Cincinnati Rides Bulls To Third Straight Win

The tourists from Florida came out for "warm ups" shirtless.  The home team left them in the cold.

A 57-yard touchdown run by Michael Warren II early in the second half sent the Cincinnati Bearcats to its third straight win and the University of South Florida Bulls to its third straight loss, 35-23.

It was a cold way to treat a guest. The Bearcats stayed hot and stand at 9-1 (5-1) with a date with the unbeaten University of Central Florida.  USF which was ranked 19th at one time and were without starting quarterback Blake Barnett, are 7-3 (3-3).

Bulls, coming off two straight losses held a 16-14 halftime lead over the Cincinnati Bearcats at Nippert Stadium.

http://www.wiedemannbeer.com/

USF defense held the Bearcats to a pair of scores in the first half but had been shredded against Houston, which set a scoring record for USF opponents with 57 points, then in a follow up against Tulane surrendered 41

Warren added a three-yard run with 5:42 left in the third quarter to give the Bearcats a commanding lead.  UC stopped the Bulls deep in its own territory then got an fair catch interference penalty that se the home team on the USF 37.

Ridder immediately connected with Rashad Madaris on a 43-yard pass play and a 31-yard strike to the same receiver to the one.  Warren scored his third touchdown of the half and fourth of the game to reset the lead.

The four touchdown gave Warren a record 18 for the season passing David Small's record from 1993.

"I wasn't aware. I didn't even know what the numbers were," Warren said.  Three touchdowns came in the second half when Cincinnati wasn't doing much on offense in the first half.

It's all about being patient. Don't be frustrated," Warren said.

The Bulls fought back when Chris Oladokun threw a 25-yard pass that Tyre McCants caught with a leaping grab at the goal line over James Wiggins.

Brett Kean and Oladokun threw thouchdown passes for the University of South Florida Bulls in the first half.  Oladokun found Ryshen Bronson on a post pattern on the Bulls second play of the game in his first start.   Kean took over in the second quarter to find Mitch Wilcox wide open for a 38 yard score.

The USF team didn't play a single game in which the temperature was below 40 degrees since 2013.  It was the topic of conversation in practice this week.  It was 26 degrees by the end of the game.

"The weather didn't affect us at all," Oladokun said.  "We talked about the weather all week. We knew how cold it was going to be mentally it wasn't a block for us at all. Coach told us on Sunday I believe.  We're coming out with our shirts off and setting the tone.  We came out with great energy but in the second half we got a little flat."

http://donatelifeohio.org/

The Bulls and Bearcats alternated scoring passes.  Desmond Ridder threw passes to Kahill Lewis for eight yards and Michael Warren II for 13 yards between the Bulls touchdowns.

Michael Pitts blocked the extra point on the Bronson score but Coby Weiss kicked a 37-yard field goal to give USF a two-point halftime lead.

"We pretty well the first half and did not put it together the second half," second year Bulls coach Charlie Strong said.  "We  can't give up three scores in the third quarter especially on the road.  We have to sustain drives and weren't able to.  We watched Blake all week and hoped he'd get better but by Friday we had to make a decision to go with the two quarterbacks.  With what they were trying to do to us we thought Chris could use his legs to make some plays to get out of danger.  The quarterbacks played alright.  We had to catch the ball we dropped too many passes."

Cincinnati's second year head coach Luke Fickell felt the same way.

It was a tale of two halves," Fickell said. "I don't know that we had a lot of control in the first half."

Cincinnati lost its bid to lead at the break when Cole Smith's 36-yard attempt was wide right.

Warren rushed for 151 yards on 28 carries and .  He also caught two passes for 27 yards.  Ridder ran for  60 yards on 18 carries.  He completed 17 of 24 passes for 194 yards.

The weather was just fine for Toledo native Warren.  Fickell said, "He's built for November."

"Where I'm from, we play all the way through December," Warren said.

Oladokun was 10 for 22 and 165 yards,  Johnny Ford was the Bulls leading rusher with 63 yards on 10 carries.

The Bearcats have already eclipsed the total wins of the last two seasons with back-to-back 4-8 records.

It's an exciting time," Fickell said. "This is what I wanted for these guys, the opportunity to play for a championship.   Somebody said it's like a redemption tour.  If we look back at last year, there's nothing to overlook. Our maturity will have to show, how we handle this stuff. We've shown it enough so far. The way our seniors are playing, I'm excited.

UCF beat up the Bearcats 51-23 last season.