UC’s Satterfield w/ Gola-Callard, Wilson, Sorsby, Cotton on Baylor W
UC coach Scott Satterfield with Gola-Callard, Wilson, Sorsby, Cotton on Baylor win
Football weather arrived at Nippert Stadium Saturday and a sellout crowd of 38,007 was rewarded with a clutch Big 12 victory.
For a second straight year, the Cincinnati Bearcats racked up a key win on Homecoming, taking down Baylor 41-20 on Oct. 25. Fireworks lit the sky afterward.
“Great, great atmosphere,” UC head coach Scott Satterfield said of the Ring of Red crowd. “Obviously proud of what our guys did tonight. Anytime you can do that on Homecoming, we’re putting some great people in the Hall of Fame, you’ve got alumni coming back, to be able to put a product out there they can be proud of is huge for us.”
Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Brendan Sorsby slings, struts to another victory
Redshirt junior quarterback Brendan Sorsby threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for another score. His 23-yard scamper late in the fourth quarter gave UC breathing room, then after a fumble recovery, his eight-yard pass to Isaiah Johnson sealed the deal.
“We’re going to utilize his legs because he’s a good runner,” Satterfield said of Sorsby. “He runs hard. He runs to score, he runs to get first downs. I love the demeanor he takes when he’s running the football. Throwing the football, he’s very efficient. We didn’t need as much in the passing game, but when we needed it, he came through.”
Sorsby has been mentioned in national circles of late, with the Bearcats having success. On College GameDay the morning of the game, former Alabama coach Nick Saban ran through several UC video highlights, but referred to him as “Sorly,” perhaps a combination of squirly and his name.
“I just was on a podcast and they asked for a nickname, so Coach Saban just gave me one by accident,” Sorsby said. “Whatever ‘Sorly’ means, if it’s a synonym for happy, then absolutely, I was.”
He was certainly ‘Sorly’ when he gave the Bearcats some separation with his fourth-quarter score in front of the student section. Teammates compared his run to the NFL’s Lamar Jackson. It culminated with some high-stepping well before the end zone.
“That was egregious,” Sorsby admitted. “I’m like, ‘Damn, I started this one a little too early!’ It just happened.”
Both Sorsby and Satterfield said any Heisman consideration would be dependent on the success of the team, as the award typically goes to the best player on a successful team.
Cincinnati Bearcats took advantage of Baylor errors
The Bearcats capitalized on two key fumbles in the game that led to scores.
Logan Wilson had a recovery late in the first half that set up a Sorsby to Cyrus Allen touchdown pass that gave UC a 24-0 lead. Late in the game, after Sorsby’s strut to the end zone, Tayden Barnes caused Baylor to cough it up and JiQuan Sanks fell on the ball. That led to the scoring pass to Johnson.
Sorsby finished with just 111 passing yards on a 13-for-21 day, his lowest yardage since the Nebraska opener, but he ran for a team-high 85 yards. Tawee Walker added 84 yards and a score and Evan Pryor had 66 yards with a touchdown. Pryor left the game with a lower leg injury that will be evaluated.
UC held Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson to an 18-of-26 performance for 137 yards and two touchdowns. It was his lowest yardage effort of the season. Michael Turner had 90 rushing yards for Baylor.
Baylor drops to 4-4 (2-3 Big 12).
“Way frustrating, man,” Bears coach Dave Aranda said. “It’s a hurt locker room. The thing that strikes me is we’re in a position to get a stop and get the ball back to our offense to go win the game. We just couldn’t do it.”
Cincinnati Bearcats red zone streak comes to odd end
As the game was winding down, the Bearcats had scored on every trip to the red zone this season. That number hit 32 in a row until it came to an end on the final play of the game. As Sorsby took a knee on the Baylor 19-yard line for a purposeful two-yard loss, the streak ended.
“We have scored in the red zone every time we’ve wanted to score,” Satterfield said to justify. “It’s still 100%.”
Said left tackle Joe Cotton, “I look up at the scoreboard and it said, ‘the red zone’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, is this going to ruin our streak?’ Evan (Tengesdahl), next to me, said, ‘It doesn’t matter, we won.’ But it’s a cool stat. It’s unfortunate, it’s just how it is, how we had to finish out the game.”
Cincinnati Bearcats make it 7 straight wins
UC is now 7-1 (5-0 Big 12) and has won seven consecutive games for the first time since the 2021 season, when they finished undefeated before falling to Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinal in the Cotton Bowl.
That game was played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington and UC’s goal all season has been to return to that venue for the Big 12 title game Dec. 6.
Buy CINCINNATI BEARCATS tickets
Cincinnati Bearcats, Baylor Bears in Big 12 standings
The Bearcats remain undefeated, while Baylor drops to 2-3. UC is now 5-0 in the Big 12 and still tied atop the league with BYU, which defeated Iowa State 41-27 in Ames.
The Bearcats host BYU Nov. 22 after their Nov. 1 date at Utah and Nov. 15 home game vs. Arizona.
5 takeaways from Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Baylor Bears
1. Cincinnati Bearcats remain unbeaten at home
Since losing the 2024 season finale to Kansas State in the 2024 November snow, the Bearcats have won five in a row at home. They are now 63-32-4 in Homecoming games, with this year’s affair being the 99th. Since 2000, UC is 94-31 at home.
Their longest winning streak went 32 games before it was ended by Tulane on Nov. 25, 2022.
2. Cincinnati Bearcats defense kept Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson in check
Robertson came into the game leading the country in quarterback rating (83.7) with over 3,000 yards passing and 28 touchdowns. At the end of the first quarter, he had thrown for just three yards.
Baylor didn’t score until there were 16 seconds left in the first half, and the six points at the break were the fewest they had all season.
Robertson had 98 yards passing at halftime. He finished with a season-low 137. His previous low was 211 in a 42-7 win over Samford.
Tre Gola-Callard led UC’s defense with 11 tackles and credits their toughness for holding Robertson and Baylor down
“I think it’s all of us,” he said. “We kind of all have that chippy mentality of ‘We’ve got this.'”
Wilson who had the first turnover, was motivated by the presence of a couple of former UC defensive backs. Mike Mickens entered the Hall of Fame and was present and former Jim Thorpe Award winner Coby Bryant talked to the team.
“He talked to us before we went out there,” Wilson said. “It T’d us all up. We were fired up to get to see him. I’m a fiery guy. I like to come out hot.”
3. Cincinnati Bearcats special weapon Stephen Rusnak
The transfer from Charlotte has continued his accuracy, nailing field goals on drives when the Bearcats came up short of a touchdown. Not only has he not missed a kick at UC, he hasn’t missed since 2021 when he was a Michigan State.
Rusnak made his field goals from 46 and 36 yards, respectively, and converted all of his extra points.
“He’s pretty calm and very confident,” Satterfield said. “We see it in practice every day. Even in practice, when he doesn’t knock one down, the next one, you know for certain it’s going in. That’s just the way he is, he’s got a lot of confidence in his ability and our team does too. When he trots out there, we expect him to make it.”
4. Cincinnati Bearcats honor noteworthy alumni
It’s been a difficult year in University of Cincinnati athletics with the loss of several essential people who paved the way to the Big 12. The scoreboard recognized longtime UCATS fundraiser Bill Mulvihill, former track and field coach Bill Schnier and receiver/football analyst Jim Kelly. All have passed since mid-July.
5. Cincinnati Bearcats new Hall of Famer Tony Pike had busy day
In addition to calling Saturday’s UC/Baylor game on radio with Dan Hoard, the former Bearcats quarterback was part of the weekend’s Hall of Fame ceremonies. That meant doing some color commentary from the field level, where he also interviewed fellow James P. Kelly Athletic Hall of Fame members Mike Mickens and Tom Marvaso.
All three were inducted Friday night, Oct. 24.
Next up for Cincinnati Bearcats
The Bearcats start November on the road as they’ll take on the Utah Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The kickoff time for the Nov. 1 contest could be announced as early as Sunday, Oct. 26.
Scott Springer wraps up Cincinnati Bearcats football win over Baylor
Scott Springer wraps up Cincinnati Bearcats football win over Baylor
