The Cincinnati Bearcats were giddy from having been invited to join the prestigious Big12 conference. Little Murray State from the FCS Ohio Valley Conference was merely a warm up scrimmage before visiting Indiana and Notre Dame the next two weeks but the 42-7 win over the Racers was more difficult than expected.
The Racers dominated the first half in every facet but the scoreboard in the first half. They held the ball for nearly 22 minutes and put up 190 yards of offense. Limited to 19 plays Desmond Ridder's offense could only muster 83 yards in the eight minutes they controlled the pig skin.
Cincinnati grinded out a running game in the third quarter to take control. Jerome Ford had scoring runs of three, eight and 13 yards in the second half to right the ship. Ridder added a 23-yard touchdown strike to Tyler Scott to further Cincinnati's cause.
MSU quarterback Preston Rice scored on a one-yard run early in the second quarter but he threw three interceptions to allow Cincinnati to stay close.
Ridder's two-yard pass to Noah Davis evened the score that stood until halftime. Both teams missed field goals with Aaron Baum of Murray State missing a 25-yard chip shot with 20 seconds left in the half.
Rice also squandered a 53-yard drive to the Cincinnati 24 with and interception deep in the end zone by Ja'von Hicks.
Cincinnati backups added a late score when Evan Prater threw an 18-yard scoring pass to Payten Singletary.
MSU is 1-29-1 all time against FBS Division teams. This was the first meeting ever between Murray State and Cincinnati. Cincinnati is ranked 7th in the current AP poll and is the fifth top 25 opponent Murray has faced and fourth since 2012. They remain winless against ranked teams.
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