Final Huddle: Cincinnati Collapses Across 28-27 Loss To Pittsburgh

The Bearcats lose another September game at home.

Pittsburgh Panthers tight end Gavin Bartholomew (86) runs the ball 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 — The Bearcats collapsed epically on Saturday across a 28-27 loss to Pittsburgh, dropping them to 1-1 on the season.

Cincinnati led 17-6 at the half but blew a field goal chance to end that frame and gave up one with one second left ultimately flipping the result at the end of the 30 minutes to give Pitt life.

Special teams issues, red zone stalling, we are seeing a lot of the same issues from last season still prevalent two weeks into 2024. Pittsburgh got a monster performance out of running back Desmond Reid (19 carries, 148 yards, 6 catches, 106 yards, 1 TD) that lifted them to a 22-10 second-half margin (27-6 lead in the third quarter).

Cincinnati has now lost regular season games at home in back-to-back Septembers as any momentum from last week grinds to a halt before traveling to face Miami (OH).

Dontay Corleone Returns, But Defense Wilts

Cincinnati basically got a fully unleashed Corleone (6 tackles, 1 TFL) on Saturday, but it wasn't enough to stifle Pitt QB Eli Holstein (20-35, 302 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) for the whole game.

The upfront push was better this week than last, but Cincinnati still gave up way too much leverage on the ground and through the air (just 2 sacks and 4 TFLs). The defensive front is a massive problem and that's with an All-American talent. Reid licked his chops and munched on open rushing lanes all day as Cincinnati got wrecked on the ground again (210 yards without sacks, 6.8 yards per carry).

"They pretty much ran do what they do, you know, with some inside zone stuff, some counter, just going fast and just trying to throw the ball out, spread it out," UC head coach Scott Satterfield said about Pitt's offense. "I think they still continued to try to do that. I thought for three quarters, we kept the ball away from them really, really good and kept them off the field. And we didn't do that in the fourth quarter offensively and that was an issue."

Cincinnati also greatly missed safety Josh Minkins (2 tackles, 1 INT) in the second half. He did not play much in the final 30 minutes whether due to injury or other reasons, but he's been UC's best coverage man so far and they were in trouble without him.

"He got dinged up and could not come back in," Satterfield said after the game. "Not sure the injury. i just know they said he was out and could not come back in. I think it happened right before halftime, so he didn't play in the second half. but he was out cheering his guys on. He couldn't play, but he's on the sideline. He's trying to pump them up, cheer them on, help coach. I mean, it says a lot about him and the rest of our guys that they tried to stay in the game and really pump guys up."

All in all, the coverage group wasn't great, dropping two potentially game-changing interceptions and giving up seven plays of 15-plus yards (two for touchdowns). This defense is still a problem dating back to last season and those main issues didn't change much across a full game with Corleone back.

Mental Mistakes Murder

Another year, another start to the season with brutal mental mistakes costing Cincinnati games. Take the end of the first half, for example, Carter Brown misses a 25-yard field goal try with a knuckleball because the laces are in not out on the hold.

Completely different end to the game if that goes in.

The other glaring issue came on the final drive of the contest when veteran defensive end Kameron Wilson got called for a delay of the game over barking out "disconcerting calls" at the Pitt O-Line. A 4th & 4 turned into a first down that ultimately led to the game-winning field goal. 

Stuff like this is understandable in Year One of a regime, but the constant mental mistakes can't keep happening for a team projected to play close games across over half its schedule this season. Overall, Cincinnati had just six penalties but those came at crucial times in the game. 

Kiner Cooks

Cincinnati's rushing attack made waves on Saturday, with Kiner (20 carries, 149 yards) leading the way with another great outing against Pitt. The lead UC back posted a career-high in rush yards during last year's win and was lights out again on Saturday.

He now has his two highest career rushing outings against Pitt.

The blocking wasn't its usual strong self, but Kiner worked his way through the right gaps all afternoon and kept Cincinnati's offense balanced enough to hit some big deep passes to spark points. Sorsby (22-38, 298 yards, 3 TDs) was a bit uneven in his passing chances but diversified the attack with eight receivers catching passes.

When the offense is balanced like this, Cincinnati is hard to stop. Alas, the momentum did not continue into the second half. 

Pitt shut down Kent State's rushing attack in Week 1, but this was a whole different animal to handle from Kiner & Co. It played a strong role in Cincinnati owning the time of possession for much of the contest. That usually means wins in the sport of football, but Cincinnati keeps finding ways to lose with these metrics.

They'll lick the wounds and regroup for another rivalry matchup next week against Miami (OH) at noon ET.

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