and Van Fossen injured his wrist or forearm.
