CINCINNATI — The Bearcats showed their potential Saturday.
Brendan Sorsby completed 12 of 15 passes for 188 yards, including a pair of touchdowns tosses Xzavier Henderson, to lead the Cincinnati Bearcats (3-1, 1-0) to a 34-0 shutout of the visiting Houston Cougars (1-3, 0-1) in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
Cincinnati recorded its first shutout win since Nov. 3, 2018 when the Bearcats blanked Navy, 42-0, at Nippert Stadium and its first-ever home win in Big 12 Conference play.
Corey Kiner ran for a 44-yard touchdown and finished with 78 yards on 16 carries. Cincinnati walk-on kicker Nathan Hawks, who kicked a pair of 50-plus yard field goals in last week’s win over Miami of Ohio, converted another two chances Saturday.
A sellout crowd of 38,007 endured sunny and stifling hot temperatures to watch UC dominate from start to finish.
“I want to thank the fans and the students that showed up here today,” head coach Scott Satterfield said. “We knew it was going to be hot, and it was, but we had a sellout. It was an awesome atmosphere. I really appreciate those guys and everybody coming out. We’re celebrating our team today with this great victory and it’s our first Big 12 win.
“So, I want to make sure I recognize them [Cincinnati fans]. We can’t do it without them. Obviously, one of our goals this year is to defend Nippert, and we want to make this a great home field event. It was incredible today. All three phases today, I thought, played outstanding. It was a complete game out of all three.”
Houston quarterback Donovan Smith completed 11-of-16 passes but for only 73 yards.
Cincinnati capitalized on an early turnover to break out on top in the first quarter. Cincinnati safety Josh Minkins picked off Smith at the Cougars 45.
Three plays later, Sorsby threw the first of his two touchdown passes, a 19-yard connection with Henderson that put UC up, 7-0. Corey Kiner doubled Cincinnati’s lead late in the first quarter when Kiner ripped off a 44-yard touchdown run.
“Setting the tone, right off the bat with Minkins coming back, playing this week and then getting an interception on the first drive,” Satterfield said. “Man, that set the tone. Offensively, we go down and score, and it was pretty much on after that. It was just a complete game. Defensively, we gave up the one post route, but that was the one time they got in the red zone, but our defense did a great job of not letting them get a first down. They attempted a field goal but did not make it. Our offense put together some nice drives.”
Bearcats QB Brendan Sorsby says he likes throwing touchdowns a little bit more than taking a hit and running it in. He did two of the former and one of the latter in Saturday’s 34–0 win. pic.twitter.com/Ya7bvQeOg9
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) September 21, 2024
Houston entered the game with the 14th ranked defense in the country. Behind a precise Sorsby, the Bearcats were able to dissect the Cougars over the first three quarters, outgaining Houston 362-233 on the day.
“They have a really good defense. I think their defense is very efficient in what they do,” Satterfield said. “They’re hard to run the ball against. They play a lot of man coverage back there. There were two great throws by Sorsby to Xzavier in the end zone to get those touchdowns and get some points on the board. We popped a long run with Corey, probably a 50-yard run, which was outstanding even though it was hard to get yards on the ground today. I give them a lot of credit for that, but I do think we were very efficient in throwing the football today. The other thing that we did well was take care of the ball.
“We did not have any turnovers, but we created three. It was huge. And I think on two of their turnovers, we went and got touchdowns. Our special teams were solid as well. We knocked down two more field goals. (Mason) Fletcher averaged 43 yards on two punts. [Nathan] Hawks is putting the ball at the back of the end zone. It was a complete game today. Really proud of our guys and they deserve to have the rest of the day off.”
Another Sorsby-to-Henderson connection of 15 yards with just under seven minutes left in the second quarter made it 21-0 Cincinnati.
Houston put together their best drive to open the second half. But Derrick Canteen forced a fumble at the end of a 20-yard run by Re’Shaun Sanford II. Tre Gola-Callard recovered at the Cincinnati 11 to end the Houston threat. The 20-yard run was Houston’s longest play from scrimmage on the day.
Sorsby promptly answered by engineering an eight-play, 89-yard drive, highlighted by his 47-yard perfect pass on a post route to Sterling Berkhalter, putting the Bearcats at the Houston 8. Two plays later, Sorsby ran into the end zone on a delayed QB keeper, putting Cincinnati up, 31-0.
Sorsby, who opened the game completing 12 of his first 13 passes for 188 yards, was pulled in favor of back-up Brady Lichtenberg in the fourth quarter.
