TicketsThe Bearcats played I-AA football in 1983.
The NCAA mandated that average attendance, home and away, exceed 20,000 fans, and the Bearcats couldn't cut it. UC took the NCAA to court, successfully limiting the Bearcats' stint in I-AA (now called FCS) to a single season.
The Bearcats returned to the highest level of competition in 1984 but found that Nippert Stadium was literally crumbling to pieces. The upper deck was closed to fans through the season, and Cincinnati hosted just four home games that year—two of them at downtown Riverfront Stadium. A quick-fix renovation kept the lights on for five years, but when 1989 rolled around, UC was advised to vacate the facility.
From 1979 to 1990, the team was just 41-89, which feels like no coincidence considering the games themselves almost felt secondary. Bearcats football was also fighting for its very existence.
🗣 Cincinnati showed up. pic.twitter.com/UW84YAQWcv
— Cincinnati Bearcats (@GoBEARCATS) October 2, 2021
Rock bottom seems like a good place to start when putting Saturday's 24-13 victory over #9 Notre Dame in South Bend in context. Don't let anyone tell you it wasn't the biggest win in program history. Yes, there have been more stunning (those 1983 'Cats toppled defending-champion Penn State in Happy Valley), but the Bearcats have just hurdled a brick wall designed to keep them out.
They were the favorites in South Bend. They looked like the better team because they were.
Saturday's win marked the first time a Group of Five team beat a top-10 Power Five opponent on the road in the College Football Playoff era. Luke Fickell's team has thrust itself into the national conversation. It was the type of win Cincinnati has never experienced because it was the type of win nobody has ever experienced.
So yes, Saturday was The One, and that's just going off objective data.
But dig deeper and consider the emotional storylines, numerous and rich enough to put Rudy to shame.
When people say dreams don't come true, tell them about the #Bearcats.
— Cincinnati Football (@GoBearcatsFB) October 2, 2021
Kickoff at 2:30 PM on NBC.
⬇️ How to watch, listen & more. ⬇️https://t.co/vLe50IBFNb pic.twitter.com/uSAMm4tsKP
Stalking Cincinnati's sidelines was Gino Guidugli, the forefather of Hometown Heroes. A guy who wrote the record book and hit heights that seemed out of reach until he came back to coach and help the next generation exceed them.
Then there's Armon Binns, the man on the receiving end of the winning touchdown in what was the biggest game in program history until Saturday, now an offensive coach for a unit that streaked up and down the field, especially when it mattered, culminating in a six-play, 75-yard drive to ice the game.
Dialing up the Irish defense was Marcus Freeman, the architect of a Bearcats unit that helped shore up the magical 2020 season––a unit tough enough to hold his new team to just 13 points on its home turf. He recruited guys like Malik Vann. Those who have closely followed this era of Cincinnati football know what Vann represents. When the kid from Fairfield committed to Cincinnati in April 2017, spurning interest from some of the biggest names in the sport, it felt like something had changed. He's a local kid who, much like Guidugli, saw the vision. When he chose to be a Bearcat, Fickell hadn't coached a single game. Before Vann could get to campus, the 2017 Bearcats went just 4-8, patiently laying the groundwork. In a day filled with storylines, we shouldn't overlook that the first recruiting domino, now a senior, got to dance across Notre Dame Stadium, his city's football team the victor.
The afternoon ended with Desmond Ridder running across the south end of the field with a Bearcats flag, parading for a fan base that's followed his journey from three-star recruit to the center of the college football universe. He was a parting gift from the Tommy Tuberville era. He's now the winningest quarterback in the nation and the type of guy ESPN flies to Cincinnati on a bye week to shoot College GameDay feature stories about.
Of course, coaching the opposition was Brian Kelly, the greatest UC coach of the modern era turned winningest coach in the history of Notre Dame football. Kelly showed the country what was possible at a place like Cincinnati, even if it ultimately made more sense for someone else to fulfill that potential.
But as much as the comeuppance felt great—to plant the flag in the home of the coach who departed Cincinnati football at its previous peak—the day was so perfect that one can't help but believe it was all worth it. Maybe this was exactly how it needed to play out. Talk about poetry, to circle back and beat the leader some believe had maxed out what was possible in Cincinnati. To beat Brian Kelly and reach #5 in the AP Poll, their best mark since Kelly himself last coached in red and black.
And perhaps it was worth it that UC was left in the conference realignment wilderness after Kelly left, only to earn a Big 12 invitation less than a month before the biggest win in program history.
Thanks for flying with us, Cincinnati. ❤️🖤
— Cincinnati Bearcats (@GoBEARCATS) October 3, 2021
🎟: https://t.co/dRVjK2W0SM
Donate: https://t.co/cjxNn8x0Q0 pic.twitter.com/9vKw5j78ww
Something happened in the second quarter that will probably go down as the day's defining moment to those in attendance, and it didn't even happen on the field. With the game on hold for an injury, the stadium fell silent. Some 10,000 Cincinnati fans who made the trip, and made their presence felt to that point, saw a golden opportunity. "LET'S GO BEAR-CATS" began to ring out from the south end zone at a volume that's hard to explain. National reporters in the press box began pulling out their phones to capture video, gawking at the scene. On a day full of things I'd never seen before, that may have been the most stirring. The team wasn't summiting this peak alone. We all were. Together.
I can't stop thinking about the "LET'S GO BEARCATS" chant that rang through an eerily quiet Notre Dame Stadium yesterday. I got legit goosebumps. Cincinnati fans are so different.
— Mason Madsen (@masmadsen) October 3, 2021
Perhaps too much is made about the heartbreak that comes with being a Bearcats fan. We have a lot to be thankful for, a lot to be proud of. But for one day in South Bend, Cincinnati found itself in a storybook.
It's always a good day to be a Bearcat, but some days are easier than others.
UP NEXT The Bearcats have a short week before a sold-out Friday night game against Temple at Nippert Stadium. Tickets can be found on the secondary market HERE, through StubHub.UCF comes to town on Saturday, October 16. Very limited tickets are still available HERE.