Cincinnati continues to fly under the radar. The Bearcats remained in the Big 12 playoff chase with an impressive defensive performance, holding down UCF and its potent offense for a 19-13 victory in Orlando.
The Bearcats improved to 2-1 in conference play and are 4-2 overall after their road victory on Saturday. Yet they remain unranked in the latest AP Poll. The Bearcats didn’t even garner a single vote despite winning impressively away from home on Saturday at FBC Mortgage Stadium in front of 42,611 in attendance.
Nonetheless, Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield said he couldn’t be happier to come away with a win.
“That was a great win by our guys; a very resilient win,” Satterfield said.
With the meat of the schedule still in front of them, Cincinnati finds itself in a five-way tie behind 3-0 frontrunners BYU, Iowa State and Texas Tech.
A battle of the conference’s two top offensives turned into a defensive struggle. Turnovers and big defensive stops proved to be the determining factor in this evenly matched contest. Both teams recorded 19 first downs and UCF (3-3, 1-2) held a 397-338 edge in total yards.
But the Bearcats forced three fumbles, recovering two, and limited the Knights to just five conversions on 13 third-down situations. The game ended on a Jared Bartlett sack of UCF quarterback Jacurri Brown after the Knights drove to the Bearcats’ 25-yard line. It was the redshirt senior linebacker’s second sack of the game.
Bartlett tied for the team lead with seven tackles. He forced a fumble on UCF’s opening drive of the game. Remarkably, it was the fourth time in seven games that the Bearcats forced a turnover on the opponents’ first drive of the game.
Redshirt junior linebacker Jake Golday forced a fumble on the Knights’ next possession, leading to a 22-yard field goal by Nathan Hawks and Cincinnati, which never trailed in the game, grabbed a 3-0 lead.
Hawks later boomed a 51-yard field goal late in the third quarter that broke a 10-10 tie and put the Bearcats ahead to stay. It was the third field goal of 50-plus yards for the senior kicker, who ties Jake Rogers (2008) for most 50-plus yard field goals in a season at Cincinnati.
Golday finished with five tackles, two for loss including a sack, and the forced fumble while redshirt junior tackle Dontay Corleone made his presence felt as well on defense with four tackles, including two for loss, and had a big fourth-quarter sack.
“The signs of a good team are when you’re not having your best on one side and the other side’s picking you up,” Satterfield said. “I thought our defense did an excellent job with that to pick us up in the first half. They created some turnovers and kept us in the ball game.”
The Bearcats held a 10-3 lead at a mistake-filled halftime that included three fumbles and two interceptions between the two teams. It’s the fourth game this season that Cincinnati has held an opponent to fewer than 10 points in the first half. In addition, the Bearcats have not trailed at halftime in any game this season.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Brendan Sorsby threw for one touchdown and ran for another to provide the Bearcats with just enough firepower to claim victory.
On the first play of the second quarter, the 6-3, 228-pound Sorsby plowed his way to the end zone on a 3-yard run to extend the lead to 10-0.
Sorsby found his rhythm in the second half. After two first-half interceptions, Sorsby completed 10 consecutive passes coming out of halftime. He was 12-for-13 for 120 yards over the final two quarters.
For the game, Sorsby completed 25 of 38 passes (2 interceptions) for 241 yards. His 4-yard scoring strike to Tony Johnson with 6:32 left in the fourth quarter was the dagger. It extended Cincinnati’s lead to 19-10.
Johnson hauled in a career-high eight passes for 76 yards. The touchdown catch was his third of the season and second in as many games.
The Knights were led by Brown, who completed 13 of 20 passes for 207 yards. He replaced true freshman EJ Colson, who was making his first collegiate start – becoming the youngest quarterback (17 years, 10 months) to start for UCF and the youngest player to start a FBS game this season.
Brown threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Kobe Hudson to tie the game, 10-10 midway through the third quarter. It was his first touchdown pass for UCF.
Hudson caught a team-high seven passes 114 yards and extended his streak to 29 consecutive games with at least one pass reception. It was also his third 100-yard game.
The Knights also got field goals of 22 and 29 yards from kicker Grant Reddick. His initial three-pointer capped a 13-play, 93-yard drive, UCF’s longest scoring drive of the season.
But it was the Bearcats’ defense that prevailed, setting up a conference showdown next week.
“You know, in the Big 12 on the road, this is obviously a huge win for us,” Satterfield said. “I’m excited about our guys and how they came through, and excited about the opportunity to go back to Nippert 4-2 and to host an Arizona State that’s 5-1. It should be a great environment next week.
“I don’t want to pass this game, but, man, I’m excited and pumped for next week, for homecoming back in Cincinnati.”
