The Bearcats would get a touchdown late in the 4th quarter as Charles McClelland would find the endzone for the second time today as the Bearcats would take a 38-17 lead over the RedHawks and that closed the door on this one here at Paycor Stadium where the Bearcats would hold on to defeat the RedHawks 38-17 despite a shaky start to this one en route to claiming the victory bell for the 16th straight season.
“The pride we have in this rivalry game, 59-59-7 as we haven’t had the lead since 1915, and we talked about that all week, and we are really proud now that this is the first lead we have had in this series since 1915. The respect for the rivalry is defiantly alive and well in what we do. I give those guys a lot of credit for a team that didn’t have their quarterback, they came out and had a really good game plan and did a great job,” said Bearcats Head Coach Luke Fickell.
The Bearcats saw big days from Ben Bryant as he went 26-of-35 for 337 yards and two touchdowns. Bryant go off to a great start as the Bearcats quarterback woke up feeling dangerous on his birthday as he would go on to complete his first 12 passes of the day before throwing an incompletion to Nick Mardner in the back of the end-zone. The senior quarterback had come into this one as he faced Miami last season in his lone season at Eastern Michigan, where now teammate Ivan Pace got the best of him as he recorded his only career interception off Bryant, so Pace was able to help the quarterback a little bit in terms of what Miami brings to the table.
“I think Ben does a really great job. I think he does a really good job at seeing the field, taking what is there. I do think we are a little different, but Ben’s strengths are showing,” said Bearcats coach Luke Fickell.
The Bearcats also saw a huge day from Senior running back Charles McClelland as he finished the day with 18 carries, 101 yards, two touchdowns on the ground as he played a huge factor offensively for the Bearcats hear today and has seen himself take on that role of featured back in the Bearcats backfield.
“Chuck did a great job, there is one of those 18 that stand out on mind that we have to clean up, but However Chuck has done a great job. I knew heading into this one Miami had done a great job defending the run, loading the box. I thought we had to be able to run the football, But I think Chuck has shown us that he has been able to be a little more of the featured back,” said Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell.
The Bearcats saw their first group of wide receivers to go over 100 yards since 2016 versus Tulsa, as Tyler Scott finished with eight catches for 119 yards and a touchdown, while Tre Tucker finished with seven catches for 109 yards. Tucker and Scott were getting just about anything they wanted versus the RedHawks defense as Tyler Scott found himself streaking in the end-zone for what a 41-yard touchdown across the middle early in the third quarter. Scott and Tucker are the two veteran receivers the Bearcats rely on, and they showed that here today as they combined for 15 catches, 225 yards in the teams 38-17 victory.
“Tre only played the first quarter of last week’s game, didn’t practice much early in the week, wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to go today, he wasn’t in the return game for us just because he was a little dinged up. It was great to see him get back out there, for him to come back and do what he did on a short week, just shows what kind of pro Tucker is. Tyler Scott has continued to grow, the more we can get the ball in his hands, the better we are going to be, he is a legit 10.4 guy who is really developing into a really good wide receiver,” said Fickell.
Ivan Pace finished the day with a team high eight tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss and a sack against his former team. Pace overcame some emotions heading into this one as he was now on the opposite side of this rivalry for the first time. Pace knows a lot about this rivalry more than anyone now that he has experience it from both sides of the ball between Miami and Cincinnati.
“It was defiantly emotional because that was my old team, I have been practicing with them for three years, and came over here, it was pretty heartbreaking playing against them, I know what they can do, they know what I can do. They defiantly changed up some signals for sure, I tried to look over to their sideline a couple of times just to see if I could see something, but they changed it a little bit. The bell means respect, everyone tries to give respect to the victory bell. It’s not that much different on the Cincinnati side, we are both trying to fight for what is ours, it felt really great to be out there making plays for Cincinnati,” said Ivan Pace following the Bearcats 38-17 win over Miami.
The Bearcats (2-1) will be back in action at Nippert Stadium next Saturday where they take on Big 10 rival Indiana at either 3:30 or 4 pm as the kick off time hasn’t been officially announced yet, we just know it will kick off at either 3:30 or 4 pm either on ESPN 2 or Espn U.
