Expectations for the University of Cincinnati football team are high. Even college coaches around the country believe the Bearcats are a top-10 team.
Cincinnati, after finishing last season No. 8 in the College Football Playoff rankings, entered the preseason USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll released Tuesday as the 10th-ranked team in the country.
The poll is voted on by a panel of 65 coaches from the 10 FBS conferences plus independents.
The Bearcats received 979 total points. North Carolina garnered 999 points to enter the poll at No. 9. Top-ranked Alabama led the way with 1,621 points.
Cincinnati will face No. 17 Indiana (573) on Sept. 18 in Bloomington, followed by No. 7 Notre Dame (1,139) on Oct. 2 in South Bend.
The lofty expectations for the Bearcats, who have won 31 games over the past three seasons, are due in large part to the play and leadership of Desmond Ridder. After leading Cincinnati to its first American Athletic Conference championship, the 2020 AAC Offensive Player of the Year elected to return for a fifth season in January.
The 6-foot-4, 215-pound senior quarterback will enter the 2021 campaign as the winningest active signal-caller in the FBS.
UC head coach Luke Fickell said he expects nothing short of greatness from his senior leader this season.
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"He came back for a reason," said Fickell, who is also entering his fifth season at the helm of the Bearcats' program. "Not just to throw the ball better, not just to play more college football games, he came back to hone his leadership skills too. If you're ever going to go on in this game, especially at that position, if they don't really believe that you can be the alpha and the leader of the locker room, it's going to be really, really hard to think that you can run a next-level program. It's no different here. I just think another year of that gives him an opportunity to be that much further along. Yes, throwing the ball. Yes, understand football. But the unique things that you have to do about running a locker room and being that guy."
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Ridder, who was a team captain during the Bearcats' 9-1 2020 season, said after the team's first practice of fall camp Friday at the Higher Ground Conference and Retreat Center that he feels much more calm heading into his final year.
"I would just say I'm a lot more mature," he said. "When I say that I just think I'm able to slow things down a lot easier. When I get out there on the field, just making the game come to me instead of having everything go so fast in your head."
Some of that maturity is due to Ridder becoming a father in the spring. Ridder and his longtime girlfriend, Claire Cornett, welcomed their first child, a daughter, Leighton Elizabeth, in April.
Four months later, as Ridder has also balanced working out with renowned quarterback trainer Jordan Palmer and being one of the select few quarterbacks invited to participate in the Manning Passing Academy in June, the 21-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, native is still finding his way around fatherhood.
"I don't know if changing diapers or anything has done anything out here for me yet," Ridder said with a laugh. "No, but just being a leader, taking control, because, you know, we've got a lot of young guys out here. We've got six quarterbacks. The youngest one might be like three years younger than me. So just taking control of them and making sure their on a good path once I leave here and even during my time here."
Ridder, who was named the AAC Rookie of the Year in 2018, had a relatively down season statistically in 2019. After throwing for 2,296 yards and 19 touchdowns against six interceptions and rushing for 592 yards and 12 more scores in 2020, the most rushing touchdowns by an FBS quarterback last season, Ridder is on the preseason watch lists for the Manning Award, CFPA National Performer of the Year, Davey O'Brien Award, Maxwell Award and is one of the Walter Camp Football Foundation Player of the Year players to watch.
It remains to be seen how Ridder will perform with all of college football watching him.
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"Time will tell," Fickell said. "I think he learned a lot from that sophomore year. I know he did but I hope it carries over, meaning sophomore year, you have that great freshman year and a lot of things are thrown on you. ... For him, I think he even put too much pressure onto himself and then maybe didn't have the sophomore year that he wanted. I think he learned a lot from that. He can handle all those other things, but it really comes down to what's he going to put onto himself and how he's going to be able handle those things that he has within him."
The preseason AP Top 25 poll will be released at noon on Monday.
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