No. 24 Utah tunes No. 17 Cincinnati up 45-14
Bearcats couldn't match the Utes on Saturday night
The No. 17 Cincinnati Bearcats traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah to face the No. 24 Utah Utes. With Evan Pryor out, a few different faces will get the rock out in Utah and Utah have quarterback Devon Dampier. Would the Bearcats push their streak to 8 in a row?
The Bearcats got the ball first as Utah won the toss and deferred until the second half. The Bearcats didn’t score on their first drive and Max Fletcher had an amazing punt to put Utah at their own 4 yard line, but Devon Dampier led a 16 play 96 yard drive that had their offense go for it twice on fourth down and ended with a Dampier pass to Ryan Davis from 34 yards out to take a 7-0 lead. The Bearcats answered by making plays on the ground via Tawee Walker, Manny Covey, Zion Johnson and Brendan Sorsby. Sorsby scored from 22 yards out to tie the game. Utah answered fast with a 39 yard touchdown run by Wayshawn Parker, to take a 14-7 lead with 1:01 left in the first quarter. The Bearcats moved the ball up the field via the run again, but Stephen Rusnak had his first field goal miss of the season from 42 yards out. After forcing a punt, Sorsby made a few great throws, but fumbled at the 19 yard line on an option run, Jonathan Hall forced the fumble and Lea’ea Uta recovered it. After the fumble Utah was held to a 33 yard Dillon Curtis field goal to take a 17-7 lead with 4:28 left in the second quarter. Utah pushed the lead to 17 after a NaQuari Rogers 1 yard run, 24-7. The Bearcats were down at the half could they mount a comeback?
In the first half Utah outgained Cincinnati 313-244, they went 6-of-10 on third down and 2-of-2 on fourth down.
In the second half the Bearcats defense made a stop which lead to a Sorsby to Cyrus Allen 86 yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 10, 24-14. The next series Christian Harrison got his first interception of the season in the red zone, but the Bearcats offense went three and out and Utah finished on a 21-0 run to win the game 45-14.
Now 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the Big 12, they will be on a bye week. Utah is 7-2 and 4-2 in the Big 12.