No. 7 Football Faces East Carolina Under The Lights On Friday Night

CINCINNATI – The No. 7 University of Cincinnati football team plays its first night game of 2020 at Nippert Stadium welcome ECU for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff which will air on ESPN2 and 700 WLW AM. The 6-0 Bearcats are ranked in the Top-10 nationally for the first time since 2009 and are 10-1 in their last 11 night games, including two-straight Friday-night wins at Nippert. ECU is 1-5 on the season and coming off a 38-21 loss vs. Tulane. The Bearcats will honor 19 seniors prior to the ECU game.
 
7 CINCINNATI BEARCATS
Head Coach Luke Fickell
Record at Cincinnati 32-13 (Fourth Year)
Overall Record 38-20 (Fifth Year)
 
ECU PIRATES
Head Coach Mike Houston
Record at School 5-13 (Second Year)
Overall Record 85-38 (10th year)
 
GAME INFORMATION
Facility Nippert Stadium
Capacity 40,000
TV ESPN2
Radio 700 WLW AM  / Sirius XM 81 / Internet 81
Online TuneIn.com 
Series Record ECU leads 13-10
At Cincinnati Cincinnati leads 6-5
Last Meeting Nov. 2, 2019 - UC won 46-43
 
ON THE AIR
TV: ESPN2
• Play-by-Play: Jason Benetti
• Analyst: Andre Ware
• Field Analyst: Rocky Boiman
• 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 XM 81 / Internet 81
• Online: Tunein.com / iHeartMedia App
• Mobile App: TuneIn (search Cincinnati Bearcats)
 
THE SERIES
The Bearcats and Pirates match up for the 24th time on Friday. The series started in 1986 and continued annually until 2004. Following a 10-year hiatus, the squads have faced off every year since 2014. UC trails 13-10 in the all-time series, but has won eight of the past nine matchups and leads 6-5 in games played in Cincinnati. K Sam Crosa hit a 32-yard field goal as time expried a year ago to propel the Bearcats to a 46-43 win in a shootout at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
 
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.
 
Mike Houston is 5-13 in his second year at ECU with a 10-year career mark of 85-38. Houston was 37-6 as the head coach at James Madison, leading the Dukes to three NCAA FCS postseason appearances, including a National Championship in 2016 and a runner-up finish in 2017. He was also the head coach at both Lenoir-Rhyne and The Citadel.
 
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 28-5 since 2018, ranking among the top six teams in CFB in winning percentage during that span (.848).
• Cincinnati set a school record with its 18th 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 10-1 when ranked in the Top-10.
• Cincinnati leads the AAC and ranks fifth nationally in scoring defense at 11.7 points allowed per game. 
• UC is outscoring its opponents 236 to 70 this season and held all five of their FBS opponents to 13 points or fewer.
• UC will honor 18 seniors prior to the ECU game, including: Blake Bammann, Curtis Brooks, Marcus Brown, Coby Bryant, Gerrid Doaks, Joel Dublanko, Darrick Forrest, Darius Harper, Jordan Jones, Bruno Labelle, Elijah Ponder, Josiah Robey, James Smith, Jake Sopko, Ethan Tucky, Jarell White, James Wiggins and Cameron Young.

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.