TicketsCINCINNATI – Cincinnati redshirt junior quarterback Brendan Sorsby tossed three first-half touchdowns, including two to senior receiver Cyrus Allen, to spark the Bearcats to a 34-20 victory over Bowling Green on Saturday at Historic Nippert Stadium.
Sorsby started the game 9-for-13 before halftime and finished 17-of-24 for 333 yards and three touchdowns passing as Cincinnati won its 24th consecutive home opener.
The signal-caller from Denton, Texas added a third-quarter rushing score for the fourth-career, four-total-touchdown game of his career, and his third as a Bearcat.
“First of all, I want to say how awesome the atmosphere was today,” head coach Scott Satterfield said. “I thought our students were incredible, right when we first came out, the whole white-out where the students sit. What an incredible environment. Really proud of our home environment, really proud of playing here at Nippert. I just wanted to say that off the top. I'm proud of our team who came out and got a really good win. Obviously, give a lot of credit to Bowling Green. I think they always do a really good job with their kids in that program. They're not intimidated coming into any environment and then Coach (Eddie) George and his staff has done a really good job with this team. There were times I thought we looked great today, we were dominant, and then other times, we let them back in the game. They did a really good job of controlling the clock, keeping the ball, keeping the ball away from us, and the third downs and fourth downs and continuing their drive.”
Senior tight end Joe Royer had two catches for 103 yards – his first 100-yard performance and the first by a UC tight end since Josiah Deguara in 2018. Senior receiver Jeff Caldwell added 109 receiving yards.
Allen caught two touchdowns in the first 17 minutes.
Senior linebacker, Jake Golday, the reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, was dominant, finishing with a career-high-tying 14 tackles. It marked the most stops for a Bearcat since 2022.
On the Bearcats’ second drive, Sorsby found Allen for a 44-yard touchdown at the 7:23 mark in the first quarter.
Sorsby found Allen again for a 2-yard touchdown pass to start the second quarter.
The highlight of the first half was a 73-yard catch-and-run by All-Big 12 tight end Joe Royer. After a 2-yard-loss on a rush, the Bearcats were backed up to their own 9-yard line on 2nd-and-12, but Sorsby found Royer open 40 yards downfield. He broke a tackle and ran another 30 yards, carrying his defender for the final few as well.
A few plays later, Caldwell caught a short pass and bullied his way to paydirt for a 9-yard touchdown that put Cincinnati in front 21-0 with 6:33 left.
Bowling Green had an 18-play drive just before halftime, but UC held the Falcons to a field goal to secure a 21-3 advantage at the break.
After a 40-yard field goal by Stephen Rusnak to open the second half, Golday stuffed Bowling Green running back on a fourth-down rush giving UC the ball back.
Bowling Green regained momentum when Cincinnati senior running back Evan Pryor fumbled two plays later on a 10-yard rush. BGSU quarterback Drew Pyne quickly found wide receiver Jyrin Johnson for a 31-yard touchdown to make the score 24-10 with four minutes left in the third quarter.
Sorsby’s 9-yard touchdown run at the end of the third quarter lifted the Bearcats to a 31-10 lead.
UP NEXT
Cincinnati stays in Historic Nippert Stadium on Sept. 13 when it hosts Northwestern State at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN+.