Scott Satterfield and the Bearcats (2-3, 0-2 Big XII) are still searching for their first ever Big 12 conference win ahead of Saturday’s contest vs Iowa State (3-3, 2-1 Big XII) which happens to be the Bearcats annual Homecoming game. The Bearcats have had two weeks to flip the script following their 35-27 loss to BYU, which would mark their third straight loss for the first time since 2017. On Saturday, Scott Satterfield will have an opportunity to go against a great friend in Matt Campbell.
Campbell and Satterfield’s relationship dates back to their time together at Toledo in 2009, where Satterfield and Campbell both served as offensive assistants on Tim Beckman’s first team at Toledo. Who else was on that 2009 staff, you may ask? USF head coach Alex Golesh, current Toledo head coach Jason Candle and Michigan defensive coordinator Steven Clinkscale.
“We had a great staff during our time at Toledo,” Satterfield said. “There’s now four head coaches off that offensive staff. All of them are great guys that have done a lot of great things in their careers. I enjoyed my time there working with Matt and the other guys. I’m very familiar with Matt and how he runs his program and how he coaches there, we have a lot of respect for them. They have been really good at Iowa State over the years. They have taken a lot of players that many schools didn’t want coming out of high school and turned them into great players. Their development is really good, a name that comes to mind is Brock Purdy of the 49ers, whose now one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. They have another young quarterback who is a freshman that is very similar, very young but making a lot of similar decisions and throws. I have a lot of respect for Matt Campbell and how he runs his program.”
“Scott Satterfield, the head coach of Cincinnati and I are great friends. We were together at Toledo in 2009. He is one of my greatest mentors and has had such a huge impact on me as a person, him and family and certainly as a football coach,” Matt Campbell said. “I think that aspect of things, we know what we are getting into, and we know that Scott is going to run the football. You look at his career, one of the best coaches in all of college football with the consistency of win percentage, how his teams win, they really run the ball, they’re tough.”
The Cyclones however, have been battling an ongoing gambling investigation that was brought to the surface earlier this year that featured then starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers and a couple other players between Iowa State and Iowa. The cyclones have then turned the ball over to true freshman quarterback Rocco Becht to start the season and has done a great job leading the Cyclones through the teams first half of the season. Becht, has thrown for 1,223 yards, 10 touchdown and five interceptions on the season. Becht and the Cyclones love to air it out as we have seen all season, as running back Eli Sanders has run for just 221 yards on the season, following a huge performance in the Cyclones 27-14 victory over TCU last week.
Bechts, number one target on offense seems to be junior wide receiver Jaylin Noel. Noel, is currently 3rd in the Big 12 in receptions with 31, racking up 284 yards and two touchdowns on the season. Noel, burst onto the scene after a huge performance vs Oklahoma State on September 23rd, where he hauled in eight receptions for 146 yards and a score in the Cyclones 34-27 victory. The Bearcats will have to focus on Noel at all times as we have seen what teams number one receivers have been able to do vs the Bearcats secondary so far this season. Look at Miami’s Gage Larvadain, Oklahoma’s Anthony Andrel, BYU’s Chase Roberts, as all three recorded over 100 yards and a touchdown along the way.
