Houston, we have a problem. Or at least it did Saturday night. Cincinnati finally shook the monkey off its back and chalked one up in the win column with the Saturday night 24-14 win at Houston. It was easily the most complete and complementary game the Bearcats have played all year. They dominated this game in just about every aspect. This is what Cincinnati fans have been expecting all year. It outgained the Cougars by nearly 130 yards, had 10 more first downs, and possessed the ball for 37 minutes to Houston’s 23. Let’s take a deeper dive into Scott Satterfield’s first Big 12 win as UC’s head coach.
Turnovers!
Mentioned as a key to the game here, Cincinnati was finally able to make something happen and force Houston into turnovers, changing the game on defense. The Bearcats had been one of the worst turnover defenses in the country coming into this one, but they were able to take advantage of Houston quarterback Donovan Smith and his periodical carelessness. Cincy had four interceptions this year before this game; it had three last night alone!
Linebacker Dorian Jones caught a tipped pass, reserve linebacker Ken Willis had a game-sealing interception with just over a minute left, and Deshawn Pace had the other interception. Pace did end up fumbling on his return, where he was certainly trying to do too much, but there was a silver lining: this was Cincinnati’s only turnover, on an interception return.
The Best Game of the Year for the Secondary
Kalen Carroll and true freshman Rayquon Adkins started at cornerback last night. Jordan Young wasn’t in the starting lineup for the first time all season, but he played most of the game and played very well. He forced an interception with a pass breakup that led to Jones’ interception and tied for a team-high five tackles.
Most notably, Houston had the Big 12 leader in receptions and yards running routes for them in Samuel Brown. This Cincinnati secondary held him to five catches for 12 yards. His lowest receiving yards all year and the lowest of his career since a 2020 game when he was at West Virginia, he likely came in as a reserve to catch one ball for seven yards.
Offensive Execution
The Cincinnati offense wasn’t overly explosive or dynamic, but it did everything it needed to do and a little more against the Houston defense. It was by far the soundest the unit has looked all year. It committed zero purposeful penalties (intentional delay of game) and, as mentioned, had zero turnovers. The Houston defense did record four sacks, but none that were too costly. Luke Kandra, PFF’s highest-graded right guard in the country, led the big guys up front and paved the way to another 100+ yard rushing game by Corey Kiner. Kiner is not-so-quietly putting together a great season. Without a doubt, the offensive MVP of the year, Kiner is inching his way to 1,000 yards. With 129 last night, he sits at 885 for the year.
Credit Where Credit is Due
Cincinnati fans have been quite disappointed with quarterback Emory Jones throughout this year. He didn’t have an explosive or eye-popping game where he made a ton of big plays, but that’s not what this game required. Jones was able to stay on script for the most part and not have to do too much. He only had 131 yards passing, but it was by completing 13 out of 16 attempts. The first drive of the game was an 11-play, six-minute drive where Jones found Ryan Montgomery out of the backfield for a seven-yard score, establishing the tone for the night. Outside of the week one game against EKU, Jones set season bests for completion percentage with 81% and passer rating with 170.7.
Backup quarterback Brady Lichtenberg has been expected to play more of late. He led a few Cincinnati offensive drives against Houston and did just fine. He’s starting to captain more drives and at different points in the game; this is something Satterfield said to continue to expect. He’s happy with the way the quarterback position has been progressing.
Something to Build On
The Cincinnati staff and players can finally take a big sigh of relief. There was undoubtedly immense pressure on everyone in that building to get a conference win. A road win at that makes it a bit sweeter. The Bearcats will certainly want to get one in front of the home crowd, though. They’ll have one more chance come week 13 at home against Kansas to finish the year. With quarterback injuries and questions now for the Jayhawks, this now looks slightly more possible.
But Cincinnati will first travel to Morgantown next week for a game against an old Big East rival, the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Mountaineers are 4-3 in conference play and just came off a beating at the hands of Oklahoma this week, 59-20. The Bearcats look to string together a few to finish off this year; if they play like they did in Houston, they might be able to do it.
