Bearcats Leaders Confident Season Won't Spiral After Another Early Home Loss: 'A Lot Of Positive Encouragement'

Derrick Canteen and Gavin Gerhardt gave their thoughts on the situation.

Cincinnati Bearcats defensive back Derrick Canteen (10) reacts to making a stop on 3rd down in the first quarter of the College Football game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Pittsburgh Panthers at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. / Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

CINCINNATI — UC leaders are confident the 28-27 collapse against Pittsburgh on Saturday won't lead to a spiral like last season's home loss to Miami (OH). Cincinnati is now 2-7 at home under Scott Satterfield and 2-10 against FBS opponents.

Derrick Canteen (team-high eight tackles, three pass breakups) and center Gavin Gerhardt preached confidence that things can stay on the rails.

"I think they brought in the right guys for this team," Gerhardt said about why the locker room won't fracture this season. "Every single guy that's came in, older guy, younger guy, doesn't matter, has some type of character about him, and won't do that. And you know, they were either raised right, or they came from a program that didn't allow that either. I think the coaching staff had a big part in that. I think they've done a great job."

Cincinnati blew a 27-6 lead on Saturday that included a 25-yard missed field goal and fourth-down-to-first-down penalty on Pitt's final drive of the contest.

"I would say, honestly, it was a lot of positive encouragement," Canteen said about the postgame locker room. "Guys stepping up, guys leading guys, saying we're good, keep your heads up. That's hard to do, again, going back to how it ended with them coming back and with the pain and stuff like that a lot of emotion sometimes come up. But I think our team did a great job of just picking each other up and having each other back."

Cincinnati proceeded to lose eight of its final nine games following a similar type of gutting loss to Miami (OH) last season. Déjà vu would be a rough scenario as the Bearcats try and wrangle back momentum.

"They took the momentum and they ran with it," Canteen said after the game. "And that's something that you know, as a team, we have to do like as soon as they get the momentum, we have to do our best to stop that and flip it. With this game of football momentum is huge. And I feel like that's something that they ran with and they did a good job of that."

The rivalry matchup arrives next week against Miami (OH) at noon ET.

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