TicketsLuke Fickell's methodical journey from last place in the American to second-ranked in America has taken a path littered with milestones and measuring sticks. There was the 2017 beatdown at the hands of UCF in a storm-shortened game at Nippert Stadium. Then there was the shocker in the Rose Bowl the following season, as Desmond Ridder emerged from the Cincinnati bench to beat UCLA, the first of more than three dozen wins he's played a role in since 2018. Last season it was the Peach Bowl––a sour loss that proved how far these Bearcats had come, even in defeat. The promise of that game was fulfilled earlier this month in South Bend as Ridder's Bearcats staved off a top-10 Notre Dame team in the signature win of the Fickell era.
🗣 YOU GOT TO PUMP IT UP@BearcatsRuckus pic.twitter.com/m6NpTNYYrM
— Cincinnati Bearcats (@GoBEARCATS) October 16, 2021
But for all the defining wins and losses that have served as barometers these last four and a half seasons, nothing sticks out to me more than the 2018 game at UCF.
Under the eye of ESPN's College GameDay, the Bearcats entered 9-1, ranked 19th in the AP Poll, riding high. UCF was #11, winners of the previous 22 games. After a quick start that saw the Bearcats open with a defensive touchdown, the Knights completed the game on a 38-6 scoring run to slam the door on Cincinnati's dreams of a conference championship. UC would go on to finish with a remarkable 11 wins that season, but one couldn't help but linger on that game in Orlando, a bitter pill to swallow and a reminder of the steps left to take.
It's a sentiment Mo Egger wonderfully summarized in a column for The Athletic the day after that game:
"There can be something said about a team getting an up-close look at what it aspires to be, and if Fickell and his staff are as good as I suspect, the lessons learned from Saturday night will reverberate well after the frustration from UC's second loss of the season fades. Saturday's defeat can be viewed in the short term as a painful, missed opportunity. In the macro, though, it can serve as both a guidepost for how far Cincinnati has come as well a reference point for how much work still remains."
Mo Egger
The Athletic
In the wee hours of that November night in 2018, you'd have been hard-pressed to find a Bearcats fan willing to predict UC was about to embark on a three-game winning streak against those Knights, culminating in the 35-point shellacking we saw Saturday.
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UCF is adjusting to a new coaching staff led by head coach Gus Malzahn and is dealing with a rash of injuries, but it's hard to say how much any of that mattered as Jerome Ford rushed for four touchdowns as part of a 35-0 first-half Bearcats lead.
One postgame quote from Malzahn in particular jumps off the page:
"Cincinnati is as advertised. They can play with any team in the country. They could win the whole thing."
The Bearcats are still writing their story, but the measuring stick has changed hands. Now opponents test their might against Cincinnati.
These 'Cats are right where they need to be. Next comes the simple but devilishly difficult task of staying there.
Built Ford ToughDespite the noise Jerome Ford created on his 79-yard sprint to pay dirt on Saturday, the monster of a season he's assembling is still happening quietly. While deserved attention falls on the winningest QB in America as well as a handful of future NFL Draft picks on the defensive side of the ball, Ford is hammering away on one of the best rushing seasons in 136 years of Cincinnati football.
We've seen this one before…
— Cincinnati Football (@GoBearcatsFB) October 16, 2021
Jerome Ford goes 79 yards TO. THE. HOUSE‼️#Bearcats: 28 | UCF: 0
5:33 in the first half. pic.twitter.com/R1ePhCOTxN
Saturday's win, the Bearcats' sixth of the season, made them eligible for a 13th game come bowl season. A conference championship appearance would make for a 14th. Extrapolate Ford's current stats across 14 games, and you're looking at 1,645 rushing yards (most in Bearcats history, surpassing DeMarco McCleskey's record of 1,361 yards set in 2002) and 28 touchdowns (most in Bearcats history, surpassing Michael Warren's record of 19 set in 2019).
Ford's four-score Saturday was best by a Bearcat since Isaiah Pead ran for four touchdowns against Rutgers in 2010. Ford also has four 100-yard rushing games, on pace challenge Reggie Taylor's record of eight such games in a season, set in 1986.
In Saturday's postgame press conference, a reporter notified Ford he'd scored on every fifth touch––four TDs on 20 carries––and asked him what it was like. Ford's response? "Uh, it was fun. It was fun."
Up NextThe Bearcats play their next two games on the road. First comes Saturday's noon game against Navy before a trip to New Orleans to face Tulane on the 30th.
They'll return to Nippert for Homecoming on November 6th. Limited tickets remain HERE.