The No. 25 Cincinnati Bearcats traveled down to Houston, Texas to face Houston Cougars in an American Athletic Conference. The Bearcats haven’t beaten the Cougars in their last two meetings and this is their first week ranked this season. Would the Bearcats be able to stay on the winning side of things?
In the first quarter the Bearcats struck first with a 13 yard rushing touchdown by quarterback Desmond Ridder. After holding the Cougars to a field goal, Ridder hit wide receiver Rashad Medaris for a 75 yard touchdown to put them up 14-3 in the first quarter. In the second quarter the Cougars scored on a 50 yard bomb from wide receiver Bryson Smith to Jeremy Singleton, but before the half the Bearcats scored again when Ridder hit Deguara for a 15 yard touchdown to take a 21-10 lead to the half.
In the second half Houston struck first as Clayton Tune hit Marquez Stevenson for a 69 yard strike to get the Cougars within four points and that’s where the third quarter ended. Ridder hit Mike Warren II for a 13 yard score on a screen pass where he ran over his teammate Malick Mbodj and two Houston defenders. Just when you started to feel safe Houston answered with a 6 yard score from Tune to Christian Trahan and after a failed two point conversion the Bearcats were up 28-23. Sam Crosa made a 32 yard field goal to give the Bearcats an eight point lead late in the fourth quarter and Bryan Wright, Jr.’s deflection to Perry Young for a pick six was the icing on the cake for the Bearcats who won their fourth straight 38-23.
The defense had five takeaways which were huge, but they had 12 penalties that accounted for 84 yards. They were outgained in total yards 394 to 424, but only had one turnover.
Sophomore safety Javon Hicks had a nice game with two interceptions and one fumble recovery. Senior receiver Rashad Medaris had a huge game with three receptions and 121 yards and a touchdown. Ridder had a nice game going 14-of-24 passing for 263 yards and three touchdowns and he also rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown.
The official stats haven’t released on the defensive side of the ball, but even thought it wasn’t clean at times the Bearcats are now 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the AAC. Next Saturday they will face Tulsa at Nippert Stadium at 3:30 pm.
