Cincinnati Defends Against Mustang Stampede

Cincinnati picked on someone their own size for a change.

The last five games, the Bearcats' opponent had a total of one win.

SMU has a losing record at 3-5 but were a better challenge for the 7-2 Bearcats.

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The Mustangs looked like they were going to run and hide from Cincinnati by taking the opening kickoff an running unimpeded down the field on an 80-yard drive.

SMU sacked Cincinnati quarterback on a fourth and one from the SMU 40 on the Bearcats first possession.  SMU's drive resulted in a missed field goal.

"I knew when we didn't score in that first quarter, it would be tough on us," SMU coach June Jones said. "I thought our offense did a lot of good things but on the road you have to score when you have the chance."

The Bearcats turned the ball over but held the high-powered offense led by Garrett Gilbert to a field goal.  Gilbert began the game as the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision leader in total offense with 408.3 yards per game.

Gilbert exceeded his average.  He threw for 403 yards and ran for another 14.

Brendon Kay and Jordan Luallen made up for it especially in the second half.

Kay threw two touchdown passes to stake the Bearcats to a halftime lead of 14-10.  Luallen ran into the endzone, picking up two of his 29 yards rushing on eight carries.  It capped the Bearcats 75-yard drive that opened the second half.

The Bearcats recovered the onside kick but Kay threw an interception on the next play.

Gilbert quick kicked on a fourth and 10 to pin the Bearcats on the four yard line.

Cincinnati marched 96 yards to score on Tion Green's seven-yard scamper, pushing the Bearcat lead to 28-10.

"As an offense, that's awesome to hold the ball that long and put up points with it," Kay said.

The Bearcats were able to run the ball.  SMU struggled to run it.

"Credit Cincinnati for jumping out on top and finishing the game," Gilbert said. "We have to start faster and keep the foot on the pedal.  We have to be more consistent.  We knew they (UC) was not going to fool us.  They did a good job against us.  They stopped the run.  They did a good job of tackling."

Gilbert wasn't finished.  The Mustangs rolled 92 yards in 1:10 culminating in a five yard toss from Gilbert to Darius Joseph.

UC threatened to put the game away after recovering SMU's onside kick but Green fumbled inside the 10 yard line. Gilbert engineered a 90-yard drive with another throw to Joseph of four yards.  Gilbert then converted on a two-point conversion to tighten the game at 28-25 with 5:02 left in the game.

"We knew we had to run the football and we won the running battle 40 to 160," Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville said. "That pretty much gave us the ball 7-8-9 more minutes. You've just got to keep 'em off the field. We couldn't stop 'em. Hasn't nobody stopped 'em all year long. The last game he threw for 600 and they scored 59 points. So our guys never panicked."

Cincinnati used its running game to keep Gilbert off the field.  Six rushing plays put the ball in a third and six situation on the Mustang 16 while SMU used all of its timeouts.  Hosey Williams five yard run fell short.  Cincinnati needed a first down to end it.  SMU was penalized for trying to draw Cincinnati offside by simulating the snap count, enabling the Bearcats to seal the game.

"We didn't disappoint anybody," Tuberville said. "We told everybody it would be close. I thought there would be a few more points scored but because we were able to run the ball, we were able to run time off the clock. We scored 28 unanswered points. I thought that was outstanding. We learned a lot of lessons today."