Cincinnati vs Tulsa: Three Keys to Victory Ahead of Homecoming Battle At Nippert Stadium

The Bearcats have won six of their past seven games against Tulsa.

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats face the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Saturday in a rematch of the 2020 American Athletic Conference Championship Game. 

The two programs have battled over 30 times, but Saturday is just the fifth matchup since 1997. Tulsa leads the all-time series 17-16-2, with UC capturing six of the past seven matchups. Cincinnati won the last bout, 27-24, to lift the 2020 AAC title.

It's been a whirlwind week for Luke Fickell and his team. From College GameDay coming to campus, to the snub from the CFP committee.

An extra level of focus is needed to block out all of the noise and push Tulsa to 3-6 on the season and 2-3 in AAC play. The Bearcats are 10th (17.8) on ESPN's SP+ rankings while Tulsa (-0.9) slots in at 85th.

Here are three keys to victory for the Bearcats ahead of Saturday's Homecoming battle against the Golden Hurricane.

Clear Eyes, Full Focus

Tuesday's playoff ranking results should be a motivator for Cincinnati and not a distraction. They have to control what they can control and shut out the hype (and disrespect) they've received all week, a la the arrival of College GameDay and another sold-out crowd at Nippert Stadium.

"I’ve challenged them a little bit to let their minds rest in some ways," Fickell said this week. "I don’t know if we ever can, at least they have a little more difficult time to be able to even set our phone down, the challenge was at ten o’clock at night and when you walk into the building to set it down and don’t pick it back up and look at it until practice is over until you’re leaving.

"I’m not going around checking guys, I didn’t say I wasn’t going to watch to see if anybody was doing it, but the challenge was not that I don’t want you on social media, I want you to, someway, somehow give your mind a break."

The Bearcats have done a great job of blocking chatter from their mindset so far. Cincinnati is the only program in the country ranked amongst the top-10 in points per game (39.9, 9th) and points allowed per game (14.3, 2nd). They are consistent in all three phases, which has helped them win 17-straight regular season games, but this is a new level of attention they haven't received.

Claw Out Hope Early

The Bearcats started slow the past few weeks, and it didn't help their case with the College Football Playoff Committee. Over the last two opening halves, Cincinnati is just narrowly outscoring its opponents in Navy (13-10) and Tulane (14-12).

Unfortunately, style points will matter down the stretch for Cincinnati, and they have to find a way to start covering first-half spreads and keeping the pedal down all game long. So far this season, UC ranks 14th in first-half scoring nationwide (20.1 PPG), and Tulsa ranks 96th (11 PPG).

Coach Fickell isn't worried about style points, despite it clearly being a factor in the Bearcats' chances of making the College Football Playoff.

"I told them quite honestly I will take a one-point win this week, I don’t care what anybody else thinks," Fickell said this week. "Our mentality has got to be, be who we are, and do what it is we do, and what does that mean? That means we can’t let somebody outside of here tell us what we should be and how we should be doing things. That means that how you should do offensively, how you should defensively, how you should try to win, how you should do this, that, or the other thing."

Capitalizing on the Golden Hurricane's tendency to open games slowly is a huge key for the Bearcats to make Saturday a successful Homecoming.

Sound Special Teams

The forgotten phase of the game is the only facet of this contest where Tulsa comes in with an advantage. If the Bearcats don't start fast that disparity could be the difference in a close game.

Special teams are the only area where the Bearcats struggle. They rank 82nd nationally in special teams SP+ (-0.1), while the Golden Hurricane rank 45th (0.1). If this is a close game down the stretch, Tulsa kicker Zach Long could be the difference.

The Pacific, Missouri native hasn't missed this season. He has converted all ten of his kicks on a long of 45 yards and hasn't missed any of his 21 extra-point attempts. Meanwhile, Cincinnati has used four separate kickers this year, combining to go 6-of-11 on FG attempts. Kicking consistency could loom large in another battle at Nippert Stadium.

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