No. 2 Cincinnati Bearcats traveled down to New Orleans, LA to face AAC foe Tulane Green Wave. With the game on ESPN2 would the Bearcats be able to impress against the lowly Green Wave in front of a national audience? The Green Wave got bad news early as starting quarterback Michael Pratt was out so freshman Kai Horton got his first start.
Looks like Tulane is without starting quarterback Michael Pratt today due to a concussion suffered last week on a brutal hit. The #Bearcats defense will be seeing true freshman Kai Horton. Look for this defense to have a big impact today. #TFON
— Neil Meyer (@MeyerNeil6) October 30, 2021
Tulane starting QB Michael Pratt is officially out with a concussion.
— Justin Williams (@Williams_Justin) October 30, 2021
Backup QB Justin Ibieta is also out with an injury. True freshman Kai Horton is expected to start against the #Bearcats.
Tulane got the ball first and Horton made a few nice throws, but he had a huge freshman mistake in the red zone as he lost 17 yards on a sack by Jowl Briggs and it led to them punting. Cincinnati had to go 99 yards for a touchdown and they did driving the ball down the field finishing it with a Desmond Ridder pass to Josh Whyle from 16 yards out, but them up 7-0 after the good extra point by Christian Lowery. Tulane went on a 9-0 run to take 9-7 lead after Marvin Moody sacked Ridder for a safety and the following drive Tajae Spears hit the Bearcats defense with a 47 yard touchdown on an end of round. Cincinnati answered with a five play, 80 yard drive that Jerome Ford scored from 3 yard touchdown to push the lead to 14-9. After a Ridder interception, Tulane scored 41 yard Merek Glover field goal right before the half. Cincinnati only took a 14-12 lead into the halftime.
The Bearcats defense gave up 201 yards with 156 yards on the ground, Tulane went 2-of-2 on fourth down and 4-of-8 on third down. Cincinnati went 3-of-6 on third down and 1-of-1 on fourth down with 173 yards total. Both teams had one turnover a piece.
In the second half Cincinnati pitched a shut out, but they only scored 17 points, the defense played a lot better, but the offense didn’t look as sharp as we have seen in the past. They came into the game as a 27 point favorite, but at times didn’t play up to the pre-ranking. Ridder hit Whyle for his second touchdown from 5 yards out late in the third quarter. Christian Lowery made his second field goal of the season mid fourth quarter to push the lead to 24-12 and Ridder hit Ford for a 24 yard touchdown to push the lead to 31-12.
Ridder finished 17-of-27 passing for 227 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, he also rushed for 47 yards.
For the second week in a row Whyle led the receivers and receptions and yards with four catches, 79 yards and two touchdowns.
Ford finished the game with 65 yards rushing and 42 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
Joel Dublanko led the team with nine tackles, 0.5. sacks.
Ja’von Hicks and Coby Bryant both had one interception.
Cincinnati is now 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the AAC. They will play Tulsa next Saturday at Nippert Stadium for homecoming.
