The previous three matchups between Temple and University of Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell's Bearcats were close. The latest installment in the series was not.
Desmond Ridder had three passing touchdowns, Jerome Ford added two scores on the ground, and the Bearcats defense was suffocating as No. 5/6-ranked (Associated Press/Coaches) Cincinnati coasted to a 52-3 victory over the Owls in front of a sold-out crowd Friday night at Nippert Stadium.
"The crowd was unbelievable," Fickell said. "That's the best I've seen. It was really awesome to come back home. It's been three weeks since we've had an opportunity to be back in Nipp. To be at night and have the student section, the crowd and everything as electric as it was, that was awesome."
The victory marked the 23rd straight win at home for the Bearcats (5-0), who opened American Athletic Conference play in the win column with 37,978 fans in attendance.
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Ridder completed 22 of 30 passes for 259 yards, eclipsing the 8,000-yard mark for his career. The fifth-year senior now has 8,209 passing yards, trailing only UC passing game coordinator, quarterbacks coach and UC Athletics Hall of Famer Gino Guidugli's 11,453 yards.
Cincinnati's "Blackcats" defense had six sacks, eight tackles for loss, an interception by cornerback Coby Bryant and held the Owls (3-3, 1-1 AAC) to 226 yards of total offense, including 76 rushing yards.
"It makes my life a lot easier to know that we have a great 11 guys out there – to 20 guys who can rotate in and out – that's going to lock things down.," Ridder said of the defense. "It's just fun when I do get to watch to really just see them wreak havoc."
Temple won the coin toss and elected to receive. After the Owls stalled at their own 41-yard line, Ridder and the Cincinnati offense marched 48 yards but was forced to settle for a 30-yard field goal by kicker Cole Smith. It was a good start for Smith, who missed two kicks last week in South Bend.
But the senior missed his second attempt from 44 yards out with 2:44 to play in the second quarter. Smith is now 3-for-8 on field-goal attempts this season. He was one of only a few blemishes on the night for Cincinnati.
"He made some really big kicks for us and kicked the ball really well for us last year, and he kicked the ball really well today and he won," Fickell said. "Sometimes you get into those longer ones and your confidence is still a little bit shaken. But again, we've got the utmost confidence in him to know he'll get back to work at it."
Temple wide receiver Jadan Blue muffed a punt at his own 17-yard line and Ja'von Hicks recovered the ball at the 13 for the Bearcats.
Following a four-yard run by Ryan Montgomery, Ridder threw it up to Alec Pierce and the wideout caught it over Temple cornerback Cameron Ruiz in the end zone to make it 10-0 with 2:52 to play in the opening quarter.
Pierce finished with six catches for 93 yards and the score. Over the last three games, Pierce has 16 catches for 323 yards and two touchdowns.
"Those guys have got a pretty good rapport right now and a pretty unique connection," Fickell said of Ridder and Pierce.
Running back Jerome Ford trotted in nearly untouched from 8 yards out to give Cincinnati a 17-0 lead at the 9:42 mark in the second quarter.
Temple freshman kicker Rory Bell, a Wilmington, Ohio, native, blasted a 55-yard field goal to put the Owls on the board with 5:27 left in the first half.
On the first play of the second half, Ford got loose for a 75-yard score to make it 24-3. It was Ford's second touchdown of the game and eighth of the season. Ford had eight scores all of 2020. Ford finished with 149 yards on 15 carries.
"It was fun," Ford said. "The O-line really got into it today, moving guys around. They dominated today."
Temple muffed its second punt of the game, this time by Amad Anderson.Jr. Ridder and the offense capitalized with a 38-yard score between Ridder and Tyler Scott. The sophomore wide receiver did most of the work after the catch to make it 30-3 with 11:00 to play in the third.
Cincinnati junior running back Charles McClelland, who suffered a torn ACL in each of the past two seasons, got into the action with a 28-yard scoring run. McClelland's first touchdown run since the 2018 regular-season finale gave the Bearcats a commanding 37-3 lead at the 7:45 mark in the third.
"(It was) like Forrest Gump coming out of his leg braces," Ford joked about McClelland.
Ridder collected his third score of the game on an 11-yard strike to Michael Young Jr. at the end of the third. Young's first touchdown of the season made it 45-3.
Running back Ethan Wright capped the scoring for the Bearcats with a 58-yard scamper past the Temple defense with 10:15 to play.
Cincinnati will be at home again Oct. 16 to face UCF. Kickoff is scheduled tor noon on ABC.
"We're just 1-0," Ridder said. "A lot of people look at 5-0, but for us, we're 1-0 right now going into conference play. We're going to take it week by week, go in here and prepare for another big game, another home game that we've got against UCF. We know they're going to come in here hungry, so we're just going to prepare like we do every week and come out here and play a good game.
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