Nippert Stadium was rocking Friday night when the 3-1 Cincinnati Bearcats took on the 4-1, 18thranked Central Florida Golden Knights. The last time the Bearcats beat a ranked opponent was in 2009 against West Virginia. UCF had a record-breaking 25 regular season game win streak that was broken two weeks ago with their 34-35 loss to Pitt. This game was sold out about five hours before game time, they sold more student tickets for this game than any other game in Nippert Stadium history and this was the first official sellout of the Luke Fickell era. UCF is 3-1 in the overall series, with the Bearcat’s only win when the teams met for the first time in 2015. UCF won at home 38-13 last year on College Gameday. The Bearcats were looking to beat UCF again in Nippert Stadium under the lights. Many teams, including UCLA, who the Bearcats beat to start out the season, say Nippert is one of the hardest stadiums to play in because the crowd is so loud, especially the student section. Coach Chip Kelly said that the crowd noise was a huge factor and made it hard to communicate. The Ruckus showed up ready to make it a problem again for the UCF Golden Knights.
The Bearcats won the toss and elected to differ, so UCF got the ball to start the game. After two defensive holding calls on the Bearcats that kept UCF’s drive alive, the Golden Knights were held to a field goal. The Bearcats failed come up with any points on their opening drive, but they followed that with holding UCF to a three-and-out, but during the punt they got a roughing the passer call which gave the ball right back to the Golden Knights. Right as the Golden Knights were set to score a touchdown, Cam Jefferies intercepted Dillon Gabriel at the 2-yard line and ran it back 57 yards to the UCF 41-yard line. Unfortunately, they didn’t get any points off that, but it did keep UCF from getting some. UCF got the ball back and the Bearcat defense stopped them at midfield, giving UC a chance to put some points on the board with 1:39 left in the first quarter. The first quarter ended with the Bearcats marching down the field. Overall, a pretty uneventful first quarter.
The second quarter begins with the Bearcats continuing the drive they began in the first. They went 58 yards, in 10 plays to end the drive with a field goal by Sam Crosa, making the score tied 3-3. The Golden Knights get a good kickoff return, with a 45-yard run back. UCF marches down the other half of the field and is held to a field goal, because of the strong goal line defense by the Bearcats. The Bearcats fail to make a first down and are held to a three-and-out. Lucky for them, the Golden Knights fumble on the first play of the drive and Michael Pitts gets the recovery, giving the Bearcats the ball on the UCF 19. The Bearcats get the first touchdown of the game from a Desmond Ridder five-yard pass to Trent Cloud, making the score 10-6 UC. The Golden Knights get the ball back and quickly march down the field looking to score. UCF fails to get a first down, so the Golden Knights are once again held to a field goal, making the score 10-9 UC. On the second play of the drive Ridder throws an interception and with a personal foul, UCF gets the ball on the UC 12. To finish that drive Greg McCrae ran one-yard for the Golden Knight’s first touchdown of the night, making the score 16-10 UCF. The first half ends with a UC drive that went nowhere and the final score stayed 16-10, with the Bearcats to receive the second half kickoff.
The second half starts with UC at their own 25-yard line. The Bearcats march down the field relying on Michael Warren II and Josiah Deguara for most of their plays. They only score a field goal made by Sam Crosa, making the score 16-13, UCF still on top. The next three drives result in three-and-outs, and the next one a defensive stand for UCF. The Golden Knights get the ball back on their own 10-yard line and on the first play Gabriel is intercepted by Ahmad Gardner who runs it back for a pick-six, putting the Bearcats up 20-16. After the score the Golden Knights get the ball back and the Bearcat defense stands strong and makes a stop to give the ball back to their offense. The Bearcats drive ends after a hit on Deguara gets flagged, but after review, gets overturned. The Golden Knight’s drive ends on a sack by Elijah Ponder. The Bearcats get the ball back end the third quarter with a 61-yard run to the UCF 11.
The fourth quarter starts with a bang. Desmond Ridder throws an 11-yard pass to Alec Pierce for a touchdown, putting the Bearcats up 27-16. UCF then responded on a 9 play, 61-yard drive that ended as they were about to score with an interception by Jarell White giving the Bearcats the ball on their 11-yard line. The following drive didn’t result in any points, but did eat about 6:30 off the clock. UCF drive does not start well, starting with two back to back sacks from Malik Vann and Elijah Ponder, causing another three-and-out for the Golden Knights. The Bearcats get the ball back with 4:20 left and hopes to run out some of the clock. They do not successfully do that, so they have to give the ball back to UCF down 11 with 4 minutes to go. The Golden Knights waste no time and go 93 yards in four plays to score a touchdown and they go for the 2-point conversion and successfully get it, making the score 27-24 UC with 3:11 to go. UCF tries an onside kick and the Bearcats recover at the Cincinnati 44. This is where the game gets crazy. Michael Warren II is given the ball on the first three downs. He runs for two yards on first down, seven yards on second down, and supposedly no gain on third down, making it fourth and one. After the third down run, everyone is sure he made the line to gain, but after the longest official review ever, they say the ruling on the field stands, he is short. Without hesitation, the offense lines up to go for it to win the game. Ridder keeps and get the first down and after the longest three minutes ever, he takes a knee and ends the game. The final score was UC 27, UCF 24. The Bearcats broke UCF’s streak of 31 consecutive games scoring 30+ points, which was the longest in the nation. After this huge win the fans stormed the field and celebrated with the players.
The final statistics of the game; Ridder threw for 149 yards and two touchdowns, Warren II rushed for 133 yards, and Deguara led the receiving yards with 64. UC had a total of 341 yards, 192 rushing and 149 passing. The Bearcats only turned the ball over once, but caused UCF to turn the ball over four times. That is the stat of the night. Two of the three interceptions came in the red zone and made the difference of the game. Fickell even said after the game, the defense won the game. They were solid all game and made the plays that needed to be made. This game had the second most students ever in attendance and that helped the team get this win. The Bearcats move to 4-1 after winning this thriller over #18 UCF.
