CINCINNATI (AP) — In its third season in the Big 12, Cincinnati has the look of a Power Five program on and off the field.
The No. 24 Bearcats are on a five-game winning streak and ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time in nearly three years. Besides the 5-1 record, they are tied with No. 7 Texas Tech and 15th-ranked BYU atop the conference at 3-0.
“I think we’ve played well all year. The key was bringing back the core nucleus of our team last year and adding a few pieces. It’s been a good gel, good mesh. The challenge is to keep doing that,” coach Scott Satterfield said in his office overlooking the field at the Sheakley Indoor Practice Facility and Performance Center. The football program moved into the $134 million building in June.
It has been a steady climb for Cincinnati, which was the first non-Power Five team to make the College Football Playoff in 2021. Before this week, the last time the Bearcats were ranked was when it was No. 21 on Nov. 20, 2022.
The Bearcats joined the Big 12 in 2023 and went 3-9 and 1-8 in conference play. They started 5-2 last season before ending the year on a five-game losing streak. A win at Oklahoma State Saturday night would not surpass UC’s conference wins from last year; it would make them bowl eligible for the first time since 2022.
Rebuilding jobs have become Satterfield’s forte. He helped guide Appalachian State from the Football Championship Subdivision to FBS and then went to Louisville after struggles in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“I’ll say it’s hard and tiresome. But it is rewarding when you see the fruits of the labor,” Satterfield said. “We were not there the first year, and we gained on it the second year. One thing we’re most proud of here is that, despite the era of many people moving, we remain a highly connected team. You’re almost flipping rosters every year, but the hardest thing is staying connected.
“When things get tough — like we’ve had the last couple of weeks — where you get some adversity, if you got a team this tight and then you can see through all that, and I think that’s where we’re at.”
The Bearcats are led by quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who has passed for 1,448 yards and 14 TDs with one interception, along with five rushing scores. The junior leads the Big 12 with an average of 14.63 yards per completion.
The passing game was bolstered through the transfer portal. Cyrus Allen (Texas A&M/Louisiana Tech) leads the team in receptions (27) and touchdowns (five) while Caleb Goodie has a team-high 354 receiving yards.
Joe Royer, a first-team All-Big 12 selection last year, is the only tight end in the country with two receptions of at least 60 yards.
The Bearcats also have a strong rushing attack with fifth-year senior Evan Pryor and transfer Tawee Walker.
“We can go to the run game and have two different backs that can stretch the field horizontally and vertically, and then to go with that high-level pass game as well that can make the defense drop out and open up some run lanes, and then vice versa,” Sorsby said.
The defense, which features lineman Dontay “The Godfather” Corleone, has been solid. Corleone is one of five players from the 2021 CFP team still on Cincinnati’s roster.
The Bearcats showed their mettle in wins at Kansas and then-14th-ranked Iowa State.
UC had four touchdowns nullified due to penalties against the Jayhawks, but rallied for a 37-34 win on Walker’s 2-yard touchdown with 29 seconds remaining.
One week later, against the Cyclones, the Bearcats had 97 yards on three plays in one series wiped out by penalties. After punting, the Cincinnati defense got a turnover on downs when Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the UC 16. Three plays later, Sorsby connected with Goodie for an 82-yard touchdown to put the Bearcats up by 16 points.
Cincinnati has a favorable schedule the rest of the way. It doesn’t face Texas Tech or Arizona State. The two biggest tests will be at No. 23 Utah on Nov. 1 and then hosting BYU three weeks later.
Saturday night’s game should also show how far the Bearcats have come in two years. UC lost 45-13 to Oklahoma State in 2023.
“We’ve been able to build out our team the way we like, tough, gritty, hard-nosed players that play fast, that play physical,” Satterfield said. “You feel a lot better about going to Stillwater this year than you did two years ago, with what we have on that plane that we’re going to be taking over there.
“Believing is something that is hard to get, but you get that through hard work, through adversity, all the things that we’ve gone through the last two years. We love this team and our guys, and we’ve been saying this since media days. It’s a different team with a different mindset.”
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By JOE REEDY
AP Sports Writer
