The entire crowd of 37,978 let out a collective exhale Saturday night at Nippert Stadium.
The University of Cincinnati football team again flirted with disaster. But after back-to-back goal-line stands, the Bearcats held on for a 28-20 win over Tulsa on homecoming.
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"I think the three times I've played them, I come out of the game every single time saying that's a much better football team than their record shows," Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell said of the Golden Hurricane (3-6, 2-3 American Athletic Conference).
What we learned from Saturday's win:
Jerome Ford's status is unknown for USF
Cincinnati (9-0, 5-0) left Nippert with its 25th straight win at home, but the Bearcats didn't leave with a healthy starting running back.
After exiting the game early in the second quarter with an apparent lower leg injury, Jerome Ford did not return. UC running backs coach Darren Paige gave Ford a hug on the sideline just before the rest of the offense took the field for the second half. Ford spent most of the third and fourth quarters either talking with training staff, riding an exercise bike or pacing the sideline.
Fickell had no update on Ford after the game.
"It was kind of iffy at halftime," he said. "I thought he maybe could come out in the second half and be able to go, but just the confidence level wasn't right there. Hopefully he'll be fine. Hopefully we'll get him back in here tomorrow and start working on him, and in a couple days, we'll be able to have a better grasp on where he is and what it is."
Before the injury, Ford rushed for 24 yards on seven carries. He also had two catches for a career-high 67 yards. Ford's one-yard rushing touchdown with 1:21 to play in the first quarter marked his 16th score of the season (15 rushing and one receiving).
After speaking all year about how Ford's presence makes his job as a quarterback easier, Desmond Ridder said he and the offense didn't feel Ford's absence in the second half.
"I don't think it was difficult at all," said the fifth-year senior captain. "We have three, four other great running backs who are always ready to go at any moment. Ryan Montgomery, Charles McClelland, Ethan Wright, all those guys are ready to step up and ready to play. I mean, Rome's been getting most of the load the entire year. Some of these guys are just itching on the bench, ready to get their turn. So when their number's called, they're ready to go."
The reality is, Ridder and the Cincinnati offense missed Ford. After storming out of the locker room with 14 straight points in the third quarter without Ford, the Bearcats failed to get anything going offensively the rest of the way.
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Cincinnati was outgained on the ground, 297-116.
All of a sudden, teams can run against the 'Blackcats'
That 297 number is alarming.
Tulsa put up 300 rushing yards on a UC defense that has been nearly impossible to run against over the past three-plus seasons. But of late, as first-year defensive coordinator Mike Tressel continues to toggle his defensive alignment and figure out how many players he wants to put in the box, teams are finding holes on the ground.
"If you really look at it, that's kind of what they did last year in the championship game," Fickell said of Tulsa. "They moved the football on us. They ran it downhill, as we would say, too much."
But it's not just the Golden Hurricane, who had 166 yards against the "Blackcats" in the 2020 AAC championship game. Cincinnati has largely struggled against the run in each of the last three games.
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UC's defense allowed 192 rushing yards against Navy's triple-option attack, and followed that by surrendering 187 yards on the ground at Tulane last week.
Tulsa had two 100-yard rushers Saturday in senior running back Shamari Brooks (25 carries, 132 yards and a touchdown) and sophomore all-purpose back Anthony Watkins (15 carries and 105 yards).
Fickell said the issue is a combination of questionable coaching and bad tackling. Cincinnati graduate linebacker Darrian Beavers, who had 10 total tackles (four solo) Saturday, didn't seem too worried about it.
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"We just need to get in the film room," he said. "I feel like we still pride ourselves on not letting teams run on us. We just need to get in the film room and get some of the little stuff that we need to fix up. But I feel like we still pride ourselves on stopping the run."
Alec Pierce is better than most at going deep
Cincinnati senior wide receiver Alec Pierce had five catches for 113 yards and a touchdown Saturday. That's nearly 23 yards per catch. One of Pierce's grabs went for 40 yards.
Pierce now has four games this season with at least 85 yards receiving. Saturday marked the second time he eclipsed the century mark in 2021. Pierce also had 144 yards Oct. 2 at Notre Dame.
Pierce has been the Bearcats' most dangerous deep threat over the last three seasons. Pierce averaged a team-high 17.6 yards per reception in 2019. Despite being limited by injuries last season, Pierce again led Cincinnati with an 18.5 yards-per-catch average.
"I think it's just competitiveness," Pierce said. "It's like playing basketball, going up and getting a rebound, just trying to go up and time it. Just with reps and reps, you learn how to track it better. Des is throwing the ball great, so we're good."
Pierce's ability to get downfield, get open, locate the football and grab it at its highest point forces opposing defenses to stay honest and creates more space for Ridder to operate. It's also making Pierce an attractive option for NFL scouts.
More:Cincinnati WR Alec Pierce looks to 'take more of a role'
"He's continuing to impress," Fickell said. "There's a guy that we moved to defense after a year and a half here, so I think he's even still continuing to grow as a receiver and be more dynamic.
"But he's tough to deal with because, I mean, sometimes you just think, well, he's just a bigger guy, and then you realize how fast he is, and then you realize how well he can go up and play the jump ball. I think he's just continuing to progress to be a really, really complete wide receiver, and we're going to need him down the stretch."
Pierce is also becoming a matchup nightmare for teams, particularly Tulsa. Saturday was Pierce's second-straight game against the Golden Hurricane with over 100 yards. Pierce had five catches for 146 yards and a score in the 2020 AAC championship game.
Where the Bearcats stand with the CFP committee
Cincinnati didn't compile any style points and it certainly didn't gain any favor from College Football Playoff selection committee chair Gary Barta and the committee's other 12 members. But none of that matters to the Bearcats. What matters is the win.
"We don't care about the style points," Beavers said. "We care about the win. That's literally all we care about is winning the game. Winning is hard in college football, so if we come out with the W, then we did our job. If we win by one point, it doesn't really matter to us. Winning is the main goal here."
UC's concern isn't getting into the playoff. The Bearcats are only concerned with winning that week's game and continuing to put themselves in the best position to win a second-straight AAC crown.
Fickell said he's not going to allow himself to "strip the joy" from these players as they continue to march through the most successful stretch in program history.
"Coach Fick, in the postgame meeting he had with us, he was kind of getting on us because we weren't celebrating," Ridder said. "He was just really like, 'Take this time and enjoy this moment, not only the moment but the people around you and who we're with, because one day it's not going to be here.' So honestly, we take it for granted sometimes. We've had great seasons over the past four years. Like Beavers said, winning doesn't come easy in college football. Sometimes we take that for granted, which we can't do with anything in life."
Up next: Cincinnati, which is No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings, head back on the road to face South Florida on Friday (6 p.m. on ESPN2).
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