This weekend the Bearcats will travel to Dallas, Texas where they will take on the SMU Mustangs at a 12 pm ET/11 CT Kickoff on ESPN. The Bearcats are returning to action after coming off their bye week, which happened to come at a great time as the team was a little banged up after their 28-24 victory over USF as they made it thirty straight victories at Nippert Stadium.
The Bearcats saw quarterback Ben Bryant leave late in the third quarter of the Bearcats victory after taking a hit to the head and neck area, as Evan Prater was forced to come in and finish the game due to concussion protocols. Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell did say at his weekly press conference that Ben has been able to return to practice over the last week after going through some of the concussion protocols. The Bearcats also saw leading receiver Tyler Scott go down early in the USF game with what appeared to be an ankle injury, Fickell did provide some updates on Scott and his status heading into this weekends matchup with SMU.
“Tyler is still a guy we are hoping that throughout the week will continue to get better and better and be able to play. You want those guys to be at their best in order to play. The uniqueness we have a more depth that you don’t want to put a guy out there that isn’t able to play and preform at the best of their ability. We don’t have anything as of yet,” said coach Fickell in his weekly press conference.
The Bearcats get good news however, as running back Corey Kiner will be back heading into SMU after missing the USF game with a hand injury. Fickell said Kiner has been able to practice over the bye week and will be a huge part of the Bearcats offense this Saturday and can take some of the load off of running back Charles McClelland’s back after rushing for a career high 179 yards and two touchdowns in the teams 28-24 victory over USF.
The Bearcats know they will have to go on the road for the first time since Week 1 where the Bearcats traveled to Fayetteville, Arkansas and they saw a hostile crowd of nearly 76,000 people in week one, but Bearcats Luke Fickell expects the SMU faithful to make it tough for the Bearcats and they know they will have to go on the road and face another tough SMU team along with a very hostile crowd for an early morning showdown.
