Don’t Write Off Cincinnati After Disappointing Win Over Bowling Green
BY KEEGAN NICKOSON | BEARCAT JOURNAL
No, it wasn’t pretty. Yes, you have the right to be concerned. But Saturday’s game should not seal the deal about this Cincinnati team not being as good as many thought they could be before the season.
The Bearcats picked up their first win of the season Saturday evening against Bowling Green, prevailing 34-20. Brendan Sorsby got the passing game going after delivering a dud against Nebraska in Week 1. However, the defense seen against the Cornhuskers must not have come back from Kansas City.
Bowling Green quarterback Drew Pyne completed 29 of 36 passes for 274 yards and a score. He took advantage of relatively large holes in the defensive backfield and marched the ball downfield drive after drive.
“He’s seen every defense known to man,” Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield said of Pyne. “He’s played a lot of ball at a lot of different places. You could tell he had poise; he was calm. Nothing rattled him. Even when we got some pressure on, he still sat there and made the proper throws. He was doing an excellent job of finding the little holes that we had in the defense.”
The Bearcats were a pass interference call on third down and a blown coverage away from winning 34-6, but a veteran, accurate quarterback took what the defense gave him and capitalized on their mistakes. Furthermore, the Bearcats were down their second cornerback, Logan Wilson, who did not dress, and Dontay Corleone for the entire second half after leaving the game with a lower-body injury.
Corleone’s impact on the defense has been evident through the first two weeks. Bowling Green moved the football through the air much more easily in the second half, almost doubling its yardage and completing 15 of 16 pass attempts.
Offensively, Saturday’s game was a confidence builder. Sorsby and company were cruising in the first half, scoring on three of five drives, giving the Bearcats’ quarterback enough comfort to shimmy his shoulders to “Teach Me How to Dougie” playing over the loudspeakers while he waited for the first snap of a drive.
Everything fans were hoping to see against Nebraska was on display against Bowling Green. Cyrus Allen showed his elite speed, beating a Bowling Green defender down the sideline and hauling in a deep ball from Sorsby for a 44-yard touchdown.
Jeff Caldwell was a freak in the spring, Bruce Feldman called him a freak in August, and he looked like a freak Saturday. His one-handed grab down the sideline was one of the better catches I’ve seen in my professional career, rivaling Braden Smith’s over-the-shoulder touchdown catch at Pitt in 2023. I’ve also never seen someone reach the ball across the goal line from three yards out, then simply burn a corner on a post for 39 yards.
Joe Royer made plays when the ball was in his hands, catching two passes for 104 yards and surpassing the 100-yard mark for the first time in his career.
“It was nice to be able to throw a forward pass this week,” Sorsby told reporters after Saturday’s game. “It was probably a little bit more exciting for the fans, too. The goal coming into the week was getting our passing game going.
“We have the weapons and I believe in myself. Really, at the end of the day, it was just about executing, and I think we did a good job of that today.”
“He had a chip on his shoulder after the loss we took from Nebraska. I knew he was gonna be ready. He had already told us, ‘Be ready, I’m going to throw the ball.'”
The Bearcats led 24-3 before Evan Pryor’s fumble shifted the momentum for the Falcons. Two plays later, Bowling Green scored on a 31-yard pass play. The team that had been a thorn in the side of Power Four teams last year, nearly beating both Texas A&M and Penn State, proved to have the same abilities and mindset in the 2025 season.
A narrow win over Bowling Green, despite a poor game, didn’t doom Penn State. While fans called for James Franklin’s job, the Nittany Lions ended up in the College Football Playoff. Texas A&M finished 8-5 in the toughest conference in college football and won four straight conference games, including wins over a ranked Missouri team and LSU.
Yes, if Dontay Corleone is to miss extended time with his injury, start to temper your expectations. The dynamic of Tyson Veidt’s group is completely different without him on the field, and he’s playing the best football of his career. But to make absolutes about a team that didn’t put forth its best display when it was down two excellent defensive players seems unfair.
At least let this Bearcats team fall flat in conference play before writing them off.