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No. 7/8 Football Remains at Home Saturday with Murray State

The No. 7/8 University of Cincinnati football team will look to build off last week's season-opening victory when it hosts Murray State, Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET inside Nippert Stadium. The matchup will be televised via ESPN+ and air on 102.7 WEBN-FM and 700 WLW AM.

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No. 7/8 Football Remains at Home Saturday with Murray StateNo. 7/8 Football Remains at Home Saturday with Murray State
Rooted Creative
CINCINNATI -- The No. 7/8 University of Cincinnati football team will look to build off last week's season-opening victory when it hosts Murray State, Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET inside Nippert Stadium. The matchup will be televised via ESPN+ and air on 102.7 WEBN-FM and 700 WLW AM.

7/8 CINCINNATI BEARCATS
Head Coach Luke Fickell
Record at Cincinnati 36-14 (Fifth Year)
Overall Record 42-21 (Sixth Year)

MURRAY STATE RACERS
Head Coach Dean Hood
Record at Murray State 6-2 (Second Year)
Overall Record 61-40 (10th Year)

GAME INFORMATION
Facility Nippert Stadium
Capacity 40,000
TV ESPN+
Radio 700 WLW AM / Sirius 211 / XM 202 / Internet 970
Online SiriusXM Internet Channel 970
Series Record First Meeting

TV: ESPN+
• Play-by-Play: Connor Onion
• Analyst: Bobby Carpenter 
• Online: WatchESPN.com Mobile App: ESPN

WHAT IS ESPN+?
The game will be broadcast to a national audience on the ESPN+ platform. Access the game on any streaming device with the ESPN app and sign up for an ESPN+ subscription ($6.99 per month/$69.99 per year). Fans are encouraged to sign up for the digital platform online.

RADIO: BEARCATS SPORTS NETWORK
• Play-by-Play: Dan Hoard
• Analyst: Jim Kelly Jr.
• Host/Engineer: Mo Egger
• Local: 700 WLW AM
• Satellite: Sirius 211 / XM 202 / Internet 970
• App: The Varsity Network: "Search Cincinnati"

LIVE STATS: Cincinnati.StatBroadcast.com

THE COACHES
Luke Fickell, a two-time AAC Coach of the Year, is in his fifth season at UC. He has led the Bearcats to back-to-back 11-win seasons, the 2019 AAC East Division title and consecutive bowl 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.

Dean Hood is in his second season as the head coach at Murray State. This past spring, the Racers started 5-0, which matched their best start in school history and first top-25 ranking since 2011. He was previously an assistant at Kentucky and was 55- 38 over eight years as EKU's head coach.

NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE BREAKDOWN
The No. 8/10 University of Cincinnati football team needed only two offensive snaps to get on the board Saturday as Desmond Ridder hit Tyler Scott on an 81-yard touchdown strike. It was the longest completion of Ridder's career, UC's longest pass play since the 2016 finale and the quickest score since Oct. 4, 2014 against Memphis. The Bearcats ultimately led 21-0 in the first quarter and 35-0 at the break, the latter its best since Nov. 9, 2019 against UConn (38-0).

CLICKING ON BOTH ENDS
Cincinnati's 542 yards of offense moved it to 11-0 in the Fickell era when surpassing 500. It was also the 10th time scoring 40 or more points in that time. Miami was held to 9-of-28 passing (109 yards), the Bearcats' best since holding UCLA to 8-of-26 in the 2019 opener, also at home. It was the sixth time since the start of 2018 that UC held its foe to less than 150 passing yards and 17th of the Fickell era with under 300 total (five teams in each of the 2018-20 seasons).

STREAKS, STORYLINES, SIDEBARS

  • UC plays its 134th football season in 2021. The Bearcats program dates to 1885 and is one of the 10 oldest in the NCAA FBS. UC has won a league title six times in the last 14 years and has played 12 bowl games in the past 15 years.
  • UC has won five of the last six American Athletic Conference FB Team Academic Excellence Awards and posted a school-record GPA of 3.212 in spring 2021.
  • UC entered with 31 wins over the last three seasons, including back-to-back 11-win campaigns in 2018 and 2019.
  • UC has won 21-straight at Nippert Stadium, going undefeated at home in three-straight seasons for the first time in history.
  • UC ranked in the Top-10 of all three final national polls for the first time since the end of the 2009 regular season and started a season 9-0 for the fourth time in program history, along with 1951, 1954, 2009 and 2020.
  • UC had forced a turnover in 20-straight games, the longest active streak in FBS, before it was snapped in the Miami game.
  • Picked to repeat as American Athletic Conference Champions, Cincinnati is coming off a 9-1 campaign in 2020, winning the AAC title and playing in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, a New Year's Six game. AP ranked UC as No. 8 in its preseason poll, the schools best-ever mark. USA TODAY had the Bearcats No. 10 in the preseason coaches poll.
  • UC has won 11-straight season openers and 18 of 19 since 2005. The Bearcats are 89-36-10 (.694) all-time in lid lifters.
  • The Bearcats return 16 starters from last season's squad, including Desmond Ridder, the 2020 AAC Player of the Year and Ahmad Gardner. a seven-time All-America selection. All-AAC selections Darrian Beavers, Marcus Brown, Bryant, Myjai Sanders, Tre Tucker, Whyle and Young also return.
  • The 2021 roster has nearly 40 local players who grew up and played high-school football in the tri-state area.
  • UC enters the season with a school-record season-ticket number of over 22,000, eclipsing the previous best of 18,836 set entering 2010. UC added nearly 5,000 new season tickets and sold 6,000 student season tickets.