First half notables
Bryant- 17-21/ 314 yards/3 touchdowns, the most yards by a Bearcats QB in the first half since Gunner Kiel threw for 302 back in 2015 vs Houston.
Tyler Scott- 7 catches/ 158 yards/ 3 TDS
Tre Tucker- 5 catches/ 92 yards/1 TD
Ivan Pace lead the way with 7 tackles. 2 for loss and a sack.
Arquon Bush left this one with injury and doubtful to return.
The Bearcats start the second half with the ball, but would hand it right over to the Hoosiers after a tipped ball of the hands of Lenny Taylor would end in the hands of Taiwan Mullen and the Hoosiers would look to create some momentum early here in the second half. The Hoosiers would capitalize off the turnover as Bazelak would find Shaun Shivers for a 2 yard touchdown as the Hoosiers would still trail 38-17 with 11 minutes left in the 3rd. The Hoosiers defense would hold the Bearcats to a 3 and out the following drive and all the momentum was favoring the Hoosiers as they looked to create some offense and get back in this one.
The Hoosiers continued to crawl back after Jaheim Thomas looked to have Bazelak wrapped up for a huge loss, but Bazelak found Cam Camper for a 10-yard gain that would extend the drive after a facemask penalty set the Hooisers up inside the Bearcats 10 where they would get a huge goal line stand on 4th down to prevent the Hoosiers from making this one a two score game. The Hoosiers would crank some momentum after a huge 3 and out deep in Bearcats territory would set up great field position that would eventually lead to a 47 yard touchdown run by Shaun Shivers to make this a 38-24 game with 14 minutes remaining.
However, The Bearcats just weren’t able to get anything going offensively in the second half as the Hoosiers came out and made some great adjustments after the Bearcats lit the Hoosiers up in the first half, the Hoosiers responded perfectly. The Bearcats would look to see an opportunity to put this one away after a 3 and out was extended after a roughing the punter call, the Bearcats would look to keep the clock rolling but would turn the ball over on downs after some miscommunication between center Gavin Gerhardt and Bryant.
The Bearcats defense would stand tall late in the fourth quarter after a turnover on downs set up a Bearcats drive that resulted in a 1 yard touchdown run by Corey Kiner, that would put the Bearcats up 45-24 with 2 minutes remaining after Ivan Pace and Eric Phillips would wreak havoc as they continued to have a huge game for the Bearcats Defense.
The Bearcats would hold on to defeat the Hoosiers 45-24 behind a dominant first half performance where the Bearcats would jump out to a 38-10 lead over Indiana as Ben Bryant finished the day 24-of-40 with 354 yards, four touchdowns while Tyler Scott became the first Bearcat in program history to score three touchdowns in a single half. The Bearcats defense continued to ball out as they saw Ivan Pace wreak havoc with a game high 15 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss as he continues to show why he is one of the top players in the AAC. Eric Phillips had a great day as he continues to step in for the injured Malik Vann and has done a great job in the process as he finished with five tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss and has shown what he brings to this Bearcat defense.
“I think this will be a good learning experience for us, that’s a good football team, still a very good win,” Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell.
The Bearcats will back in action when they travel to Tulsa next Saturday where they will take on the Golden Hurricanes at 7 pm as they now sit 3-1 on the season as they head into AAC Play.
