Final Huddle: Cincinnati Fumbles End of Season Against TCU With Fifth Consecutive Loss

Where are the signs of improvement across two campaigns?

Nov 18, 2023; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Scott Satterfield looks down the sideline in the first quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kareem Elgazzar-Imagn Images / Kareem Elgazzar-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats football team ended the 2024 season with a whimper on Saturday night following a 20-13 defeat at home to TCU. The Horned Frogs passed all over Cincinnati while the Bearcats were dead on arrival through the air.

The Senior Night festivities weren't enough to inspire a victory and left Cincinnati searching for any signs of hope out of a program that's ended both seasons under Scott Satterfield under .500. UC has beaten one Big 12 in Satterfield's two years that's had its starting quarterback: Houston.

The loss marked Cincinnati's second in the all-time series against TCU (2-2 record). Satterfield has won eight games in two seasons, the fewest in a two-season stretch at Cincinnati since Rick Minter in 1998-99.

Passing Paralyzed

Cincinnati's offense is completely dysfunctional and playing with one hand behind its back. They had just one pass completed 15-plus yards downfield and stuck by the run game far too heavily, making things very easy on TCU. Most of the five-plus-yard completions came down two scores.

The Horned Frogs' strong pass defense (27th in dropback success rate), came to play in the snow. UC's receiving separation was non-existent all of November, turning Brendan Sorsby (21-34 for 160 yards, one INT) into a runner far too often (12 carries, 93 yards). Ever since the Texas Tech passing explosion, Sorsby averaged 6.2 yards per attempt on 62.5% completion, compared to 9 yards per attempt on 66.3% completion entering this game.

The offensive staff's inability to figure this out across half a season is extremely alarming and one of many reasons why Bearcats fans are wondering how this gets better with a worse passing game outlook in 2025. Just four players caught three or more passes in a must-win game where UC entered as underdogs, there were probably 4-5 drops from that group on Saturday.

It's baffling, and become the norm as Sorsby threw his seventh interception of the season.

Big Play Brigade

UC's defense held up for short stints on Saturday night but got gashed far too often. Ring up another issue that's carried over from 2023, UC entered the game ranked 100th nationally in 20-plus yard pass plays allowed (39) and gave up five passes of 19-plus yards on Saturday.

Mix in a punishing dose of swing player Savion Williams (two touchdowns) out of the backfield, and TCU punished enough on the ground and wowed through the air. Jordan Young (five tackles) has had a great season compared to 2023, but got diced up for a few big plays as receivers were running wide-open against zone coverage looks.

That wouldn't matter as much if UC could play coverage for less than three seconds. Enter zero sacks from the UC front as Dontay Corleone (no stats) had another game with one or fewer tackles (third in last four games). This front-seven unit has just 21 sacks all season (73rd nationally entering the game, three in November).

Cincinnati needed its stars to step up, and they didn't do enough on defense while playing admirably for stretches.

Kiner Comes To Play

UC's offense would've done basically nothing without Corey Kiner (23 carries 110 yards, one TD) on Saturday night. He did have a lost fumble in the game, but UC couldn't pass at all and he still found room to average 4.8 yards per carry on the night.

It's been a stellar career for Kiner, who is part of a rare group of back-to-back 1,000-yard rushers at Cincinnati. He showed off the speed on a near-46-yard TD run that he punched in a play later.

Kiner has answered the ball and come to play every game of a season he poured his heart and soul into throughout the offseason. It's going to likely land him a spot in the NFL next season. Despite a rough final two years of winning results at Cincinnati, Kiner carved an uber-successful individual legacy at Cincinnati.

He finishes his career top-10 in UC rushing yards.

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