Final Huddle: UC Stamps 'Nipp at Night' With 27-25 Victory over East Carolina

Cincinnati has now won nine-straight home night games under Luke Fickell.

CINCINNATI — The 'Nipp at Night' magic narrowly continued for Cincinnati (8-2, 5-1) in a 27-25 win over the East Carolina Pirates (6-4, 3-3).

Huge plays fueled UC as they scored back-to-back-to-back 50-plus yard touchdowns to take a lead they had to wrestle back in the second half. 

Cincinnati went 1-3 in home night games during Luke Fickell's first season. Since then, UC is now 9-0 in those spots following Friday's triumph.

"This is what us looks like it," Luke Fickell said about the gutty win. "Might not be what everybody wants, because you hear [the crowd] booing at times. You know they might want something different, but the reality is this is what us looks like, and us is still pretty darn good.”  

The 2022 Bearcats got it done in front of 2021 stars Desmond Ridder and Ahmad "Sauce" to keep pace in the AAC title race. Here's the Final Huddle on UC's fifth-straight win over East Carolina.

Big Play Brigade

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UC prides itself on creating and stopping big plays as a program. The offense and special teams produced just enough of them Friday night. 

Jadon Thompson (one catch, 11 yards, three returns for 146 yards, one TD) got things rolling by essentially boxing out Tre Tucker on his second career kickoff return. Good thing he did because he rode a great angle to his second career TD at UC.

“Definitely," Thompson said when asked if he took the ball from Tucker. "I remember all week we were preparing. We knew they were going to kick it to me because obviously, Tre is a very dynamic returner. They kicked it in between our boundaries, and I heard him at the last minute, saying, ‘it’s him’ and then I just had it in my hand and the rest of it was a blur. I’m not sure what happened, but I am grateful for it.”    

The junior is one of the higher-ranked recruits of the Fickell era and is blooming at the right time. His wiggle has popped up more and more since the calendar turned to October. He's essentially settled in as the third receiver behind a blink-and-you'll-miss-em duo.

“That was probably the worst moment of that," Thompson said about beating the kicker to paydirt. "I was looking and hoping he wouldn’t tackle me. I was definitely nervous about that.”    

Tyler Scott (seven catches, 140 yards, one score) and Tucker (three catches, 64 yards, one score) had a nose for paydirt against ECU on two different short throws. The latter followed Thompson with a career-long 55-yard screen for a TD, while Scott notched a 76-yard slant TD off of play action. It was his 14th TD at UC—all from at least 20 yards out.

Those playmakers made life much easier for Ben Bryant (14-of-30, 244 yards, two TDs, one INT), who played poorly on Friday but found his playmakers in the right moments against the 97th-ranked defense by passing EPA. 

Capitalizing on explosive chances afford an offense a lot of breathing room. UC needed that at times during an uneven night with just the right amount of fireworks.

Bryant Bumbles

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Bryant performed well against Navy but crashed back to earth during "Nipp at Night." Against one of the 35 worst pass defenses nationally, he struggled to find a passing rhythm at any point in the game.

“I just told them how much I appreciated them," Bryant said about his postgame message to the team. "They all had my back tonight, the coaches and the players. I put a lot of hard work into this program, and it is just really fun to be back here and be playing with these guys and grinding out wins with them. I’m excited to keep this rolling.”     

UC scored on two touchdown passes in the first half, but 135 of Bryant's 174 yards during that time came after the catch. He was inaccurate all night and couldn't hit any impactful deep passes (1-of-8 on throws of 10+ yards). Of course, the second deep throw he did hit, Will Pauling dropped in the corner of the endzone, a la Nick Mardner earlier this year against SMU. 

"I definitely wasn't the sharpest today and I recognize that," Bryant said. "I'm my own hardest critic. I'm definitely not happy about that, but you can't turn a win into a loss so I'm happy we won, I'm happy we fought it out. There is definitely some things to improve on for next week."

I've defended and criticized Bryant at times this season. He's been just good enough to keep the job—but bad enough to warrant constant clamoring for Evan Prater.

"[Ben Bryant] takes some criticism," Fickell said about Bryant. "He takes some flack, you heard them out there tonight and you know what, to me, it just shows the care. I can promise you five years ago you couldn't hear a boo in the crowd. So, in some ways, I know it's hard. I know it's hard on him. But to me that's what we kind of want to get him up there for us to make sure he understood how much we appreciate what is he does and how hard he fights for us.”     

Friday's outing won't quiet any of the critics. It would help if UC's running game could find a bell-cow back, but nine games in that feels less and less likely (85 rush yards, 3.5 YPC). 

The win marked just the second time in Bryant's career finishing a game under 50% completion. The last coming in the 2019 Birmingham Bowl against Boston College.

ECU came into this game allowing 8.7 yards per throw and 273 passing yards per game (107th nationally). Bryant missed too many chances against one of the worst pass defenses in the country.

Pirates' Rumbling Run Game

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ECU played UC much closer than the last "Nipp at Night" battle in this series thanks in large part to its consistent rushing attack. RB Keaton Mitchell (16 carries, 112 yards, one TD, two catches, 15 yards) showed why he's fifth nationally in yards per carry (7.1).

The Pirates got solid push throughout the night, and on some missed blocking assignments, Mitchell made a man drop like he has all season. Two of his big plays slipped away due to stepping out of play and an ECU penalty. 

Unfortunately for the Pirates, Mitchell got knocked out of the game by a Bryon Threats headshot that got the safety kicked out for targeting.

“I mean, he is a very dynamic player," UC linebacker Ty Van Fossen said. "Definitely. Probably one of their best players on the offense and you know, any moment he has the ball in his hands, you know, he can, he can break and he can run so they run the same type of plays. Definitely. With one hand he's not out there. I mean, the backup is almost a spitting image of him. So no matter who was in there, you always have to be on high alert.”

Marlon Gunn Jr. (11 carries, 48 yards) stepped in for him, but had nowhere near the lateral burst of Mitchell. Gunn also got targeted once to Mitchell's five passes. He was not the same dynamic weapon, and it helped UC clamp down in the fourth quarter.

I have to give a shoutout to the UC secondary, headed up by Arquon Bush (two tackles, two pass break ups) and Ja'Quan Sheppard (five tackles, two pass break ups). They were on man coverage islands a heavy amount and forced Holton Ahlers (25-of-46, 280 yards, two TDs) into his least efficient game of the season. 

“They did a really good job," Fickell said about his corners. "Arquon was challenged a bit more, and we've been on him a little bit more to play a little bit tighter and do some things differently. And he had to do that tonight. He had to do that down the stretch when it really counted. And I keep saying I'm proud of those guys, but we've had our little chinks and we've had our ups and downs and, obviously, people like to point them out too. We've been very fortunate in the last couple of years. Having some of those guys out there in particular, didn't give up a whole lot. So, if a guy gives up a few, it's a little more noticeable and they've been mature to be able to handle it and then continue to move forward, take coaching and make some adjustments and Arquon did a great job tonight. And then Ja’Quan's been doing a great job pretty much all year.”     

It was Ahlers worst accuracy showing in 2022 and his second-worst performance by passer rating (121.7). 

UC faces Temple on the road next Saturday, the game time has not been announced.

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