The Cincinnati Bearcats welcomed the Tulsa Golden Hurricane into a packed Nippert Stadium on Saturday in what would be a rematch of the AAC Championship from last year. Fans were crazy and packed on campus early in the morning in preparation for the first College GameDay showing in the University of Cincinnati program history. Fans were excited the program was excited and we were about to see just what Cincinnati would do after the first College Football Rankings. It was a “red out” in Cincinnati with Tulsa rocking their all whites. The Bearcats won the toss and decided to defer to the second half. The Bearcats came in with the second-longest home winning streak in all of college football. Would they be able to extend it and win on a high stage in Homecoming week?
The Bearcats defense came to play early after Tulsa muffed the opening kickoff and started at their own 4. The Cincinnati Bearcats defense forced a 3 and out and gave Desmond Ridder and the offense prime field position to begin the game. Ridder found a couple of chunk plays to Michael Young and Jerome Ford and Ridder finished off the drive with an option run scamper for 2 yards. The Bearcats took an early 7-0 lead on Tulsa after a 7 play 53-yard drive. The Bearcats would be tested though after another 3 and out Ridder would be picked off and Tulsa would have the ball inside the Cincinnati 25 yard line. The defense stood tall though and forced Tulsa backward to force a punt. Ridder and company would then drive down the field catered by a big 35-yard grab from Alec Pierce to set up a 1-yard score from Ford to give Cincinnati a 14-0 lead over the Golden Hurricanes at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Tulsa started to drive down the field, but Cincinnati brought some pressure and forced Tulsa to kick a field goal after Arquon Bush made a great play in coverage on third down. The Bearcats led 14-3 this time. The drive after Cincinnati would drive down the field and get into the red zone. On the drive, tough Jerome Ford would leave which looked like a left leg injury, and wouldn’t return for the drive. The Bearcats would take back-to-back sacks and settle for a field goal. But Christian Lowery would miss it and the Bearcats remained with a 14-3 lead with under 8 in the half to go. The Tulsa Golden Hurricanes would go down the field and convert on a 4th and 1 to get back in the game. Shamari Brooks finished off the drive with an 8-yard rush and Cincinnati had a 14-9 lead after a missed extra point. Tulsa would run the ball eight times on the drive and pick up 55 yards on the ground. The Bearcats defense had no answer for Tulsa’s run game in the first half. The Bearcats could not get anything going on offense for the remainder of the second quarter and Tulsa would add a field goal late in the first half and Cincinnati would take a 14-12 lead into halftime.
The first-half stats versus Tulsa:
Desmond Ridder: 7-of-11 passing, 149 yards, one interception, 10 carries for 37 yards, and a touchdown
Jerome Ford: seven carries for 24 yards and a touchdown, two catches for 67 yards
Alec Pierce: two catches for 49 yards
