CINCINNATI — 1. An overall dominating performance by the Bearcats today. They were in control from the second play of the game, and never let their foot off the gas.
2. Desmond Ridder picked up right where he left off from last year’s AAC Offensive Player of the Year campaign, completing 20 of 25 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns plus adding 31 yards on six carries with a score. Ridder talked with Mo Egger earlier this week how he thinks this offense can be explosive, and he showed that belief with an 81-yard bomb to sophomore wide receiver Tyler Scott for a touchdown on the second play of the game.
3. Not only is this Bearcats offense explosive, they are deep. Eleven different players hauled in a reception in the win, with sophomore wide receiver Jadon Thompson leading the way with four. All four of Ridder’s touchdown passes went to four different receivers, including junior running back Ryan Montgomery catching the first of his Bearcats career. Scott’s 81-yard reception ended up giving him the game lead in receiving yards for the Bearcats, and that was his only catch of the game.
4. Cincinnati’s defense made life rough for Miami redshirt-sophomore quarterback AJ Mayer, limiting him to just nine of 28 passing for 109 yards and sacking him twice. While that is a low sack number, the Bearcats did hit Mayer six times, three coming from graduate student linebacker Joel Dublanko.
5. Freshman quarterback Evan Prater really impressed me today. His stat line passing was 0/1 with a pick six, but he ran the ball four times for 38 yards and a touchdown, and what an athletic touchdown run it was with Prater cartwheeling into the end zone. For him to come back after throwing a pick six and lead the Bearcats on a seven-play, 83-yard drive for a score that he delivered himself was impressive and critical for his development.
6. One thing that I love about the Bearcats is that they stay in attack mode for 60 minutes, regardless of what the score is. Even leading 35-0 in the fourth quarter, there was Ridder still in the game orchestrating a 10-play, 86-yard touchdown drive. Add in Prater’s touchdown drive he led, and it shows the Bearcats play 60 minutes of football. We saw them do that last year against Memphis with Jerome Ford’s shot-out-of-a-cannon touchdown run late in the fourth quarter with the Bearcats up 32 and then Cameron Young’s 75-yard touchdown run on the last play of the game against ECU up 32. Not only does winning every game matter in college football, it also matters what the final margin of victory is, especially if the Bearcats strive to be the first Group of Five team to make the College Football Playoff.
Let me be Frank and Cut to the Chase 