Bearcats roll on
Doaks, Ridder help to power unbeaten Cincy past Houston
CINCINNATI — Gerrid Doaks rushed for a career-high 184 yards and one touchdown, Desmond Ridder ran for three scores and threw for another, and No. 6 Cincinnati rolled past Houston 38-10 Saturday.
Doaks ran for the most yards by a Bearcats player since Mike Boone’s 212 in 2014 against South Florida. It was Doaks’ best total since he had 149 onNov. 4, 2017, at Tulane.
Ridder rushed for 103 yards and threw for 162. He has accounted for 13 touchdowns (eight running, five passing) in the past three games.
TheBearcats (6-0,4-0 AmericanAthletic Conference) extended their school-record home winning streak to 18 games.
Doaks found a huge hole on a third-and-1 play in the first quarter and raced 72 yards, setting up his 2-yard touchdown run two plays later.
Doaks had 109 all-purpose yards in the first quarter. He had 11 carries for 166 yards by halftime.
Ridder capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive with a 10-yardTDrun tomake it 14-0 in the second quarter.
Houston (2-3, 2-2) had 187 total yards in the first half, and 65 came on one drive. An acrobatic 34-yard catch by Bryson Smith led toKyle Porter’s 3-yardTDrun to cut the Cougars’ deficit to 14-7.
Cincinnati scored twice in the final two minutes of the first half for a 28-10 lead, starting with Ridder’s 32-yard touchdown run.
A 48-yard run by Doaks led to a 4-yard TD pass from Ridder to tight end Josh Whyle, whomadea leaping catch in the end zone.
Ridder added a 12-yard TD the fourth quarter.
SMUPULLSAWAYFROMTEMPLE: Coaches have a variety of ways to motivate their players. With his team trailing at halftime, SMU’s Sonny Dykes threatened to keep the Mustangs in town a little longer than theywould have hoped.
Following a sluggish start, No. 18 SMU looked as high powered as ever in the second half, dominating undermanned Temple and breaking away for a 47-23 run early in victory Saturday.
Tyler Page, who caught two of Shane Buechele’s four touchdown passes, said Dykes told theMustangs that if they didn’t step it up, “he was going to make us have a practice right there on the field after the game.”
“We responded to that and better second half,” Page said.
The game was pushed back from its original Thursday date while Temple dealt with virus-related issues. The Owls were missing 15 players who were in COVID-19 protocol.
SMU led 20-16 before Buechele connected with Kylen Granson on a 24-yard TD pass on the first play of the fourth quarter.
TheMustangs (7-1, 4-1AmericanAthletic Conference) scored four touchdowns in the first 71⁄ minutes of the period.
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Temple (1-4, 1-4) scored on the first play of the game, with wide receiver Randle Jones going 75 yards on a screen pass from Trad Beatty.
Page, whocameinto the gamefifthonthe Mustangs this year in yards receiving, caught nine passes for 131 yards.
Granson finished with six catches for 149 yards. had a much