CINCINNATI — 1. Where was this performance in any of the previous four games?
2. Nevertheless, beating an 8-2 SMU team by 34 points is impressive. And this game featured the dominant Bearcats that we saw early in the season that could score anytime they wanted to and suffocate the opposing offense.
3. What a day for quarterback Desmond Ridder. He threw for three touchdowns, in addition to being 17/23 for 274 yards, and he also ran for a touchdown and CAUGHT a touchdown. But that’s not my favorite part of his day. My favorite part was when he came out for Senior Day festivities and carried his baby girl, Leighton, out with him. What a moment and what a culmination of how much Ridder has grown both on and off the field over the last four years. From unknown, but confident, freshman to senior leader and father, he’s grown up right before our very eyes.
4. The Bearcats powerful ground attack returned in a big way, led by Jerome Ford who returned after missing last week’s game with a leg injury. Ford led all Bearcats rushers with 82 yards on 20 carries including a touchdown. Six Bearcats ball carriers combined for 249 yards on 41 carries.
5. The Bearcats defense held SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai to just 66 yards passing on 15/26 passing. Prior to tonight, Mordecai’s lowest passing yard total in a game was 245. In addition, he had eight 300-yard passing games and one game with 427. It was a big storyline going into the game of the matchup featuring SMU’s high-octane passing game against the Bearcats passing defense, and the latter won.
6. The Bearcats kicking game is a huge problem, and I fear it’s going to cost them a game this season. Today the kicking game produced two missed field goals and a missed extra point. For a team that does a lot of things well, this is an area that is a huge weakness and needs to be remedied somehow someway.
7. I thought the best receiver today was Tre Tucker. He showed his athleticism on some tightly contested catches which also shows there’s more to his game than just his blazing his speed. Who he reminds me of? Ja’Marr Chase.
8. I don’t know if the Bearcats will move up in the College Football Playoff rankings with this win, but they shouldn’t move down if that is a fear that is among some in Bearcat Nation.
9. Next up: the regular-season finale at ECU. Do not overlook ECU. They are 7-4, much better than they have been in recent seasons. Their quarterback, junior Holton Ahlers, has thrown for 818 yards over his last two games. And the last time the Bearcats went to ECU tow years ago, Ahlers torched the Bearcats for 535 passing yards and four touchdowns. A lot of Ahlers’s receivers who played in that game two years ago are still on the team this season in Tyler Snead and C.J. Johnson.
10. A chance for Cincinnati to finish the regular-season undefeated, clinch the American Championship game being played in Nippert Stadium and keeping very realistic College Football Playoff hopes alive is what’s on the line on Black Friday. It’s getting real in tems of what the Bearcats can accomplish.
Let me be Frank and Cut to the Chase 