Cincinnati Bearcats football scouting report, keys to beat Arizona Wildcats Nov. 15

UC’s Scott Satterfield,Wilson, Tyo, Sorsby on Big 12 game vs Arizona

UC coach Scott Satterfield, Logan Wilson, Taran Tyo, Brendan Sorsby on Arizona

• The UC Bearcats will begin their final stretch of three regular-season games against Arizona at Nippert Stadium Nov. 15.
• UC has two of its final three games at home as the Bearcats look to earn a berth in the Big 12 championship game.

With two of their final three games at Historic Nippert Stadium, the University of Cincinnati football Bearcats control their own destiny in their quest to play in the Big 12 championship game Dec. 6 in Arlington, Texas.

Win out and you get a return trip to AT&T Stadium, a/k/a “Jerry’s World” after the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones.

Right now, Texas Tech is 6-1 in the league with BYU and the No. 22 Cincinnati Bearcats knotted at 5-1. The Cougars host TCU Saturday, Nov. 15, with the Bearcats at “The Nipp” for brunch with Arizona at noon. A win over the Wildcats sets up a pivotal Nov. 22 matchup with BYU that is already sold out.

First things first, 6-3 (3-3) Arizona is no slouch, as one of its losses was a double-overtime thriller in Tucson to BYU. Their other two losses came on the road at Iowa State and at Houston.

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“They easily could be 8-1 right now,” UC head coach Scott Satterfield said of the Wildcats. “They’re up 10 against BYU with four minutes to go in the game and had that game won quite honestly. Also, I thought they played great against Houston. Houston ends up kicking a last-second field goal to beat ’em.”

With both teams relatively new to the Big 12, they have never met on the gridiron.

A slight connection comes from the 1970s. Tony Mason was UC’s football coach for four seasons, going 4-7 in 1973, 7-4 in 1974, 6-4 in 1975, then 8-3 in 1976 with no bowl offers. Among those he coached was UC Hall of Famer and long-time radio analyst Jim Kelly, who passed last month after a battle with cancer.

Mason moved on to Arizona and went 5-7, 5-6 and 6-5-1 with a Fiesta Bowl loss before resigning amid rumors of financial improprieties.

Comparing Cincinnati Bearcats, Arizona Wildcats quarterbacks

Arizona rolls with 5-foot-10, 186-pound Noah Fifita, who has 2,200 yards passing with 23 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He has run for 109 yards and three touchdowns. He has twice thrown for more than 370 yards and five touchdowns, doing it in Tucson against Weber State and Oklahoma State. Fifita has 18 first-half touchdown passes, one more than UC’s Brendan Sorsby.

“Noah does a great job of buying time in the pocket,” Satterfield said. “He’s a scramble to throw guy. Also, he can run. That last drive last week they hit two Q (quarterback) draws in that drive over 10 yards apiece to go down and score. They can throw. I think he ended up tying for the most touchdowns in Arizona history.”

Sorsby, before last week’s games, led the nation in total touchdowns with 29 (21 passing and eight rushing). He has thrown for 2,064 yards and run for 453. Sorsby’s top yardage game was 388 at Kansas and he threw for five touchdowns in less than a half the previous week vs. Northwestern State.

Cincinnati Bearcats, Arizona Wildcats injuries

Running back Evan Pryor was injured in the Baylor win and did not play at Utah. After a couple of weeks off, his return would help the running game. Without him, UC still ran for 207 yards at Utah, led by Tawee Walker’s 67.

Linebacker Jake Golday left the Utah game early but is expected back against Arizona. Golday was UC’s leading tackler at Utah with 12.

In his Tuesday, Nov. 11 remarks Satterfield said Walker was fine and Pryor was making progress.

Arizona played its last two games without Marquis Grove-Killebrew at corner. Arizona defensive tackle Tiaoalii Savea left the Kansas game with a leg injury and offensive tackle Ty Buchanan left with an undisclosed injury.

How to watch Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Arizona Wildcats

When: Saturday, Nov. 15, 12 p.m.

Where: Nippert Stadium (38,007)

TV/Radio: FS1/WLW-AM (700)

Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Arizona Wildcats coaches

Arizona: Brent Brennan (second season, 9-11)

Cincinnati: Scott Satterfield (third season, 15-18, overall 91-66)

3 keys to Cincinnati Bearcats victory

1. Cincinnati Bearcats must pressure Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita

Fifita makes plays, but it’s usually more with his arm than legs. He did run for 25 yards against Kansas, scrambling for plays and his season-high is 48 yards vs. Kansas State with a couple of touchdowns.

The Jayhawks sacked him five times last weekend and still lost and Fifita has been sacked 22 times this season. The only time he wasn’t sacked was against BYU when the Wildcats nearly pulled the upset in Tucson, losing 33-27 in overtime.

“He does a great job of running around,” Satterfield said. “If you do flush him out, he’s on the perimeter and looking down the field. If you lose some coverage, he’s going to make you pay. He’s a tough guy to cover. We have to do a job of mixing it up, not playing the same defense and try to get him off schedule.”

2. Cincinnati Bearcats could use some interceptions

UC’s defense has hauled in just two interceptions this season, with one being Matthew McDoom’s 100-yard “pick six” at Oklahoma State and the other being a touchdown-saving snare from Christian Harrison at Utah. Fifita has thrown only four all season, but two came in Ames when Iowa State won decisively, 39-14. With defensive coordinator Tyson Veidt’s 3-3-5 being similar to Iowa State’s, that game tape might be viewed a time or two.

“The quarterback’s actually pretty good,” cornerback Logan Wilson said. “I like his game. He looks downfield and moves around in the pocket. They throw the ball a lot. They kind of remind me of Baylor. We’ve got to make plays.”

3. Cincinnati Bearcats must have ‘Sorsby to Royer’ plays

Brendan Sorsby didn’t have his best performance in Utah and is likely to rebound with numerous completions to his improved receivers. However, an NFL-caliber tight end needs to have more than one catch per game and that’s what Joe Royer’s been limited to the past two outings.

Royer’s yards per catch (15.2) and touchdowns (4) are higher than last year’s 50-catch campaign, so the big-play potential needs to be utilized. He was held to just one catch once last season (at Kansas State).

“There’s been times this year we’ve tried to call Joe’s number and you look and there’s two dudes on him,” Satterfield said “The other side is we have some guys on the outside we feel like can win and they’ve made some plays for us. If you look at our distribution to the wideouts, it’s pretty even. You put Joe in there and some running backs and you obviously want to run the football. I feel like our balance has been really good this year. If you defend this one guy, we’ll beat you with some other guys and that’s probably the product of why he doesn’t have as much production.”

Cincinnati Bearcats, Arizona Wildcats to watch

Noah Fifita can be electric, but he had his struggles against Kansas, just like Sorsby did at Utah. Fifita was 16-for-31 passing for 158 yards and two touchdowns against the Jayhawks.

In contrast, Brendan Sorsby had his best game throwing at Kansas when he racked up 388 yards and led UC on a late game-winning drive.

Arizona’s defense has 12 interceptions, with Jay’Vion Cole with three and leading tackler Dalton Johnson (68) with a pair. Sorsby threw his first since the Nebraska opener last week and coughed the ball up twice, so ball security is always an issue. UC’s offensive line has still allowed Sorsby to be sacked only twice all season.

“It’s going to be a good challenge for the next three weeks,” guard Taran Tyo said. “The first half of the season was productive. Putting in the work this bye week has helped us refocus and find ways to get better. I feel we have a great game plan going into Saturday.”

UC receiver Cyrus Allen tops the Big 12 in receiving touchdowns with 10 and is No. 2 in the nation.

“I’ve had games with 12 completions and 11 completions,” Sorsby said. “We’ve got to find a way to get more completions. We’ve got to find a way to get the ball to all of our playmakers, because 11 completions (vs. Utah) is not going to win you a football game.”

Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Arizona Wildcats score prediction

In my preseason picks, I had the Bearcats coming off the bye week and winning by two scores.

Weather-wise, Saturday, Nov. 15 looks to be somewhere in the 60s. A cooler game might benefit the Bearcats, but you play the hand you’re dealt. Arizona’s coolest game to date was 64 degrees at kickoff in Boulder when they demolished Colorado 52-17. They have played one game in the 70s, six games at 80 degrees or more and their August opener was 94.

The kickoff for those in Mountain time watching will be 10 a.m., so the Wildcats will have some adapting just as the Bearcats did when they began their last game in Salt Lake City at 10:15 p.m. Eastern.

Cincinnati 28, Arizona 15