Bearcats Beat: After Beating Back Baylor, Scott Satterfield, Brendan Sorsby Have Bearcats, Fans Dreaming Championship Dreams

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats are getting closer and closer to a date in Dallas in the first week of December, and perhaps much more.

Brendan Sorsby threw a strike to Cyrus Allen for a touchdown in the first half and sealed the game with a 23-yard touchdown keeper with just over six minutes left as the No. 21 Bearcats held off the Baylor Bears, 34-20, Saturday before a capacity Homecoming crowd at Nippert Stadium. Sorsby, who had just 52 yards passing in the first half, finished 13-of-21 for 111 yards with two touchdown passes and a touchdown run. He added 85 yards on 11 carries.

The No. 21 Bearcats raced out to a 24-0 lead over Baylor and then didn’t fold when the Bears drew to within seven, 27-20, with over 13 minutes left.

Sorsby is a big reason this team under head coach Scott Satterfield has taken the next step this season. Sorsby directed a clutch drive that took up over seven minutes of the fourth quarter clock and showed poise and determination. Never was that more evident than when he found Noah Jennings in the soft spot of the Baylor zone on third-and-9 at the Cincinnati 26. Sorsby scrambled and threw a dart that allowed the drive to continue.

Sorsby did it all offensively Saturday and is quietly entering Heisman discussion while increasing his NFL draft stock.

“He just needs to continue to take care of his business, which is taking what the defense gives us,” Satterfield said. “At the end of the season, they’re going to look and they’re going to find out who are the best teams, and who’s playing the best on that team. If we’re continuing to do the things that we were doing right now, then his name will be mentioned. We don’t worry about it now. There’s a month left of football, so we have to continue to do the
things that have gotten us to this point so far.”

Tawee Walker and Evan Pryor ran for touchdowns in the first quarter as the Bearcats cruised to their seventh straight win. Walker had 84 yards on 19 carries while Pryor finished with 66 yards on 13 carries. Cincinnati finished with 265 yards on the ground while holding Baylor to just 266 yards of total offense on the day.

While Sorsby has led the Bearcats offense, the defense has emerged in the last several weeks. And on Saturday, linebackers and defensive backs were flying to the ball while holding Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson to just 137 yards passing. The Bears were the nation’s top passing offense in the country entering the weekend, averaging 344.3 yards per game coming into the contest. Satterfield rightfully heaped praise on defensive coordinator Tyson Veidt.

“What an awesome atmosphere,” Satterfield said of the homecoming crowd. “I’m really proud of our defense, Coach Veidt and the whole defensive staff put together a game plan to contain the nation’s top passing offense, and what they did tonight was incredible, holding them to 137 yards passing. I can’t say enough about what those guys did, and how well our players executed the plan all week long in practice. I thought he did an outstanding job with that. And then to have our offense to go out there and rush for 265 yards and to control the game that way.

“We haven’t really won games this year like this, where we won the time possession by 10 minutes,” Satterfield said. “We were controlling the game, running the football, and I thought it was a good game plan to come in and be able to do that, keep their offense off the field.”

Kicker Stephen Rusnak continued his red-hot streak with two more pivotal field goals for the No. 21 Bearcats improved to 7-1 and 5-0 in the Big 12 and maintained their perch atop the conference standings. Rusnak is now 11-for-11 this season and perfect in his last 22 attempts dating back to 2024.

In his days at Appalachian State, Louisville and Cincinnati, Satterfield has never coached a team that has won seven straight before Saturday. This marks his 13th as a head coach in FBS.

Home wins over Iowa State and Baylor show they can handle teams when they make a run at them. The hope is these wins have prepared them for the next step. And that step begins next Saturday in Salt Lake City against the Utah Utes, a team that blew out Coach Deion’s Colorado Buffs, 53-7, Saturday on the same field the Bearcats will play on. The backend of the Bearcats schedule is loaded – at Utah on Nov. 1, bye, then home against Arizona on Nov. 15, home against BYU on Nov. 22 and at TCU on Nov. 29. Can the Bearcats go 3-1 in those four games? That would likely assure them of a spot in the Big 12 title game on Dec. 6 at AT&T Stadium.

The Bearcats know they still have a lot to do, but if the Bearcats were able to go on a run to the Big 12 title game and win that championship contest, they would almost certainly be among the 12-team College Football Playoff field.

“We’ve taken them one week at a time the whole season. I’m not worried about our guys changing up now,” Sorsby said. “Every week has been a big week for us. Nothing’s going to change in the next week.”

Baylor (4-4, 2-3) helped the Bearcats out by going for two-point conversions on their first two touchdowns and failing to convert. They converted a two-pointer after their third touchdown that closed Baylor within seven, 27-20, with 13:34 left in the game.

Pryor finished with 66 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown before leaving with an apparent left ankle injury after an 11-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

The Bearcats took the game’s opening drive and marched 81 yards in 11 plays, capped off by a Tawee Walker one-yard run just five minutes into the game. The key play on the drive was defensive pass interference on Baylor’s Levar Thornton Jr. when the Bearcats faced third-and-6 at their own 23.

The defense forced a punt when Jake Golday and Jalen Hunt combined to sack Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson on third down. Dontay Corleone went down on the play grabbing his left ankle, the same ankle that has forced him to miss several games this season.

The Bearcats answered with another efficient scoring drive as Sorsby directed the Bearcats down the field 66 yards in 10 plays, finished off when Evan Pryor ran up the middle from five yards out to make it 14-0. The Bearcats built their lead to 24-0 in the second quarter when Rusnak hit from 46 yards and Sorsby found Cyrus Allen on a perfect out pass in the far corner of the end zone.

The Bears dominated the third quarter, scoring on the first possession of the second half when they drove 80 yards in 10 plays, capped by a nine-yard strike from Robertson to Josh Cameron.

The Bearcats added a 36-yard field goal from Rusnak to push the lead to 15 at 27-12. But the Bears made it interesting when Robertson ran it from one-yard with 13:34 left in the game. The Bearcats were called for three different pass interference calls on the drive.

But Sorsby directed a 75-yard scoring drive taking up 7:21 of the fourth-quarter clock to seal the game. The Bearcats recovered a Baylor fumble on the ensuing kickoff and Sorsby hit Isaiah Johnson on an 8-yard rollout to his right to make it 41-20.

“I think they play with great poise,” said Satterfield of his team’s ability to put away the Bears. “I don’t think they get rattled if they give up a play or a first down. They hit a couple of fourth downs on us. It’s six opportunities to defend a fourth down. I know we’re the best in the Big 12 at defending fourth downs. But again, tonight, we had to defend six more. I don’t think they panic.

“They continue to play the next play. And when you do that, then you’re going to make more plays than not. When teams get down in the red zone, they don’t panic when they get down there; they continue to make their plays. They’re going to run to the football, and it’s never over until it is. I love that spirit about them, and we’ll continue to get better to try to get off the field on these third and fourth downs, but I think at the same time, you’ve got to play with those same great points that we’ve been playing with.”