The 3-2 UCF Knights are back on the road this week with a very tough task against the resurgent Cincinnati Bearcats at Nippert Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon ET (11 a.m. local) and the game will be televised
on FS1.
Let’s learn about the Bearcats:
Gameday Info
- Kickoff: Saturday, October 11th, noon ET
- Location: Nippert Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio
- TV: FS1
- Spread: Cincinnati -10.5 (ESPN)
- Weather: 62°, sunny and nice
Injury Report
Series
Leader: Tied 5-5.
Last Meeting: Last year — Cincinnati 19, UCF 13
This was the game EJ Colson started at QB but Jacurri Brown played most of. Brown finished with 207 yards passing and 84 running, but Brendan Sorsby, who is back this year, overcame two picks to go 25/38 for 241 yards to help Cincy over the top in a slugfest.
Both teams came in at 3-2. UCF would win once more the rest of the year.
Cincinnati was UCF’s first-ever conference victim as a member of the Big 12 when the Knights outlasted the Bearcats last time at Nippert in 2023.
About the Bearcats
Record: 4-1, 2-1 in the Big 12
Last Week: Beat #14 Iowa State, 38-30
The Bearcats handed The Cyclones their first loss of the season by jumping out to a 31-7 lead in the first 30 minutes and snuffing out Iowa State’s second-half comeback.
Sorsby went a modest 13/25 for 214 yards and 2 TDs, plus 64 yards and another TD on the ground. Evan Pryor also ran for 111 yards and two TDs.
Last week was Cincinnati’s first home regular season win against a ranked opponent since they beat then-18th-ranked UCF in 2019. That game was UCF’s first conference loss of any kind since 2016.
Head Coach: Scott Satterfield
Remember him?
Satterfield is in his third FBS coaching gig after Appalachian State (2013-2018) and Louisville (2019-2022). He’s one win away from matching his best win total since coming to the Bearcats. He is 3-1 against UCF, including the infamous pick-six game up at Louisville in 2021 that proved to be the final time Dillon Gabriel took the field as a UCF Knight.
Satterfield hired the late UCF OL coach Shawn Clark at App State in 2016 as his co-offensive coordinator and OL coach. That was the first of three straight seasons that App State won their conference and a bowl game under Satterfield and Clark. It was Clark who took over for Satterfield as interim head coach for the third of those bowl games, and then took over full-time thereafter until coming to UCF this past season.
Scott Satterfield is a first-class dude:
Cincinnati Offense
Key Player: QB Brendan Sorsby
- 6-3, 235 lb. Junior from Denton, Texas, near Dallas
- 2025: 65.9% (87/132), 1257 yards, 12 TDs, 1 INT, 291 rushing yards and 5 TDs
Sorsby is PFF’s most efficient QB this season in all of FBS. His numbers are suspiciously similar to what Jalon Daniels had posted for Kansas coming into last week’s game, and he is on pace to easily eclipse his totals from last year.
Fun fact: Sorsby and UCF’s Tayven Jackson split Indiana’s starting QB duties back in 2023. Jackson started five games after Sorsby got hurt in the opener, and then Sorsby returned to close out the season and then transferred to Cincy for 2024.
Other Guys to Watch
- Leading Rusher: #3 Tawee Walker — 56 rushes, 313 yards, 5.6 yards/rush, 3 TD
- Leading Receiver: #10 Caleb Goodie — 15 catches, 334 yards, 2 TD, 22.3 ypc
Cincinnati Defense
Key Player: LB Jake Golday
- 6-4, 240 Senior from Arlington, Tennessee, outside of Memphis
- 2025: 48 tackles, 3 sacks, one forced fumble
Golday is a problem. He’s massive at 6-4 240, and leads the Bearcats in tackles and sacks. Last year he had 58 tackles total. Not bad for a kid who started at FCS Central Arkansas.
Other Guys to Watch
- #2 Dontay Corleone — 335-pound senior nose tackle with All-American credentials and a legendary name
The More You Know…
- Cincinnati hasn’t recorded a defensive interception this season.
- Cincy is first in the nation in Red Zone Offense (100%), fewest sacks allowed (0.2/game) and second in FBS in yards per play (8.05) and yards per rush (6.58).
- Cincinnati K Stephen Rusnak has made 18 straight field goals.
- UCF is 2-3 all-time at Nippert Stadium.
- Five of the last six games in the series have been decided by a TD or less.
- In Scott Frost’s last trip to Cincinnati, UCF scored 51 points in less than 45 minutes in a storm-shortened 51-23 win, arguably the most explosive offensive performance of the 2017 national championship season. They scored on all eight possessions, including seven TDs, before a thunderstorm resulted in the game being called just before the end of the third quarter. McKenzie Milton threw for 374 yards and 5 TDs on just 16 completions, and Tre’quan Smith scored four TDs:
That was fun. Maybe Saturday can be just as much fun.
