Final Huddle: UC Falls 25-21 to UCF in Ugly Offensive Outing

The Bearcats lost an AAC game for the first time since 2019.

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats (6-2, 3-1) conference win streak is over. UCF (6-2, 3-1) took out UC 25-21 to end a three-game skid against Luke Fickell's team.

UCF starting QB John Rhys Plumlee got knocked out of the game in the first half, but UC didn’t take advantage in a game that could loom very large in the Bearcats' hopes for another AAC title. 

"We'll find out what we're really made of coming back this week," UC head coach Luke Fickell said after the game. "We didn't get it done tonight. I feel bad. I feel really bad for those guys, because it's not from a lack of work or fight. We got exposed a little bit in some situations we have to get a lot better at."

Tulane is now all alone in first place at 4-0.

Here's the Final Huddle on a game that ended with UC's fewest points in a win since the Notre Dame triumph last season.

The Blackcats Damn Bursts

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There hasn't been much of a drop off statistically or mentally for the Bearcat defense in 2022, but they got the toughest test of the year in Orlando.

UCF moved the ball very well on the ground (52 carries, 258 yards) and looked ready to take control of the game when Golden Knights QB John Rhys Plumlee exited from a scary hit to the head. As the leader in passing and rushing yards, UCF somehow didn't seem to feel his loss much the rest of the game.

Mikey Keene (15-of-21, 176 yards) filled in beautifully for UCF, taking care of the ball and distributing to a wide variety of weapons. His composure was crucial on the game-winning drive. Keene notched three first downs through the air and the UCF run game did the rest.

"I think they had a good game plan going into our game," Cincinnati graduate linebacker Wil Huber said after the game. "But the reality is stopping the run comes down to physicality and violence at the point of attack. That's something we didn't have tonight. It was one of the points of emphasis. We've got to continue to grow each and every week. It was not something that we like to see, but we've got to fix it."

Ty Van Fossen (eight tackles) and Ivan Pace Jr. (11 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, one PBU) made some plays but the tackling was inconsistent as a whole. Cornerback Ja'Quan Sheppard (seven tackles, two TFLs, one PBU) had a nice day on the outside to highlight a unit with sticky coverage until they needed it most.

Passing Problems

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The Cincinnati passing attack came into this game averaging less than 190 yards in its past three outings during a strikingly inconsistent stretch and that carried down south on Saturday. 

Ben Bryant (25-of-45 for 298 yards, one TD) and the receiving corps overall had their worst showing this season.

"I think Ben played great, man," UC WR Tre Tucker said after posting a career-high 10 catches for 110 yards. "It's hard. I don't think people understand. Obviously, the quarterback position is the hardest position on the field, but he stands back there and takes hits. The thing I like about him is he's just aggressive and he sits back there and waits and gives us time to work and do what we've got to do. Some of it's on us. We've got to make sure we continue to get open. But I think he played great. He took shots and he kept getting up."

The Bearcats got credited with two drops on the day but had three or four more passes that should've been caught. On the flip side, Bryant has now been inconsistent with his accuracy for over a month. He is missing too many intermediate passes on early downs (14-of-22 overall).

"I think we just got to start faster," Bryant said. "That's a big thing every week, though. You've got to focus and start fast and just continue. And then you're getting first downs. That'll be a good thing for us."

That led them into 22 passing downs and plenty of situations where UCF could bring pressure. The Golden Knights brought heat throughout the afternoon and got home consistently (four sacks, seven QB hits). A strip sack on UC's final drive highlighted all of the protection issues for Cincinnati.

Bryant appeared to get banged up a little bit in the second half, enough to have Prater start warming up. 

The starter didn't come out but it's clear that the Bearcats are far from where they want to be offensively. Things were especially tough to coordinate between Jadon Thompson and Bryant, who targeted the receiver eight times for two catches and 41 yards.

Ghostly Run Game

© Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports

After a multi-week outburst on the ground (199.3 yards per game last three games), Cincinnati couldn't find much of anything with Charles McClelland and Co.

The sixth-leading yards per-carry back in the nation was stifled all day (11 carries 36 yards), leading to a one-dimensional offense that I mentioned got munched by UCF's pass rush. It wasn't going to be easy for that unit to find daylight against the 14th-ranked EPA-rush defense nationally.

Corey Kiner was healthy and available but got zero carries in the game for a reason that still isn’t clear.

"I just think it was a situation where obviously the ball wasn't being run nearly as much," Fickell said. "We've been rolling guys in there to try and go with what's the hot hand. We'll look back at it and see if we don't need to get three guys in there. I know Ryan (Montgomery) was in there a little bit more with some of the passing game stuff. It's hard to get those guys a lot of opportunities when you don't feel like you're running the ball well in the first half."

The Golden Knights sent UC into the shadow realm whenever they ran the ball outside of the 39-yard go-ahead TD by Ryan Montgomery. That was UC's lone explosive play on the ground all game. Gino Guidugli's offense is inconsistent right now, with a new leak popping up every time they plug one.

That was evident in two trips to the red zone that ended in field goals. Cash those in and the conference may just have notched its first-ever 20-game win streak. Some other program gets to tackle that challenge now.

"They played a lot of man and loaded up the box," Bryant said. "So it was tough to run the ball. We had to rely on the passing game this game. ... But that's my job. I've got to do my job, and receivers gotta win versus man, and then we've got to throw and catch the ball. It really comes down to that."

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