Bearcats win 19th straight league contest
DALLAS — Ryan Coe kicked a school-record five field goals, including a season-long 52-yarder, and No. 21 Cincinnati broke up a game-tying two-point play in the closing minutes to hold on for a 29-27 win over SMU on Saturday for its sixth consecutive win.
Charles McClelland and Ryan Montgomery scored on runs of 76 yards and 1 yard for the Bearcats (6-1, 3-0 American), who won their 19th in a row against American Athletic Conference opponents.
Tyler Lavine scored on a 1-yard plunge with 1:57 left to pull SMU (3-4, 1-2) within two, but Preston Stone’s 2-point conversion pass intended for Roderick Daniels Jr. in the near corner of the end zone was incomplete.
Three of the Bearcats’ 14 penalties came on SMU’s last scoring drive, one that negated an interception.
On Cincinnati’s subsequent drive, quarterback Ben Bryant – who sustained a concussion in the fourth quarter of last week’s win against USF – completed a nine-yard pass on third-and-8 to allow the Bearcats to maintain possession for the balance of the game.
“In the gotta-have-it situations, we made the plays, both defensively and offensively,” Bearcats coach Luke Fickell said.
“It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t perfect, but ultimately it was good enough to get the job done,” Cincinnati linebacker Wilson Huber said.
Stone, a redshirt freshman, replaced starter Tanner Mordecai, who left the game and the field late in
the third quarter with an undisclosed injury.
“You prepare for a moment like this,” Stone said. “Felt like I was going out to play little league.”
Coe’s 52-yarder came
with a stiff wind at his back, and his other field goals were from 44, 31, 30 and 25 yards. He’s in his first season at Cincinnati after kicking for Delaware, where he hit from 53
yards. Coe had a 45-yard attempt blocked in the fourth quarter.
“I think I’ve shown enough confidence in practice for them to send me out, and it came to fruition today,” Coe said.
Cincinnati’s Mason Fletcher boomed an 84yard punt with the wind following the Bearcats’ first possession for the longest punt in college football this season and an AAC and school record. The sophomore from Australia made contact at Cincinnati’s 5-yard line. The ball landed at SMU’s 20 and bounced into the end zone for a touchback.
“He is really talented,” Fickell said of Fletcher. “He does nothing but get better each and every week.”
Bryant was 18 for 35 passing for 200 yards. McClelland rushed for 129 yards.
“We put ourselves in position to beat somebody that nobody hardly ever beats in our league and didn’t get it done,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said.