The Cincinnati Bearcats Won Its Fifth Straight Game At The Expense Of UCF

 

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Dateline: 1,209 Kilometers from the Gulf of Mexico

The Cincinnati Bearcats left Nippert Stadium with its third straight Big 12 win and fifth win in a row overall by defeating the University of Central Florida Knights, 20-11.

The Bearcats at 5-1 can make themselves bowl eligible with a win next Saturday over Oklahoma State on the road. The Knights lost its third conference game in a row and fell to 3-3 on the season.

"We thought coming in that their defense was the fastest defense we played," Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield said. "We didn't execute like we like on offense. We've been good offensively the last four weeks and today it was not. We were just kind of sloppy. I'm proud of our defense. The way they kept Central out of the end zone."

Brendan Sorsby threw two touchdown passes in the first half to Jeff Caldwell. The first was a 40-yard strike on the Bearcats second possession. He found Caldwell again on a nine yarder early in the second quarter.

UCF entered the game as the 15th best pass defense in the nation and allowed just 10 passing plays of 20 yards or more. Sorsby is the country's top rated quarterback according to Pro Football Focus. He threw for 105 yards in the first half against a pass defense averaging 150.8 yards passing per game.

Evan Pryor's apparent four-yard touchdown run was called back by a holding penalty. Stephen Rusnak kicked 32-yard field goal. 

The Bearcats shutdown the Knights until Noe Ruelas kicked a 45-yard field goal with 24 seconds left in the half that cut the deficit to 17-3 at halftime.

UCF held the ball for most of the third quarter but had to punt after consecutive penalties forced them into a fourth and 27 at the Cincinnati 46.

The Bearcats took over from their own 12 yard line. Sorsby found Joe Royer at the Cincinnati 30 and he turned it into a 67-yard play before being brought down at the Knight's nine. Sorsby tripped at the six on a third and goal from the one yard line. Rusnak restored the 17-point lead with a 24-yard field goal with 13:39 left in the game.

UCF ran 90 plays with two long drives that ended up with eight points total. A 17-play drive in the third quarter took nine minutes and two seconds, ending in a punt. The final drive took 19 plays consuming seven minutes.

The Knight's quarterback Cam Francher, was a game day decision to start the game. He carried his team as far as he could with 222 yards passing and 108 yards rushing. Francher played a Dayton Wayne in high school and transferred into the Central Florida program through Florida Atlantic after a stint at Marshall.

Francher ran into the endzone from three yards out with 2:07 left in the game. Francher's shuttle pass to Chris Domercant provided the final score.

The Knights outgained the Bearcats 413 yards to 306.

Sorsby threw for 191, about 40 yards over the average passing yards allowed by the Knights. He ran for 43 yards. Pryor had just 53 yards on 11 carries.

"We've just got to find a way to move the chains," Sorsby said. "We definitely got to get stuff corrected. Nobody feels like we went out there and played our best game by any means."