Fans packed historic Nippert Stadium Saturday to watch the 21stranked Cincinnati Bearcats take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and to celebrate the 2009 undefeated Bearcats football team, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame the night before. Cincinnati came into this game 5-1 overall, and 2-0 in conference play. Tulsa came in with a 2-4 record overall, and 0-2 in conference play. Tulsa leads the series history with 17 wins, and the Bearcats aren’t far behind with 14. Cincinnati is coming off 38-23 win against Houston and Tulsa is coming off a 45-17 loss against Navy.
The Bearcats won the toss and elected to defer, giving Tulsa the first possession in which they made it to their own 35 before Marcus Brown sacked Tulsa quarterback Zach Smith who then fumbled the ball and the Bearcats recovered it. The Bearcats had to settle for a field goal and Cole Smith made a 50-yard field goal, putting the Bearcats on the board first, 3-0. Tulsa gots the ball back and has their second drive end with a sack by Myjai Sanders, forcing them to punt. The Bearcats got the ball back and scored on a 4-yard rush from Gerrid Doaks on a 7 play, 49-yard drive, putting them up 10-0 a little under half way through the first quarter. Tulsa started driving again and after five plays Jarell White caused a fumble recovered by Ja’von Hicks, giving the Bearcats the ball on the Cincinnati 31. On the first play of the drive Desmond Ridder throws a pass to Alec Pierce for 49-yards and Pierce makes an incredible grab setting the Bearcats up for a 31-yard field goal, which ends up getting blocked by Tulsa and recovered at their 20-yard line. The first quarter ends with Tulsa driving around midfield.
The second quarter started with the continuation of Tulsa’s drive that ends with an interception by Ja’von Hicks in the end zone, giving the Bearcats the ball back and keeping Tulsa from scoring. The Bearcats didn’t capitalize on the turnover and punedt the ball back to Tulsa. Tulsa took it to the 50-yard line, was held there by the Bearcat defense and then had to put the ball away. Ryan Montgomery returned the punt 20-yards to the Cincinnati 29 and that is where the Bearcats started their drive. An offensive pass interference penalty pushed the Bearcats back, but they recover from a 1stand 25 to continue the drive. but are then stopped and forced to punt after the next set of downs. James Smith punted the ball 57 yards, making Tulsa start their drive on their own 2-yard line. After six plays, Tulsa has to punt. The punt was blocked by Ethan Tucky, touched by another UC player and then finally recovered by Tulsa, giving them the ball back after they had just punted. Tulsa takes it down the field and scores a 3-yard rushing touchdown to end the half. The final score of the first half is 10-7 Bearcats.
The Bearcats got the ball to start the second half and the Tulsa defense held them to a three-and-out. So far, the Bearcat offense didn’t look at explosive and dynamic as they have in their games before. They haven’t been able to get the ball in scoring position. their two score came from getting the ball off of turnovers. The Bearcat defense returned Tulsa the favor and held them to a three-and-out. On the second play of the Bearcat drive, Ridder rushed 23-yards to the Tulsa 39 giving a spark to the Bearcat offense. A few plays later Doaks has a 28-yard catch for a touchdown, putting the Bearcats up 17-7 about halfway through the third quarter. Tulsa started their drive and on the third play Cam Jefferies has an interception, but it was taken away by an offsides penalty on the Bearcats. Tulsa’s drive doesn’t last much longer, the Bearcat defense forced a punt and started their drive at their own 18-yard line. On the first play Ridder is sacked, fumbles the ball and Tulsa recovers on the Cincinnati 8-yard line. The Bearcat defense stood strong and held Tulsa to a field goal, making the score 17-10 Bearcats. The Bearcats fail to put up any points on their next drive and give the ball back to Tulsa. The third quarter ends in the middle of Tulsa’s drive.
Tulsa’s drive begins the fourth quarter and they march all the way down to the red zone and are once again held to a field goal by the Bearcat defense, making the score 17-13 early in the fourth quarter. Bearcats drove down the field eating up almost 7 minutes of the clock, making it all the way to the Tulsa 12-yard line, and going for it on a 4th and 2, but coming up short and turning it over on downs. Tulsa got the ball back with under 4 minutes left. On the second play of the drive Darrick Forrest got an interception and runs the ball back to the Tulsa 27-yard line. Then on the first play of the drive Gerrid Doaks runs 27 yards for the touchdown, making the score 24-13 Bearcats. Tulsa got the ball back and tried to do anything to get some points on the board, but with 1:45 left Myjai Sanders forced a fumble and it is recovered by Bryan Wright sealing the game for the Bearcats. The final score is 24-13 Bearcats.
The final stats of the game; Ridder was 12-of-22 passing for 172 yards, Doaks had 17 rushes for 91 yards and three touchdowns (two rushing and one receiving), and Pierce had three receptions for 63 yards. UC had 317 total yards, 172 passing yards and 145 rushing yards. Tulsa had 377 total yards, 243 passing yards and 134 rushing yards. Overall the Bearcats offense struggled this game to get anything going, but lucky for them Doaks and the defense really stepped up and took control of this game. They had a total of five turnovers and the offense scored on three of those. Cincinnati is going to need to wake up on offense for the rest of the season if they want to win out. They were lucky to win this one with the way they played. With this 24-13 win, making them 6-1 overall, the Bearcats are now bowl eligible.
