The Bearcats would come out and get a huge three and out after a 66-yard punt set the Bearcats up at their own two-yard line, the Bearcats would respond with an 8-play drive resulting in 98 yards, a drive that was capped off with a 28-yard touchdown catch from Tyler Scott, his second of the day that would give the Bearcats a 20-3 lead with 10 minutes left in the third quarter.
However, the Midshipmen would respond with a 16-play drive resulting in a one-yard touchdown run from Maasai Maynor, his first touchdown of his career to cut the Bearcats lead to 10. This drive by the Midshipmen took off nearly 9 minutes of game clock and that is what makes playing the triple option so difficult as the Midshipmen were looking to wear down the Bearcats defense here late in this game. The Midshipmen would then force a three and out after a Ben Bryant strip sack led to a 3rd and 28 which gave Navy the ball back with 13 minutes left in this one as the Midshipmen were looking to make a late comeback, but the Bearcats defense stood tall when they needed it the most.
The Bearcats defense would prevail once again, but the Bearcats couldn’t use the momentum and create anything offensively as they were forced to give the ball back to the Midshipmen with 9 minutes left where Navy was looking to march down the field and find the endzone.
The Midshipmen would then see an opportunity to put some points on the board as they looked to make it a seven-point game as they would try a 44 yard field goal attempt, but would miss wide left and that would set the Bearcats up with prime position to run out the clock and improve to 7-2 on the season, 4-1 within the American Athletic Conference.
“It is obviously a tough one, it always is as that is a very hard-fought game, I don’t think we have ever played them but maybe one time that it didn’t feel like that as that is a very good ball club that always gives us their best. I am proud of our guys as their backs were against the wall a little bit this past week after taking a gut punch and what we went through last week,” said Fickell following the Bearcats 20-10 victory.
Notables- Senior quarterback Ben Bryant finished 25-of-35 for 299 yards and two touchdowns on the day after completing 71% of his passes, the senior really bounced back after the teams loss last week to UCF.
Tyler Scott finished with a game high 10 catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns as the junior wide receiver looks to be back and healthy after missing some time with an ankle injury the last couple weeks, and it’s safe to say when Scott is on its a great day for the Bearcats as the junior wide receiver now has 13 career touchdowns and all of them have been longer than 20 yards.
Ivan Pace continues to show why he is arguably one of the best defensive players in all of the country as the senior linebacker finished with a game high 14 tackles, one sack and two tackles for loss. Pace continues to lead this Bearcats defense and has shined since coming to Cincinnati this past spring.
Dontay Corleone finished with a career high 11 tackles and was dominant in the trenches up front for the Bearcats and really controlled the Midshipmen run game alongside of Jabari Taylor and Jowon Briggs.
What’s next for the Bearcats- The Bearcats (7-2, 4-1 AAC) will be back in action on a short week as they welcome in East Carolina University (6-3, 3-2 AAC) to Nippert Stadium this Friday for their annual Nipp at Night with kickoff slated for 8 pm. The Pirates are coming off a huge win vs UCF two weeks ago and will look to build momentum off of that and will be a great challenge for the Bearcats.
