No. 6 Football Faces Houston Saturday

CINCINNATI – The No. 6 University of Cincinnati football team faces Houston on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 3:30 p.m. ET inside Nippert Stadium. The game will be televised on ABC and air on 700 WLW AM. 
 
The 5-0 Bearcats are 3-0 in American Athletic Conference play and have won a school-record 17-straight games at Nippert. Houston is 2-2 (1-1 American) on the season having seen three September games postponed, finally opening 2020 on Oct. 8 vs. Tulane with a win, a loss to BYU, win at Navy and loss to UCF last weekend.

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6 CINCINNATI BEARCATS
Head Coach Luke Fickell
Record at Cincinnati 31-13 (Fourth Year)
Overall Record 37-20 (Fifth Year)
 
HOUSTON COUGARS
Head Coach Dana Holgorsen
Record at School 6-10 (Second Year)
Overall Record 67-51 (10th year)
 
GAME INFORMATION
Facility Nippert Stadium
Capacity 40,000
TV ABC
Radio 700 WLW AM / Sirius 121 / XM 207 / Internet 967
Online TuneIn.com 
Series Record Houston leads 15-11
At Cincinnati Cincinnati leads 6-5
Last Meeting Oct. 12, 2019 - UC won 38-23
 
ON THE AIR
TV: ABC
• Play-by-Play: Sean McDonough
• Analyst: Todd Blackledge
• Field Analyst: Todd McShay
• Reporter: Molly McGrath
• Online: WatchESPN.com
• Mobile App: ESPN
 
RADIO: BEARCATS SPORTS NETWORK
• Play-by-Play: Dan Hoard
• Analyst: Jim Kelly Jr.
• Sideline Reporter: Tony Pike
• Host/Engineer: Mo Egger
• Local: 700 WLW AM
• Satellite: Sirius 121 / XM 207 / Internet 967
• Online: Tunein.com / iHeartMedia App
• Mobile App: TuneIn (search Cincinnati Bearcats)
 
THE SERIES
Cincinnati and Houston will meet for the 27th time Saturday and the first in Nippert Stadium in four years. Houston holds a 15-11 edge in the all-time series which started in 1957. The Bearcats hold a 6-5 edge at home and have won six of the last eight meetings, including four of five in Cincinnati.
 
THE COACHES
LUKE FICKELL, the 2018 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, is in his fourth season at UC. He has led UC to back-to-back 11-win seasons, the 2019 AAC East Division Championship along with consecutive bowl-game wins in the 2018 Military Bowl and 2019 TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl. A veteran of 20 years in the FBS ranks, Fickell has been a part of two national championship squads, nine conference title-winning teams (seven as a coach, two as a player at Ohio State) with 16 postseason games and 13 NFL Draft selections under his belt.
 
Dana Holgorsen is in his second season at Houston after spending eight years as the head coach at West Virginia. The second-winningest coach in WVU history, he has a 10-year career mark of 67-51. Prior to his time at WVU, he was an OC at Oklahoma State, Houston and Texas Tech along with stops at Wingate, Mississippi College and Valdosta State.
 
STREAKS, STORYLINES, SIDEBARS ... 

• UC plays its 133rd football season in 2020. The Bearcats program dates to 1885 and is one of the 10 oldest in the NCAA FBS. UC has won a league title five times in the last 13 years and has played 11 bowl games in the past 14 years.
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UC lost games at Nebraska and vs. Miami (OH) and Western Michigan. The APSU game was moved from Sept. 3 to Sept. 19 and the Bearcats played Army West Point on Saturday, Sept. 26 in Nippert Stadium.  UC's AAC game at Tulsa was moved from Saturday, Oct. 10 to Saturday, Dec. 5.
• UC has won five-straight American Athletic Conference FB Team Academic Excellence Awards from 2015-20.
• During the 2019-20 calendar year, UC was the only school in the NCAA FBS to play for a conference title in MBB (winter 2019), lacrosse (spring 2019), baseball (spring 2019), volleyball (fall 2019), football (fall 2019) and WBB (winter 2020). 
• Fifteen states and four countries are represented on UC's 2020 roster, which features nearly 62 percent (77/125) Ohio natives, including 31 from Cincinnati. Eighty-three of UC's 125 players (66.4 percent) are sophomores or below.
• UC is 27-5 since 2018, ranking among the top seven teams in CFB in winning percentage during that span (.833).
• Cincinnati set a school record with its 17th straight win at home, the fourth-longest active streak among NCAA FBS schools. The Bearcats won 15 straight home games from Nov. 8, 1952 to Nov. 13, 1954. Cincinnati is one of four teams in the FBS to go undefeated at home the last two-plus seasons, joining Ohio State, Clemson and Notre Dame.
• UC ranks in the Top-10 of both national polls for the first time since the end of the 2009 regular season when the Bearcats were No. 4 in the final AP poll and No. 9 in the final Coaches Poll. UC is 9-1 when ranked in the Top-10.
• Cincinnati ranks seventh nationally in scoring defense at 12.0 points allowed per game. The Bearcats are sixth nationally in pass efficiency defense (94.76) and ninth in rushing defense (97.0 ypg).
• P James Smith needs 106 yards to become UC's all-time leader in punting yards. He has 9,341 career punting yards and trails only Chet Ervin (9,446/2002-05).
• QB Desmond Ridder is responsible for nine TDs (5 rsh/4 pass) in UC's last two games, averaging 12.2 ypr and 11.6 ypp.

 
VIRTUAL SELLOUT FOR SENIOR NIGHT
UC will hold its first virtual sellout of the fall for the Bearcats football game against ECU on Friday, Nov. 13 inside Nippert Stadium. Starting at $10, Bearcats fans can support their team from home, receive a commemorative 2020 football print along with UCATS Red Priority Points and have a chance to win some great prizes. UC will also celebrate its senior class and Military Appreciation Night in Nippert on Nov. 13. The game is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and 700 WLW AM.
 
Fans can purchase their virtual seat online now!

FOLLOW THE BEARCATS
For all the latest information on Cincinnati football, please visit GoBEARCATS.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow Cincinnati football (@GoBearcatsFB) and Coach Fickell (@CoachFick) on Twitter. You can also find the Bearcats on Instagram and Facebook.