Tickets"The crowd was unbelievable. That's the best I've seen."
That's the first thing Luke Fickell said to gathered media moments after his Bearcats made their long-awaited return to Nippert––a Friday night showdown that cast a full Cincinnati crowd under stadium lights for the first time in 22 months.
As if releasing pent-up Nippert At Night energy that had been bottled for far too long, some 38,000 fans rumbled and roared as the Bearcats ran roughshod over Temple to the tune of a 52-3 final.
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Fickell made sure to remind everyone in Tuesday's press conference how games against Temple have gone in recent memory. The Owls entered Friday's game winners of four of the previous five in the series. Five of the previous six matchups had been decided by single digits. Yet, if there were any remaining doubt this year's team is different––unwilling to be satisfied, unwilling to look ahead, unwilling to cede home turf against a historically pesky opponent––Friday's drubbing should speak for itself.
Mike Tressel's defense surrendered just three points—fewest by a Cincinnati defense in nearly two years—while improving the nation's best red zone defense to 43% (6-for-14). Temple's 226 yards of offense were the fewest by an opponent since Boston College in the Birmingham Bowl at the end of the 2019 season. Mike Denbrock's offense tallied 28 points in the third quarter, a season-best, including a 75-yard Jerome Ford touchdown sprint, a season-long. Three Bearcats ran for scores, including Charles McClelland's first since 2018 and the first of Ethan Wright's career—a 58-yard morale-wrecker in the fourth quarter.
Teams ranked in the top five have little opportunity to make statements in games against unranked opponents, especially at home, but the Bearcats somehow found a way to do just that, sending a message yet again.
You already know the drill...#Bearcats pic.twitter.com/w1PyYKyDXz
— Cincinnati Football (@GoBearcatsFB) October 9, 2021
"I'm a little bit lost for words," said Fickell after a loss to these Temple Owls at Nippert Stadium on November 10, 2017. That was 1,430 days and 23 games ago. Cincinnati hasn't lost at home since.
The Bearcats now hold the second-longest home winning streak in America and figure to improve on their #5 AP Top 25 Poll ranking following losses by two teams ranked above them. This week's tangle with UCF wil air on ABC—UC's second network broadcast in three games.
This time we're the ones a little bit lost for words, Coach.
UP NEXTThe Bearcats' two-game home stand continues Saturday with a noon date against UCF before a pair of games against Navy and Tulane will take them on the road for the rest of October.
The team returns to campus for Homecoming on November 6 against Tulsa. Limited tickets remain HERE.