The Bearcats (2-1) welcomed in Big 10 rival Indiana (3-0) to Nippert Stadium as they looked to keep their 28-home game winning streak alive, which is the 2nd longest in all of college football. The Bearcats would see sophomore defensive lineman Dominque Perry suit up for the time this season after missing the first three games due to an undisclosed injury, a great sign for the Bearcats after losing Malik Vann due to injury in the teams 63-10 victory over Kennesaw State. The Bearcats are coming off a 38-17 victory over Miami last week where they saw receivers Tre Tucker and Tyler Scott become the first duo to record over 100 yards since 2016. The Bearcats would look to make it 29 in a row here at Nippert Stadium versus a very tough Indiana team.
The Hoosiers came out firing early, but the Bearcats defense started to settle after they looked to push the temp early, but the defense had a huge stand on third down after a big time stop from Dontay Corleone, as he continued to be a problem for the Hoosiers offensive line early. The Bearcats would start their first drive with a 17 yard catch by Tre Tucker, but that was all they could get offensively on their opening drive.
The Hoosiers would look to settle in on their second drive before they would see that drive end after Connor Bazelak would see his pocket collapse and throw an easy interception to Bryon Threats, his first of his career and the Bearcats would start at the Hoosiers 6 yard line as they looked to put some points on the board early. The Hoosiers would stand on defense and hold the Bearcats to a field goal where Ryan Coe connected from 24 yards out to give the Bearcats an early 3-0 lead with 6 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The Hoosiers would respond with a 16-play drive, where they marched 66 yards down the field taking up 5 minutes off the clock as they continued to push the tempo. However, the Bearcats would waste no time responding as Ben Bryant would find Tyler Scott wide open across the middle of the field for a 75-yard touchdown pass to give the Bearcats a 10-3 lead over the Hoosiers. Bryant would continue to come out slinging as he went 7-for-9, 156 yards and two touchdowns to start after finding Tre Tucker for the 5 yard touchdown catch to give the Bearcats a 17-3 lead over the Hoosiers.
The Bearcats, however, would see star defensive back Arquon Bush go down with an injury early in the second quarter which was a huge loss for the Bearcats defense as Bush is the leader of Bearcats defense. The Hoosiers would find momentum after a huge stop deep in Bearcats territory, would set them up with great field position as they would look to get some momentum going. The Hoosiers would settle in as Connor Bazelak would find Josh Henderson for a 19 yard touchdown to make this a 17-10 ball game here at Nippert Stadium with 8 minutes remaining in the first half.
The Bearcats would settle in after Ben Bryant dropped an absolute beauty to Tyler Scott this time from 34 yards out to give the Bearcats a 24-10 lead over the Hoosiers, as the junior wide receiver now has six catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns on six targets. Bryant, making it look easy here today as he is 13-of-16 for 228 yards and three touchdowns to start and he is just letting it fly here at Nippert Stadium today. The Bearcats would keep letting it fly as Ben Bryant would find Tyler Scott for his third touchdown of the day to give the Bearcats a 31-10 lead.
The Bearcats would respond with a huge forced fumbled as Eric Phillips laid the boom on Bazelak and Dominique Perry would scoop the fumble and take it to the crib for a 14 yard touchdown to give the Bearcats a 38-10 lead and the Nip was absolute rocking.
