CINCINNATI (AP) — Sixth-ranked Utah owns the nation's longest active winning streak and sits atop the Big 12 standings following last week's win over No. 18 Houston. Cincinnati, the Utes' next opponent, handed Texas Tech its first loss of the season in dominant fashion last week.
That's the cautionary tale Utes coach Morgan Scalley sent to his players ahead of Saturday's game.
“You get teams that have unbelievable wins, emotional wins, and then the next
week you have the letdown effect,” Scalley said. “We’re just going to continue to preach that every game is a championship game because it’s hard to win. We have a great team in Cincinnati that we’re facing. They just beat a top-10 program in the country, Texas Tech and now they're hosting another one."
The Utes are 7-0 for the first time since 2010 and the ninth time in program history. They have won 13 straight games dating to 2025, the longest active streak in FBS and Utah's longest since it won 16 straight from Dec. 20, 2007, to Sept. 12, 2009. Utah has won nine straight Big 12 games.
“Utah's been one of the best teams in our league the last two years,” Bearcats coach Scott Satterfield said. “This is a solid team. I think certainly worthy of a top 10 ranking, so a big challenge for us. We have to come out and have a great week of practice to get ready to go.”
Cincinnati (5-2, 2-2) is coming off the most impressive win in Satterfield's four seasons at the helm, beating then-No. 8 Texas Tech 37-24 after leading 24-6 at halftime. The Bearcats rushed for 255 yards, marking the fifth time they've rushed for more than 225 yards this season. JC French IV had a career-high four TD passes.
“Their offense is humming right now,” Scalley said. “So another game where we’re going to have to be really stout up front. Coach Satterfield did a great job bringing in a new quarterback and getting him going. He’s efficient. They don’t turn the ball over. They’re playing with confidence.”
The Utes (7-0, 4-0) are led by multi-faceted QB Devon Dampier, who ranks third in the Big 12 in completion percentage and fourth in the league with 15 touchdown passes. Dampier has rushed for 348 yards and five TDs, including 150 yards and two TDs on the ground in the Houston win.
The Utes will need to be efficient on offense against a Bearcats defense that forced three turnovers and had four sacks in the win over Texas Tech.
“We can’t turn the ball over," Scalley said. “There’s them taking the ball away and then there’s us turning it over just with bad decision-making. When teams are playing ranked teams, they’re going to bring it. They're going to be more excited. We just have to be us.”
Bearcats running back Cole Tabb leads the Big 12 with 9.6-yard average and has rushed for 621 yards and nine touchdowns. He had 575 rushing yards and three TDs in two seasons combined at Stanford before transferring to Cincinnati.
“You don’t really know what you’re getting with some of these (transfers)," Satterfield said. "You’re vetting them, you’re looking at their film. Cole was a guy you saw some big play capabilities there, but you don’t really know how it’s going to fit. He can run and he's such a smart player. It's just been a really good fit for us, and our offense.”
The Bearcats have four wins over AP top-10 opponents in the past 45 seasons. If they beat Utah on Saturday, the Bearcats would be the first unranked team to defeat top-10 opponents in consecutive weeks since South Carolina in 2022. Cincinnati hasn't had two straight wins over ranked opponents since 2008.
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