The 2023 college football season got kicked off in a great way in Bearcat country on Saturday. Cincinnati started the first season under Scott Satterfield off with a dominant 66-13 win over the visiting Eastern Kentucky Colonels. Although, this is what should’ve happened. In a home game against an FCS opponent, a Power Five team should have a similar performance. The Bearcats took care of business.
Cincinnati had an incredible amount of overturn on the roster dating back to last season. The defense has a good amount of returning starters but lost a ton of production from the likes of All-American Linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. and others. The offense was nearly completely gutted as most of the starters from Saturday started for the first time in black and red. A lot of the things that the Cincinnati faithful wanted to see in game one were certainly on display. A high-flying (record-breaking) day for the offense and a stout defensive effort from start to finish. All things considered, it wasn’t a difficult test for this new squad. But, that’s not to say there aren’t some significant takeaways from this opening matchup.
Takeaways from Cincinnati’s Dominant Week One
Jones’ Record-Setting Day
Going back to 2018, as a highly touted recruit Emory Jones showed immense potential to be a great quarterback in college. After some up and down years and a few stops at different schools, Jones showed his new fans what exactly he can be.
Jones setting a school record for touchdowns in a game wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card for Saturday. He looked as comfortable as he’d ever looked in a college football game. So much so that he said in a press conference Tuesday that Saturday was the most fun he’s had playing football in over two years.
His historic day was enough to earn him Big 12 Player of the Week honors in Cincinnati’s first year, first week, in the conference. There was hope that Jones could be the guy at quarterback, and bring a level of dynamic play-making ability to the offense. With 19/23 for 346 yards and 5 touchdowns passing, plus nine carries for 26 yards and two more scores on the ground, Jones showed exactly what he can do. Bearcats football fans should be excited about watching Jones every week going forward.
The Stellar Florida Connection
Quarterback Jones and Wide Receiver Xzavier Henderson were teammates in 2021 for the Florida Gators. All Bearcat fans I’m sure know that. That year was Jones’ best of his career. There was a prior connection between them and many looked forward to them being able to rekindle it in Cincinnati.
Although, to expect the start to the first drive of the season in the way they did would have been a lot. Yet, they exploded for a 49-yard score right off the jump. They came out hot right away and set the tone early. Henderson finished the day with seven catches, 149 yards, and a touchdown. Leading the team in all categories. A big question coming into the year was who would become option one for Emory Jones this season. After one game, it’s clearly Henderson and it’s vital to this team going forward that this can continue.
Grzesiak Leads a Forceful Front
The strength of the Bearcats on the defense side of the football is the D-Line. Dontay Corleone, Eric Phillips, and Jowon Briggs all had impressive days on Saturday to prove this further. But the addition of Utah State transfer Daniel Grzesiak looks like a pivotal one.
Grzesiak is listed as an outside linebacker. Altogether, he has some great versatility in his game. He has the ability to rush off the edge as well as play off-ball in coverage and in stopping the run game. His talents and personality were on full display against Eastern Kentucky. He finished the day with a team-high seven tackles (five solo), two TFLs, and one sack followed by a celebration for his first one in a Bearcat uniform.
Ultimately, this Bryan Brown defense looks like it is going to be aggressive. Grzesiak seems like he fits in very nicely and will be a dynamic and crucial part of this defense. He got it started in an impressive way on Saturday. Look for that kind of passion, energy, and disruption week in and week out from number nine.
Looking Ahead
Week one is in the books. Cincinnati took care of business in a dominant way. They did what they were supposed to do to an objectively out-classed opponent. Week two has always been circled as the first test for this team. The Bearcats travel to Pittsburg to take on the Panthers in a marque matchup between two former Big East football members. Cincinnati and Pitt have some classics over the years. It should be a fun one coming up this weekend, it’ll be interesting to see how Cincinnati looks against a borderline top-25 team. Jones, Henderson, and Grzesiak started it off in a great way, all UC fans await to see if they can carry it over into week two.
