The story of the first half was the scary situation revolving Knights quarterback John Rhys Plumlee who took a scary hit from Arquon Bush and was ruled out immediately after the hit after stumbling on the field. The Bearcats offense continued to struggle however, as Corey Kiner was nowhere to be found in the first half as the Bearcats running game was completely taken away by the Knights great defense up front as the Bearcats were out rushed 141-12 in the first half. Kiner is dressed and available for this contest so that will be something to keep another eye on. Meanwhile The Bearcats defense started to settle in there in the second quarter after being on the field for nearly 11 minutes to start this game while the Knights ran right down their throat for 120 yards to start the game, but the Bearcats know they have to get something going offensively to start the second half after being held to just 6 points in the first half. The Bearcats defense however, stood tall there in the second quarter as Ivan Pace anchored the defense with eight tackles and a tackle for loss and made it difficult for the Knights to get anything going after the opening three drives.
The Bearcats would start the second half with a 3 and out and were forced to punt after a drop by Jadon Thompson, and the Knights would take over just 50 seconds into the second half. The Knights would keep their opening drive going after Eric Phillips would jump offsides on 4th and 1 to give the Knights a fresh set of downs as they looked to build to their early lead. The Bearcats would see this drive change momentum after a huge fumble by Iasiah Bowser in the redzone after Ty Van Fossen came in with a huge hit that was recovered by Deshawn Pace at the Knights two-yard line. However, The Knights defense would respond with a huge safety as Bryant was sacked in the endzone and the Knights would take an early 12-6 lead, after a huge stop on defense resulted in a safety the knights had all the momentum in the world as they were set to have great field position as they looked to build off that stop.
The Knights would march right down the field as they were in position to score once again before a fumble on the handoff from Keene and Bowser, that was recovered by Dontay Corleone and the Bearcats defense would continue to be the staple here at the bounce house. The Bearcats would find some momentum on offense after Bryant would connect with Lenny Taylor for a big 21-yard gain and the Bearcats were driving as Bryant would connect with Josh Whyle for a 14-yard touchdown to give the Bearcats a 13-12 lead, their first lead of the game as Whyle would etch his name into Cincinnati history an become the all-time leader in Touchdowns by a tight end surpassing Brett Celek who finished his career with 14.
The Bearcats defense would get a huge stop after the Knights would respond with two quick plays to get into the Bearcats territory, but it all started with a huge tackle for loss by Corleone that forced the Knights to punt as the Knights saw all the momentum quickly shift to the Bearcats following the Whyle touchdown. The Bearcats would look to move the ball downfield after starting at their own nine-yard line but the Knights defense would force another punt from Fletcher with 10:33 remaining.
The Knights were looking to retake the lead as they ran down the field as they continued to take time off the clock and rip off these 4-5 yard runs as the Knights continued to milk the clock and march their way to the redzone led by Bowser. The Knights would take a 19-13 lead following a 3 yard touchdown run from Iasiah Bowser to give the Knights a 18-13 lead with 4:36 remaining here in this one, as the Bearcats were now forced to play from behind as all the momentum favored the Knights.
Could Ben Bryant and the Bearcats preserve and look to pull this one out down the stretch as the Knights held a 6 point lead. The Bearcats would get a huge 16 yard gain as Bryant connected with Tucker to get into Knights territory as the Bearcats offense was starting to click. The Bearcats would take a 21-18 lead following a huge 39-yard touchdown run by Ryan Montgomery that would follow with an incredible one-handed catch by Tyler Scott to give the Bearcats a 21-18 lead with 3:04 remaining. The Bearcats had 16 yards rushing before that 39-yard touchdown run by Ryan Montgomery and that silenced the bounce house.
The Knights would respond and march down the field as they got well within field goal range, but Gus Malzahn wanted the victory and they got it done as RJ Havey would find the end zone for the second time to give the Knights a 25-21 lead with 48 seconds left, where they would hold on and defeat the Bearcats 25-21 as the Bearcats would suffer their first conference loss since December 7th, 2017, vs Memphis.
“Obviously that is a tough one for us, there is a lot of heavy hearts in there, but what I remind them is they have to keep their chins up, it is why they play the game. They battled and fought, but we weren’t at our best today, but we found a way to get ourselves back in the thing after going back and forth. What we have been able to do the last four or so weeks, was find a way to finish it at the end and that is what we did not do today,” said Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell following the teams 25-21 loss vs UCF.
The Knights ran for 258 yards on the night behind a career night from RJ Harvey who finished with 18 carries for 84 yards and two touchdowns all in which are new career highs. Meanwhile the Bearcats rushed for just 35 yards on the game, and it all came off a big 39-yard touchdown run from Ryan Montgomery.
“We would love to have balance, but sometimes when things aren’t going well you have to find other ways to get it done. It is the same thing for us defensively when you can’t stop the run it is really difficult. They forced us to throw the football a little more but give our guy’s credit they had to do, what they had to do but that isnt how we want to play we want to have the ability to be balanced and I think that puts a lot of pressure on us early not being able to run the football,” said Fickell.
The Bearcats also saw Corey Kiner not play a snap today and that was a huge factor within the run game for the Bearcats as Charles McClelland and Ryan Montgomery saw all the touches for the Bearcats in the teams 25-21 loss to UCF.
“I think it was just the situation obviously the ball wasn’t being ran much. We have been rolling guys in there trying to go with the hot hand. We will look back on it and maybe see if we don’t need to go with three guys. It is hard to get those guys a lot of opportunities when you feel like you’re not running the ball well like we did in the first half,” said Fickell.
Tre Tucker finished with a game high 10 catches for 110 yards and had a lot of success in the intermediate passing game.
Notables – The Bearcats were led by Ben Bryant who finished 25-of-45 with 298 yards and a touchdown.
Ryan Montgomery led the team with just three carries for 40 yards including a huge 39-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to give the Bearcats a 21-18 lead with just under three minutes left.
