September 17, 2022
CINCINNATI – Behind 337 yards and two touchdowns from redshirt senior quarterback Ben Bryant and a second-half shutout, Cincinnati used 31 unanswered points to run away from Miami (Ohio) 38-17 in the 126th Battle of the Victory Bell.
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Cincinnati won its 16th consecutive game in the rivalry to take the lead in the historic series, 60-59-7, for the first time since 1915.
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“I am going to give them a lot of credit,” head coach Luke Fickell said. “It was a hard-fought battle.”
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“We are figuring out what “us” looks like. I think there’s us a little bit more of a calm nature than last year. I think, offensively, that’s what Ben (Bryant) is…I think the calm nature of him is a little bit more of maybe where we are headed towards. I think that we are figuring that out and handling things in a different way, but I give a lot of credit to our guys. They handled it really well.”
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With the win, Fickell now has 50 victories at Cincinnati, tying him with Sid Gillman for the second-most wins in program history. He is only three wins shy of Rick Minter’s program record of 53.
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Wide receivers Tyler Scott and Tre Tucker each went over 100 yards receiving on the afternoon – marking the first time since 2016 a Bearcat duo accomplished that feat.
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Senior running back Charles McClelland tallied his third career 100-yard game with 101 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns.
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Senior linebacker Ivan Pace, Jr. led the defense that limited Miami (OH) to 67 total yards in the second half with eight tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.
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Bryant completed his first 12 pass attempts, but the Bearcats suffered two costly turnovers early in the first half to help Miami (OH) jump out to 17-7 second quarter lead.
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Cincinnati roared back behind pinpoint passing from Bryant, while the BlackCats defense settled in and forced consecutive three-and-outs and redshirt senior cornerback Arquon Bush recorded his eighth career interception on a tip-toe grab in the second quarter.
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Trailing 17-7 at the start of the second quarter, Cincinnati closed the gap to 17-14 with a seven-play drive that was capped off by sophomore running back Corey Kiner finding the end zone on a one-yard dive. He has now recorded a touchdown in all three games this season.
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After a third down pass breakup from Deshawn Pace, the Bearcats used another seven-play drive to tie the game at 17 all on a 26-yard field goal by Ryan Coe with six minutes left in the first half.
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Bryant connected with senior wide receiver Nick Marder for a 10-yard touchdown on a fade in the back of the endzone to give Cincinnati its first lead of the afternoon, 24-17, with 13 seconds remaining before the break.
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Bryant found Scott for his second touchdown of the game on a 41-yard pass at the 9:03 mark in the third quarter to extend the margin to 31-17.
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Miami (OH) failed to convert a third down on its first seven tries and did not convert one until the fourth quarter.
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Early in the final frame, the Bearcats stopped the RedHawks on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line to preserve the 31-17 advantage.
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McClelland added the final tally of the game when he found paydirt from 15-yards out to make it 38-17 with 5:33 remaining in the fourth quarter.
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The Bearcats erased early 10-point deficits twice after falling behind 10-0 in the first quarter and 17-7 in the second quarter on a pair of touchdown passes from Aveon Smith.
COURTESY UC SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS
