The No. 7/8 Cincinnati Bearcats welcomed Murray State to Nippert Stadium for a Week 2 clash. After coming off a convincing Week 1 win against Miami of Ohio where the offense was moving on cylinders. Murray State came in 1-0 also as they had a convincing 35-0 win over Mississippi Valley where their quarterback Preston Rice ran for four scores. Would the Bearcats be able to stop the Murray State run offense and move to 2-0?
The Bearcats deferred to the second half and gave Murray State the ball first. Murray State was driving down the field as Preston Rice started the game 4-of-4 and was driving Murray State down the field. That was until Joel Dublanko forecd the pressure and Rice overthrew his man for an easy Ja’von Hicks interception. It was the Bearcats first takeaway on the year and a huge momentum boost for the Bearcats. Unfortunaley, for the Bearcats they would go three and out and Murray State would control the clock for the remaining parts of the first quarter as Cincinnati and Murray State were scoreless through one.
In the second quarter Murray State was able to captilize and find the end zone first as Preston Rice ran it in for a 1 yard score and gave Murray State a 7-0 lead over the Bearcats. the Bearcats struggled on offense, but got a huge turnover from Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner as he was in the right spot on a Bryan Cook deflection. The Bearcats had the ball in Murray State terriority and were looking to captlize. Finally the Bearcats were able to get it going on offense as Ridder found Josh Whyle and Tyler Scott to get in the red zone. The Bearcats had the ball on Murray States 2 yard line with a 4 and goal in there sights. Desmond Ridder used his RPO offense and found Noah Davis in the back of the end zone to pull the Bearcats into a tie with Murray State at 7-7. This would be Noah Davis first touchdown and catch with the Bearcats and his first catch since 2017 with Michigan State as a true frehshman. The Bearcats defense would force another turnover shortly after as Arquon Bush stepped in front of the out route and had the Bearcats in Murray State terrioirty again. The Bearcats would move the ball to the red zone, but the Bearcats would miss a field goal and keep the game tied 7-7. Murray State would hold the ball for the remaing part of the first half and would miss a field goal themselves to keep the game tied 7-7 heading into halftime.
The stats of the first half were not pretty for the Bearcats offense as Desmond Ridder was 4-of-9 on 38 yards passing while Jerome Ford had seven carries for 36 yards. The Bearacts would have a total of 83 yards in the first half and Murray State had an answer for everything. Murray State had 190 total yards and were led by there quarterback Preston Rice who was 14-of-22 with three interceptions, but ran five times for 16 yards and a score. A very defensive sided first half as the Bearcats and Murray State were tied 7-7. Could the Bearcats figure out the offense and move to 2-0?
The Bearcats got the ball first to start off the second half as they started the drive off hot as Desmond Ridder connceted with Alec Pierce for a big 19 yard gain to move Cincinnati in Murray State terriority. Then on 3rd and 14 Desmond Ridder connected with Tyler Scott for 27 yards and put the Bearcats deep into Murray State terrioity with a chance to take the lead for the first time today. The Bearcats finally claimed a lead after Jerome Ford took the handoff up the middle for 13 yards and gave the Bearcats a 14-7 lead. The Bearcats stepped up on defense and forced a 3 and out on Murrays state first drive of the second half and the Bearcats got the ball back quick. The Bearcats looked like they woke up because they would drive down the field again on the arm of Desmond Ridder finding Scott and Michael Young for big grabs. But it would be Jerome Ford stepping up huge in the second half as he would run in his second touchdown of the day and have the Bearcats up 21-7 with 4:58 to go in the 3rd. The Bearcats were sent a messsage and were ready to step up to the challenge. The Bearcats defense would continue to put pressure on the Murray State offense as they would not be able to score the remaining 3rd quarter and would cough up the ball late in the quarter after getting the ball back themselves and set up Cincinnati inside the 25 of Murray State to begin the 4th quarter.
The Bearcats would start the 4th off with a bang after picking up the bad snap by Murray State the Bearcats would score again on a Desmond Ridder dart to Tyler Scott for 23 yards. The Bearcats would take a 28-7 lead with 14:13 remaining in the game. The Bearcats would continue the pattern after a 3 and out as the Bearcats had all the momentum in the second half. The Bearcats would get a huge day from Jerome Ford as he would get his second 100 yard rush day early in the season and Desmond Ridder would hit Tre Tucker deep for 48 yards to set up Jerome Ford’s 3rd touchdown of the day. The Bearcats would lead 35-7 with 10:50 to go in the game. The Bearcats would go to reserves after that and let Prater and company run out the remainder of the clock. Prater and company did just that as they ran out it out to under 3 minutes, but after a muffed punt for Murray State. Evan Prater and Payten Singletary combined for the final dagger and pushed Cincinnatis Lead to 42-7. It was Singletarys first career touchdown and Praters first throwing touchdown of his career.
Stats from todays game:
Ridder: 14-of-22, 243 yards and two touchdowns
Ford: 18 carries for 113 yards and three touchdowns
Tyler Scott: four reception, 74 yards and a touchdown
Joel Dublanko Eight tackles, 0.5 sacks and 2.0 tackles for loss
Darrian Beavers: seven tackles, 0.5 sacks and 0.5 tackles for loss
Deshawn Pace: 7 tackles
The Bearcats will be in action on Saturday when they travel to Indiana to take on the Hoosiers. It will be a tough matchup for the Bearcats as they look to go to 3-0.
