With the American Athletic Conference East on the line the No. 24 Cincinnati Bearcats traveled down to Orlando, Florida to face No. 11 UCF Knights . ESPN College Game day was on hand for the first time for any AAC team so that brought the magnitude up a notch for the game and it is a primetime game on ABC.
The first quarter was exciting after pinned UCF deep into their own territory Malik Clements got a fumble sack on McKenzie Milton that Kimoni Fitz recovered for a touchdown to put the Bearcats up 6-0. Cole Smith missed the extra point that wouldn’t be the end of his woes, after the Bearcats forced a three and out he missed a 38 yard field goal and after UCF scored to take the lead 7-6 he got his field goal blocked. Quickly after the block Milton hit Adrian Killings for a 17 yard touchdown where he was able to isolate Jarell White one on one on the sideline and White got caught in the traffic. Milton hit Tre Nixon for a 36 yard touchdown to push the lead to 21-6. The Bearcats were driving in the red zone and Chris Ferguson got beat by Titus Davis who caused a fumble that Brendon Hayes recovered to stop the threat.
The Bearcats are stopping the running game which only has seven yards, but the passing game as 219 yards at the half.
After a stop by the defense the offense fumbled an exchange from Desmond Ridder to Charles McClelland that UCF recovered for the second turnover in consecutive series. After a missed field goal by UCF, the Bearcats were stopped on fourth and one when Kyle Trout was beat to give Tavion Thomas no shot. After being stopped Milton hit Killings for a 42 yard touchdown to take a 28-6 lead. Thomas scored later in the game to give the Bearcats its first offensive touchdown, but it wasn’t enough as they lost 38-13 to move to 9-2 overall and 5-2 in the AAC East. UCF won the AAC East with the win. Tyrell Gilbert injured his shoulder during the game, as well as Mike Warren, Warren played through it, but it led to more touches for Thomas.
This game will go down as a learning experience for Ridder as he went 11-of-26 passing for 127 yards and 70 yards rushing. He had three turnovers, one was questions as he got targeted (no call) and recovered the fumble on the ground yet they gave it to UCF. Thomas finished with 79 yards and a touchdown. UCF’s Davis finished with three sacks and caused problems all night.
The Bearcats will have a chance to get their 10th win of the season on Friday at home against ECU.
