The Cincinnati Bearcats have four straight wins for the first time under Scott Satterfield as they knocked off No. 12/No. 14 Iowa State on the first Saturday of October, 38-30 at sold-out Nippert Stadium.
UC had led the game 31-7 late in the first half, but Iowa State flipped the momentum with scores right before and after halftime.
With a 31-22 lead, Brendan Sorsby’s 82-yard touchdown to Caleb Goodie with 5:57 left was the first score against Iowa State in the fourth quarter since their opening game vs. Kansas State in Dublin. The Cyclones had only trailed all season for 28 seconds. They never led in front of the crowd of 38,007 at Nippert, which was striped red and black for the occasion.
It was the longest pass play of the season and the longest since Gunner Kiel went 87 yards to Mekhale McKay against Temple in 2015.
“The mentality was right where it needed to be coming off a huge win on the road in the Big 12 at Kansas,” UC head coach Satterfield said. “To put that one to bed and really focus everything on Iowa State, they did a great job with that. We came out on fire offensively. It started with our offensive line, the way they were blocking and coming off the ball.”
Cincinnati Bearcats atop Big 12 standings
The Bearcats stay unbeaten in the Big 12, while Iowa State suffers its first loss since last December’s Big 12 championship game against Arizona State. The Cyclones could have clinched bowl eligibility with a victory over UC.
“I’m really proud in the way we finished the football game,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “We gave ourselves every opportunity to win the game. And we need to make some plays that we didn’t. I didn’t think our detail was great today. I know we’ve said that, those of you that have covered us, that we got to continue to be better. And it caught us. It caught us against a really good football team.”
Proverbial monkey off Cincinnati Bearcats coaches Satterfield, Veidt
Both Satterfield and Tyson Veidt have coached with Iowa State’s Matt Campbell. Neither had a win against their friendly rival.
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Brendan Sorsby was 13-for-25 for 214 yards and touchdowns to Joe Royer and Caleb Goodie. Evan Pryor ran for 111 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Tawee Walker had 87 yards rushing, with 81 in the first half.
It’s the first win over a ranked team for the Bearcats since their 2021 American Athletic Conference championship win at Nippert over No. 21 Houston Dec. 4, 2021. It’s the best win against a ranked opponent since UC beat No. 7 Rutgers in 2006 under Mark Dantonio, 30-11.
UC is now 4-1 (2-0 Big 12) while Iowa State falls to 5-1 (2-1 Big 12).
In the loss, Rocco Becht was 30-for-48 for 314 loss for two touchdowns. Abu Sama III ran for 96 yards and Brett Eskildsen had eight catches for 105 yards.
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5 takeaways from Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Iowa State Cyclones
1. Cincinnati Bearcats pass interference call leads to Iowa State momentum shift
With five seconds left in the first half, UC’s Matthew McDoom appeared to intercept a Rocco Becht pass intended for Brett Eskildsen in the end zone. Though replay didn’t show much, McDoom was called for pass interference giving Iowa State an untimed down at the UC 4-yard line. Becht ran in the touchdown, and Major Cantrell threw to Ben Brahmer for the two-point conversion to make the score 31-15 at halftime.
From Sorsby’s 20-yard touchdown rush with 1:08 left in the first half (making it 31-7) until the fourth quarter touchdown pass to Goodie, Iowa State went on a 15-0 run, the Bearcats went 25 minutes and 11 seconds without a score.
2. Cincinnati Bearcats heavily penalized again by Big 12 officials
A 52-yard completion to Noah Jennings, which would have put UC in prime field position early in the fourth quarter, was wiped away when Gavin Gerhardt was declared illegally downfield. Then, an Evan Pryor 12-yard gain was nullified when Taran Tyo was also declared illegally downfield. Another flag came on Max Fletcher’s punt and then a good stop by Logan Wilson on Abu Sama was whistled for a personal foul to make flags on four consecutive crucial plays for the Bearcats.
With 5:57 left, Sorsby’s 82-yard touchdown to Caleb Goodie gave the Bearcats some breathing room after the mid-fourth flagfest.
UC was penalized 13 times for 128 yards to Iowa State’s eight. The final eight penalties of the game were on the Bearcats.
3. Cincinnati Bearcats run game gashes Iowa State
UC averaged 10.8 yards per carry in the first half with Evan Pryor collecting 88 yards and two touchdowns, Tawee Walker 81 yards and Sorsby 47.
Walker had a proverbial “truck stick” run in the first quarter that dropped some jaws.
Pryor would finish with his second-career 100-plus yard game, the first since his initial game at UC against Towson when he had 105. His final tally was 111 yards. UC outrushed the Cyclones 260-166 and outgained them overall 474-470.
“It was our best running game we’ve had this year with Tawee (Walker) and Evan (Pryor) just breaking tackles and getting huge runs,” Satterfield said.
4. Cincinnati Bearcats pick good game for recruits
The football program had numerous recruits on the sidelines for the game, plus the men’s basketball team had some four-star recruits in attendance. Kevin Savage, a 5-foot-11 guard from Wheeler, Georgia, Charles Pur, a 6-foot-9 center from Burlington Christian in North Carolina and 6-foot-1 guard Shawn Foster from Lima were all on visits on the field before the game.
“We had phenomenal recruits in the house today,” Satterfield said. “It was our best lineup of recruits and they got to see what we’re all about.”
5. Cincinnati Bearcats radio call minus Hall of Famer Jim Kelly
For a second straight week, former UC quarterback Tony Pike filled in for color analyst Jim Kelly in the booth with Dan Hoard. Kelly, in his 35th year doing games, is fighting cancer and has elected to step aside during his treatment. Kelly is a UC Hall of Famer as a receiver and analyst. On a personal level, I was privileged to work with him for 14 years on the radio crew, and he and his family are truly classy people.
Cincinnati Bearcats injury updates
Dontay Corleone was listed as a game-time decision, but it was evident in pre-game warmups that he would be active. Corleone was active into the fourth quarter and had a key 4th-and-1 stop on Iowa State’s Becht with Jalen Hunt to set up UC’s late bomb from Sorsby to Goodie.
Next up for Cincinnati Bearcats
The Bearcats return home to face UCF Saturday, Oct. 11 at noon. The Bearcats beat UCF in Orlando a year ago, 19-13, when Gus Malzahn coached them. They are now led by Scott Frost again, who has been to Cincinnati before. The Knights hosted Kansas Saturday night.
“‘Next week’ is what I told them in the locker room,” Satterfield said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 5 instant takeaways from Cincinnati Bearcats win over Iowa State Cyclones
Reporting by Scott Springer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
