Trailing 25-22 at the end of the third quarter, Cincinnati Bearcat QB Desmond Ridder dove over and extended the ball from the one for his second TD on the ground. Next, he followed with a seven-yard TD pass, also his second of the day, to lead No. 7 Cincinnati past Central Florida (5-3, 4-3) with its high powered passing attack, 36-33. Safety Darrick Forrest picked off a Dillon Gabriel pass tipped in the air as Dillon came into the game ranked third in the nation with 188 consecutive passes without a pick. Forrest returned it 20 yards to the UCF 16 to start the short touchdown drive to give Cincy back a 29-25 lead for the first TD in Q4.

Late comeback holds off Knights

The Bearcats defense in particular got off to a slow, inauspicious start against the Golden Knights averaging 44 ppg and 619 yards of total offense through seven games, but played tougher as the game progressed. On its next series after regaining the lead, with tight coverage they forced a UCF punt after a three and out. Ten plays and 71 yards later, Ridder ( 21 for 32 passing, 338 yards and two TDs; 14 carries for 57 yards a rushing and two TDs) connected with Leonard Taylor from the seven to extend their lead, 36-25.

Jousting to the end

The Knights responded with 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive of their own when Dillon Gabriel ( 26 for 49, 243 yards, three TDs, one INT) hooked up with Jaylen Robinson for a 10-yard TD pass. Gabriel fired on target again with Jacob Harris for a two-point conversion to close the score, 36-33, with 4:24 remaining.

Cincy used up a lot of clock after the ensuing kickoff driving down to the UCF five for a first down with 1:34 left. Instead of taking the ball over for what looked like a clear TD run, work horse Gerrid Oaks (28 carries, 97 yards) dropped at the one-yard line to force the Golden Knights to spend its last time out. Oaks ran two more times for no gains and Ridder fumbled the ball on fourth down. Central Florida took over with one second left on their own eight as time expired with Cincinnati improving their record to 8-0.

Slow start for Bearcat defense

Great game! In the early going UCF looked to have an advantage following a spirited senior day celebration in front of a boisterous but Covid-19 restricted crowd of 10,668. The Knights also came in with chips on their shoulders a year after a 27-24 loss at Nippert Stadium. The senior class of Golden Knights had a lot to play for in front of their final home game crowd as they entered this contest with an impressive four-year record of 40-6. Their Bounce House press box even states the claim of “2017 National Champions” when they finished 13-0.

Down early, but far from out

The Cats started out jittery to say the least. With the Knights fired up and their fans small in numbers but loud with their enthusiasm, on their first two drives, Gabriel’s signal-calling drew the Bearcats offsides twice on critical third and long situations. As a result, the Knights converted first downs to keep touchdown drives alive. The second TD was set up on a fumbled punt by Ryan Montgomery at his 22. Knight Amari Johnson slid past him as as he fielded the punt, enough to distract the punt returner to lose sight of the ball. Johnson recovered to send the home team on to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter.

Trailing, the Cats offense got in gear behind Ridder, and the defense started to tighten up against the pass. They slowed down the Knights passing attack after the first quarter holding Dillon way below his 417 yards per game passing average. Cincinnati reeled off 16 straight points as Ridder got great protection up front to perform with confidence throughout the second period.

Impressive drives

Cincinnati scored on a 73-yard drive on five plays when Riddick targeted TE Josh Whyle on a crossing pattern to turn up field and race 29 yards along the right sideline for its first touchdown to trail, 14-10. UCF drove back into Bearcat territory, but on a fourth down pass, WR Marlon Williams (eight receptions, 97 yards, two TDs) let a pass slip through his hands while wide open to put Cincinnati back on offense from their 23. The turnover on downs resulted in Cole Smith’s 26-yard FG to get the Cats to within one, 14-13.

The Bearcat defense forced UCF to punt from their 20 on the next possession, and took over on offense again from their 30 with 2:06 to go in the half. A 45-yard pass took Cincy to the UCF 35. On the very next play, a transformer blew and the stadium lights went out as Ridder connected with Whyle once again in what looked to be a 35-yard scoring play. However, the officials reconvened to rule that the play ended at the 15 due to an inadvertent whistle that could hardly be heard. The transformer explosion was evident though and caused wonder if this would delay the game under darkening skies. It didn’t.

The Cats got down to the three where Ridder faked a handoff inside and ran around the left side untouched for a 19-14 lead. UCF thwarted the two-point conversion. And with 1:23 left, they drove to the Bearcats 26 where PK Dan Obarski put up three points with one second left to end the half with UCF trailing now, only 19-17.

Having deferred the ball in the first half, Cincinnati opened the third period with two penalties to set them back starting from their four before running a play. For 16 plays, the Cats used up 8:31 on the clock with most of the yardage being churned out by hard-running Oaks. Smith put up a FG from the 22 to extend the Cincy lead, 22-17. After a touchback to start from the 25, UCF played with a sense of urgency doing what they do best, passing the ball. Within 2:30, they drove the length of the field with Marlon Williams taking in a 19-yard scoring pass to give the Knights a 23-22 lead. A two-point conversion attempt through the air to Williams put UCF up by three going into the final period before the Bearcats comeback in the final period.

Glad we did this

Regretfully out timing did not work well for our return flight, and we missed some final action in the last period to catch our flight. The game turned out to be thrilling as expected, and we were glad to have gotten to see this up-and-coming Cincinnati program who has a legitimate shot to pull a surprise or two if they make it to the College Football Playoff. We think it will take a second Notre Dame win over Clemson to get this done. For Cincinnati, it may take two wins in a row over a tough, improved Tulsa team. They meet in three weeks at Tulsa, and then the following week for the AAC championship. This year, the top two teams in the 11-team conference meet in the championship. With a 5-1 record, the Golden Hurricanes are scheduled play at Houston and at Navy before hosting the Bearcats, if Covid doesn’t continue to cancel games, of course.

Next!

Cincinnati travels to play beleaguered Temple (1-6) in Philly this weekend. Don’t know if tickets are available, but to be honest, not too tempted to go after seeing this one. UCF plays at rival South Florida who has also foundered this season. If they pull the win in this finale, they should pose an interesting match up for any team in a bowl game. ESPN pundits predict they will play in the Boca Raton Bowl against Liberty. It would be great game between these two, but we’d prefer to see both of these non-power squads play against Power Five schools in better bowls. As for collegefootballfan.com, we have one more regular season game in December. Come back and check out our game preview next week.

Awards

Desmond Ridder earned American Athletic Offensive Player of the Week Award for the fourth time this season. In addition, he was named as one of the eight Manning Award Stars of the Week and also selected as one of the Davey O’Brien Award’s Great Eight following the Bearcats win. He impressed us with his composure, passing, and leadership during this must-win game against a good team.

Also, Cincinnati PK Cole Smith was named as one of the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award’s three Stars of the Week and earned recognition on the American Athletic Conference’s weekly honor roll. He tallied scored 12 points making field goals of 47, 26 and 22 yards and going 3-for-3 on PATs.

Cincinnati’s defense should earn recognition for holding UCF to 359 yards of total offense. The Golden Knights average 619 yards in their previous seven games. Gabriel Dillon totaled only 243 passing yards after averaging 417.7 since the beginning of the 2020 season.