Cincinnati Bearcats beaten, bruised up front in loss to Arizona
· Yahoo Sports
TUCSON, AZ – The Cincinnati Bearcats were dealt their first defeat of the year by the Arizona Wildcats in a late-night blowout.
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Playing in Mountain Standard Time in Arizona in front of 43,760 at Casino Del Sol Stadium, the Wildcats whacked the Bearcats in the cactus catfight, 34-7.
"If you can't run or pass, there's not anything else to do," UC head coach Scott Satterfield said. "You've got to be able to do at least one of those things and we did not do either one of them very good. There was some tight coverages when we were trying to throw it and they were doing some different things with the front (line), and we didn't get adjusted to it."
If not for a late touchdown when the game was already decided, UC was facing their first shutout since getting blistered in Columbus by Ohio State seven years ago. JC French IV scampered for a score just after the two-minute warning to save such embarrassment.
It did spoil Arizona's first shutout win since 2009, but the Wildcats should feel good about themselves as they beat the Bearcats at their own game.
The Bearcats had outrushed their opponents in the previous four games by a sizeable margin and came in averaging 270 rushing yards per game. But Arizona's rush defense was No. 13 in the country for a reason, and they took away UC's ground game and much of the air game.
UC was outrushed by the Wildcats 238-74 and outgained overall 533-227. Antwan Roberts led all ball carriers with 87 yards and Quincy Craig had 77, both surpassing UC's team total.
It was torment in Tucson.
"They were able to run the football," Satterfield said. "They hit some big runs on us. Obviously, (Noah) Fifita's going to get his. Offensively, we just did not play complementary football. We didn't do anything with it."
JC French led UC with just 29 yards on the ground while Gi'Bran Payne was held to 24 yards and Cole Tabb had 19.
"We knew they wanted to run the ball and we said, 'No!'" Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said.
Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita was as expected, throwing 37 times, completing 25 for 284 yards and two touchdowns. French finished 16-of-29 for 153 yards. Both quarterbacks were sacked three times, with Fifita going down on the first play courtesy of Drew Logan.
It was Fifita leaving upright with the victory.
"He did some things that were very tough getting out of the pocket, extending plays," UC safety Jasper Beeler. "We've got to be better in our rush lanes and covering in the back end."
Beeler led UC in tackles with 12, including two tackles for loss.
UC has now lost to Arizona in consecutive seasons and drops to 4-1 (1-1 Big 12). Arizona goes to 4-1 (1-1 Big 12) with their lone loss coming at BYU. UC makes another Mountain Time trip to Provo to face the BYU Cougars Nov. 28.
The Bearcats are now 0-4 in games in the time zone since entering the Big 12.
3 key factors in Cincinnati Bearcats at Arizona
- UC's efforts to combat the Mountain Time Zone were not enough to overcome the Wildcats at night.
UC came into the game averaging over 40 points per game. The Bearcats hadn't been shut out since Sept. 7, 2019, in Luke Fickell's third season when Ohio State did the honors. French got them on the scoreboard when most everyone had departed.
"We couldn't get anything going, but it was good to see us finish that last drive," French said. "That speaks about our culture. Obviously, there's a lot of things to clean up and that's what we're going to do this bye week."
2. The Bearcats weren't able to contain the elusive Noah Fifita.
He was sacked, he was intercepted, but he was elusive enough to make the Bearcats miss.
"If you leave him some open windows, he's going to take advantage of it," Satterfield said. "When he gets out of the pocket, he's looking to throw. His eyes are up."
3. UC's much-publicized offensive line got bushwhacked in the desert. Arizona was able to get to French, and Payne and Tabb were ineffective in the run game.
"I feel we can come in and run on anybody; it just wasn't our night," French said. "We've got to get back to the drawing board and figure it out for West Virginia."
French called the offensive line's play "uncharacteristic" but said everyone takes accountability and it's important to not turn on one another with eight games left on the schedule.
UC Bearcats failed to capitalize early
After MJ Cannon intercepted Fifita in the first quarter, the Bearcats had the ball at the Arizona 35-yard line. But after French was sacked, UC had to settle for a 53-yard Stephen Rusnak field goal attempt. It clanked off the crossbar.
In the second quarter, UC went on a 14-play, 86-yard drive covering nearly seven minutes. On 4th-and-goal from the 2-yard line, French's pass to the end zone for tight end Gavin Grover was ruled incomplete. So there were possibly 10 points not scored, and UC trailed 10-0 at halftime.
"We certainly could have kicked the field goal," Satterfield said. "We tried to tie the ballgame up. We've been aggressive; the ball's on the 2-yard line. We feel confident we can punch the ball in and weren't able to do it."
However, they were equally inept offensively after halftime, something Satterfield admitted in disappointment in the post-game press conference.
Looking ahead to Morgantown
The Bearcats have their only bye week after playing five straight weekends, while Arizona travels to Morgantown for West Virginia on Oct. 10. Just as UC had to play two time zones to the west, the Wildcats will go to the east, where next weekend's kickoff is at noon (Eastern), which equates to 9 a.m. in Tucson.
The following weekend, UC visits Morgantown to face the Mountaineers. UC's record against West Virginia is not favorable, as they trail 18-3-1 in the series. James P. Kelly UC Athletic Hall of Famer Tony Pike quarterbacked the Bearcats to the last two wins in 2008 and 2009 when the teams were in the Big East.
Current coach Rich Rodriguez only lost to UC once in his first go-round at WVU, a 15-13 decision in 2003, Rick Minter's final year with the Bearcats. West Virginia played at Iowa State Oct. 3, losing 45-42 despite outrushing the Cyclones 291-265.
"In this league, all these teams are good," Satterfield said. "It doesn't matter who you're playing; they can beat you. On the road, it's tough."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Bearcats beaten, bruised up front in loss to Arizona