Cincinnati Bearcats Football

The Cincinnati Bearcats are right in the middle of the College Football Playoff race at No. 6 after the release of the initial rankings on Tuesday, but some were surprised to see them below No. 2 Alabama, No. 4 Oregon and No. 5 Ohio State.

Those three teams all have a loss while the undefeated Bearcats remain undefeated, but CFP chairman Gary Barta told reporters the selection committee still respects the American Athletic Conference team.

"The committee has great respect for Cincinnati," he said. "The win at Notre Dame is really impressive. When you look at their schedule after that, who else did they beat? That was the question."

While the Bearcats are on the outside looking in when it comes to the top four, Tuesday's release was also just the first set of rankings. 

They still have a golden opportunity to become the first Group of Five team to make the CFP, and the win at Notre Dame that Barta mentioned is a primary reason why. Cincinnati was in full control for much of that contest and survived a late challenge from the Fighting Irish, who checked in at No. 10 following wins over Virginia Tech, USC and North Carolina.

If Notre Dame continues to win, that victory will only look better in retrospect for Luke Fickell's squad.

The Bearcats would be better positioned, though, if Indiana lived up to expectations. The Hoosiers lost just one regular season game in 2020 to Ohio State and had high expectations coming into the 2021 campaign but are just 2-6 at this point.

Cincinnati's win over Indiana is not carrying nearly as much weight as was expected and is surely one reason why its strength of schedule is ranked 100th by ESPN.

There is still a pathway for the Bearcats to reach the CFP considering No. 1 Georgia could play No. 2 Alabama in the SEC title game, No. 5 Ohio State still plays No. 3 Michigan State and No. 7 Michigan, and No. 4 Oregon has potentially challenging road games against Washington and Utah remaining on the schedule.

That means a number of potential losses remain for the top contenders, and the Bearcats could move up if they keep winning.

They are also ahead of undefeated Oklahoma and Wake Forest, which might ultimately be more important than whether they are behind teams that still have to play each other.            

Cincinnati knows it.

In fact, everybody knows it.

For the Bearcats to make the College Football Playoff, they must go above and beyond. They must convince the College Football Playoff selection committee, which has made it clear it does not much care for teams outside of Power Five conferences, that it can't omit them this time around.

The Bearcats must leave no doubt, and that seems like an almost impossible task. Perhaps most importantly, they must get some help.

That help has steadily trickled in as the losses for other teams have mounted. Last week it was No. 1 Alabama falling to Texas A&M. This Saturday, No. 2 Iowa fell at home to Purdue.

Everything that needs to happen for Cincinnati to make the College Football Playoff is happening.

Iowa's loss means Cincinnati will likely climb up yet another spot. And because Iowa was dominated at home, we might as well pull them from playoff consideration. One less team to worry about.

All of this is terrible news for teams still on Cincinnati's schedule.

On Saturday, that team was Central Florida.

While the matchup between these two programs was a thriller a season ago, that was not the case this year. The Bearcats mauled the Knights 56-21, limiting a once-potent offense to less than 300 total yards.

If there was any doubt about how Luke Fickell's team would fare in one of the "tougher" games remaining on its schedule—and at this point it's hard to see how doubt will creep in—the answer was a convincing one.

The primary source of offense wasn't quarterback Desmond Ridder, who has wiggled his way into the Heisman conversation. Instead, it was running back Jerome Ford—someone who should be appreciated far more than he is—who finished with 189 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

In many ways, Ford's performance is synonymous with Cincinnati's season. Overpowering and unrelenting. Constant and inevitable.

It's not just about the win. It's about the score and a sustained level of dominance. From this point forward, expect the score to be lopsided in just about every game Cincinnati plays.  For this team to make the playoff, it cannot sit on the ball with a lead. It has to turn victories into blowouts and blowouts into laughers.

Meanwhile, the losses have piled up around them. Chaos has been served weekly this season—the kind of season necessary for a Group of Five team to crash the CFB Playoff party—and Cincinnati has answered by bulldozing most everything in its path.

The Bearcats entered Saturday at No. 3 in the AP Poll, which is not normal placement for a team outside the Power Five. Although the playoff field won't be decided for some time, the fact that Cincinnati has climbed the AP Poll this quickly speaks to the Bearcats' play and the carnage this college football season has generated. 

At 6-0, Cincinnati has wins over Indiana and Notre Dame. Both of those games were played on the road. While the Hoosiers are nowhere near the team they were a season ago, a double-digit win over the Irish in the back pocket could be quite meaningful come playoff time.

Still, the schedule has a ceiling. The remaining games simply don't pack the same punch as what many other playoff hopefuls have in front of them.

Cincinnati still plays at Navy, at Tulane and at East Carolina. The Bearcats will be sizable favorites in all three of those games (obviously). The Bearcats' most meaningful remaining regular-season game is a home contest against SMU at the end of November.

The Mustangs are unbeaten, and they have wiggled their way into the AP Top 25. Still, Cincinnati will be a sizable favorite here and in every game on the horizon.

Even in a season where madness is the only constant, it's hard to find the loss. This is a team with incredible balance, having entered Saturday with the nation's No. 2 scoring defense and the nation's No. 9 scoring offense.

And sure, the competition plays a role in that, but the point is inescapable.

At what point will the losses around Cincinnati become so pronounced that the College Football Playoff selection committee finally, once and for all, rewards a Group of Five team?

If it's going to happen under the current playoff format, this feels like the year. While the arguments over the schedule will persist up until the moment the four-team field is decided, Cincinnati is making this discussion less controversial each week.

Years from now, the conversation will be different. For starters, Cincinnati will eventually play a Big 12 schedule and be treated much differently by the committee—assuming it still exists. The playoff will eventually expand to eight or 12 teams, giving others outside major conferences a legitimate crack at crashing the party.

For now, however, that exercise has proved to be impossible. A perfect regular season for the Bearcats last year wasn't enough. Although in truth, that team wasn't this good.

Something more than perfection will be required. Cincinnati will have to continue to blow teams out and cruise in the American Athletic Conference.

And yes, it might need more help. With so many more meaningful games to be played by College Football Playoff contenders, that help is likely to come. Whether it'll be enough for Cincinnati to finally break through will be determined in the next few months.

For now, we know this: The Bearcats are good. No, really good. They belong.

With Iowa's loss on Sunday, they will likely be ranked behind only Georgia in the AP Poll. That's it.

Cincinnati has put itself in a position to crash a party no program like it has ever crashed—a party many are still hoping it doesn't attend.

The deck is still stacked against them. The Bearcats know that. As such, good luck to everyone standing in their path.

The No. 7 Cincinnati Bearcats jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead before defeating the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 24-13 on Saturday.

After the game, Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell noted how important the road victory was to his team's College Football Playoff hopes, per ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.

We've been pretty successful in the last few years, but we have not beat a top-10 program or a top-five program. For us to do that today on the road is a big step for us. It'll bring some other things that we've got to be able to handle, some maybe notoriety of some things that our kids will be able to handle. But everything that's been thrown at them so far, they've done a really, really good job of [handling], and I would expect nothing less.

As Rittenberg noted, Fickell was alluding to more talk about the Bearcats' postseason resume, adding that was for "[the media] to go ahead and get the ball going."

Cincinnati appears set for a top-six ranking at worst in the next Associated Press poll. The No. 3 Oregon Ducks lost 31-24 in overtime to unranked Stanford, and the Bearcats seem destined to overtake them at the very least.

Of course, the official College Football Playoff rankings are what matter the most. The first set is slated for release on Tuesday, Nov. 2.

A win on the road over Notre Dame should be a big positive on Cincinnati's resume if they're in the playoff discussion in December.

On one hand, the Bearcats could very well win out. Cincinnati doesn't have a Top 25 team remaining on its schedule as the Bearcats gear up for eight American Athletic Conference games. A home showdown with the 5-0 SMU Mustangs on Nov. 20 stands as the toughest remaining test on paper.

On the flip side, the CFP committee could look at the team's weaker strength of schedule and use it as a mark against them when choosing the four eventual playoff teams.

Regardless, the Bearcats came to play Saturday and look fantastic doing so against a Top 10 team. That should certainly leave an imprint in the committee's minds as the season moves along.

No. 7 Cincinnati earned a resume-boosting win, topping No. 9 Notre Dame on the road 24-13. It was Cincinnati's first road win over a Top 10 team in program history.

The Bearcats were led by Desmond Ridder, who threw two touchdowns and ran for another late in the fourth quarter that proved to be the dagger.

DESMOND RIDDER SILENCES SOUTH BEND 🤫 https://t.co/XdyLAEtKNo

— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) October 2, 2021

The Irish had trouble getting going against the Cincinnati defense. Starting quarterback Jack Coan was pulled from the game after halftime and replaced by Drew Pyne.

With the win, the Bearcats made a strong case for a spot in the College Football Playoff. No Group of Five team has ever finished the season ranked higher than No. 8 since the CFP was established in 2014, despite six teams finishing with undefeated records.

Cincinnati hopes to put an end to that trend this season.

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Notable Performers

Desmond Ridder, QB, CIN: 19-of-32 for 297 YDS, 2 TD; 10 CAR for 26 YDS, TD

Alec Pierce, WR, CIN: 6 receptions for 144 YDS

Drew Pyne, QB, Notre Dame: 9-of-22 for 143 YDS, TD

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Cincinnati Wins Turnover Battle

Entering Saturday's game, Cincinnati had nine takeaways this season. The Bearcats defense continued to make big plays, forcing three turnovers in the first half.

Notre Dame's opening drive reached all the way to Cincinnati's 6-yard line, but it ended when Jack Coan threw an interception to Ahmad Gardner in front of the goal line.

Oh no, Jack Coan https://t.co/DGOOTBooqD

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 2, 2021

Terrible decision by Jack Coan. Throw it away or take a sack. Just cannot make a hopeful throw off balance while getting hit. Sauce Gardner with the pick.

— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) October 2, 2021

Freshman quarterback Tyler Buchner spelled Coan for a couple of series. Buchner took a hit as he attempted his second pass of the day, and it was intercepted by Deshawn Pace, who returned it 27 yards to set up Cincinnati's first touchdown.

Cincinnati’s two potential first-rounders making PLAYS.

First, Sauce Gardner had an interception.

Now, Myjai Sanders pressures Tyler Buchner and forces another pick 🔥https://t.co/uUIcs96KS2

— Boom or Bust: The Draft Show (@BoomOrBustDraft) October 2, 2021

https://twitter.com/GregLogan1/status/1444384859418505222

On the ensuing kickoff after Cincinnati's touchdown, Chris Tyree fumbled the ball, and Wilson Huber recovered it to keep the momentum on the Bearcats' side.

Notre Dame entered the game with just five turnovers this season but made untimely mistakes that proved costly. The Irish did manage to recover a fumble by Ridder in the third quarter that led to a touchdown, but it wasn't enough.

The Bearcats and their opportunistic defense must continue to make big plays if they hope to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff.

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Drew Pyne Sparks Notre Dame

Despite the loss, the Irish may have found a gem in their freshman quarterback. The Notre Dame offense just looked different with Pyne under center. The team looked explosive and played at a higher tempo than when Coan was in the game. The home crowd in South Bend took notice.

The Notre Dame Stadium crowd is all in on Drew Pyne. Fans booed Buchner’s one snap on this drive, cheers when Pyne returns.

— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) October 2, 2021

Pyne engineered two touchdown drives to help the Irish get back into the game. After a Cincinnati fumble in the third quarter, Pyne led the offense down the field, and Kyren Williams punched it in from three yards out.

In the fourth quarter while the game was still in reach, Pyne found Braden Lenzy for a beautiful 32-yard touchdown pass.

Elite connection between Drew Pyne and Braden Lenzy 🍀

We’ve got a game folks. #CFBhttps://t.co/tK8QqrJ9VF

— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 2, 2021

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly will have some decisions to make this week. Coan was solid to start the season but suffered an ankle injury in the third game of the season and looked shaky against Cincinnati. Pyne clearly injects some energy into the Irish offense, and that cannot be ignored for much longer.

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What's Next?

Cincinnati returns home and welcomes Temple to town in the first AAC game of the season. Notre Dame will look to bounce back in a road game against Virginia Tech.

Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell has dismissed rumors linking him with the vacant USC job.

"Look, I don't talk to anybody—I barely talk to my own family during the season," he said Tuesday. "So I wouldn't ever talk about it, nor would I even answer a phone call or anything like that. ... It's nothing but distractions if people allow it to be, and for us it can't be."

Here are Luke Fickell's full comments on the USC head coaching vacancy/chatter: "I wouldn't ever talk about it, nor would I even answer a phone call or anything like that. I know nothing, nor does it make me have any interest." #Bearcats pic.twitter.com/1uDlPnA8eJ

— Justin Williams (@Williams_Justin) September 14, 2021

USC athletic director Mike Bohn announced Monday the Trojans were moving on from Clay Helton. CBSSports.com's Dennis Dodd reported shortly thereafter the program intends to pursue Fickell.

The 48-year-old is one of the more obvious candidates for USC to target.

He worked his way up the ladder at Ohio State to become the co-defensive coordinator and was on the staff for two national championship-winning teams with the Buckeyes. 

At Cincinnati, Fickell inherited a program that went backward under Tommy Tuberville and turned the Bearcats into one of the best teams outside of a Power Five conference. They went 9-1 in 2020 and nearly took down Georgia in the Peach Bowl.

Fickell and Bohn have an existing relationship as well since Bohn was the person who hired Fickell at Cincinnati following the 2016 season.

USC suffered a 42-28 loss to Stanford in its second game, a result that Bohn clearly felt warranted a change in direction. By firing Helton, now, though, the Trojans put a lot of candidates in a precarious spot.

It seems unlikely that any coach who's currently employed will take the USC job in the middle of the season. As a result, anybody who's plausibly in the picture is potentially facing months of Trojans-related questions and speculation.

Fickell has plenty of reasons to stick around at Cincinnati. The Bearcats have quickly become a consistent winner on the gridiron, and their profile is due to climb in the years ahead with the Big 12 formally extending the school an invitation.

In many ways, going to USC would be a step up because it's one of the bigger single brands in college football. But the Pete Carroll era obscured how the Trojans weren't a perennial title contender in the years preceding and following his tenure.

The heights USC enjoyed under Carroll have now created a gap between what many fans expect and what the team can realistically achieve in the short term. It wouldn't be surprising if Fickell didn't want to take that on.

Until Bohn officially announces the Trojans' next head coach, this probably won't be the last time Fickell has to publicly distance himself from the position.

The University of Cincinnati has officially submitted an application to join the Big 12 conference, according to Jason Williams of the Cincinnati Enquirer. 

Shortly after, University of Central Florida followed suit. 

NEWS: #UCF officially submitted its application Wednesday to join the Big 12 Conference, a source within the AAC confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel. @UCFSports had it first. https://t.co/L2TA0iPBEE

— Jason Beede (@therealBeede) September 8, 2021

The Big 12 set up an internal expansion committee to explore a new round of realignment following the departure of Oklahoma and Texas to the Southeastern Conference beginning no later than 2025. Cincinnati, currently a member of the American Athletic Conference, is the first school to officially seek entrance to the Big 12.

Per Williams: 

The Big 12 on Friday is expected to officially announce that UC and three other schools – fellow American Athletic Conference rivals Central Florida and Houston and current independent BYU – will join the conference.

UC President Neville Pinto was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Pinto made it a top priority to lead UC into a major conference after taking over as president in early 2017, and he's shown strong leadership on the issue ever since. 

For UC, all that remains uncertain now is when it will officially start play in the Big 12 and how much money is at stake.

If approved, the Bearcats and Knights would become the conference's first additions since West Virginia and TCU joined in 2012. 

Should the Big 12 approve Cincinnati, it'll be adding a football program that has earned at least nine wins in seven of its last 10 seasons, with bowl game victories over Vanderbilt (2011), Duke (2012), Virginia Tech (2018) and Boston College (2020).

The school's basketball program has also been a mainstay in the NCAA tournament, appearing in the field consecutively from 2011-2019, though it hasn't reached the Sweet Sixteen since 2012 or the Final Four since 1992. 

WIlliams noted the move to the Big 12 will also help the school construct additional athletics facilities, including an indoor practice area for the football program.

The school does already have assets worth touting as it readies for a jump to a Power Five conference.

Per Williams:

UC's top-notch facilities positioned it nicely to make the jump to the Big 12. Credit UC leaders for having the foresight to invest a total of $173 million into overhauling Nippert Stadium and Fifth Third Arena in recent years. Those facilities have the Bearcats ready to compete for Big 12 championships on Day 1 in the conference.

UC finished an $86 million expansion of Nippert Stadium in 2015, adding new suites, club seating and a larger press box. It expanded Nippert's capacity to 40,000 from 35,000. Nippert certainly isn't among the largest stadiums in college football, but the state-of-the-art amenities, upkeep and game-day atmosphere have made it one of the best.

UCF, meanwhile, boasts a surging football program that has won four conference titles since 2013, including undefeated seasons in 2017 and 2018.

How many other schools will attempt to join the Big 12 and how many are eventually accepted remains to be seen.

  

  

UCF, BYU, Cincinnati and Houston are all planning to submit applications to join the Big 12, which is looking to regroup after news emerged that Oklahoma and Texas plan to join the SEC.

Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde and Ross Dellenger broke the news Friday, and ESPN's Adam Rittenberg and Heather Dinich confirmed it as well.

Sports Illustrated reported that the applications are expected to be in next week, and approval could happen as soon as Sept. 10, when the Big 12 presidents are scheduled to meet.

As for how the league structure might work, SI wrote the following:

In this scenario, the four teams will join the league by 2023 or, at the very latest, 2024, and may even compete alongside Oklahoma and Texas before those two powerhouses depart for the SEC, making for a couple of awkward seasons in a 14-team Big 12.

The timeline is fluid and has been described as optimistic, but not unrealistic. Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has even gone on site visits, most recently taking a trip to meet with Houston officials on Thursday.

ESPN also noted that the potential expansion is moving very quickly.

"Things are moving very quickly," a source told ESPN Friday. "There's obvious momentum to get votes to the board."

The ESPN duo previously reported Thursday that the four aforementioned schools had informally contacted the Big 12 about joining.

The Big 12 has found itself in a bind after news emerged of Oklahoma and Texas' impending departures, but the conference was also left out of the newly formed alliance between the Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC.

The SEC will clearly stand alone as the most powerful conference in college sports bar none when Oklahoma and Texas join, although the league has to contend with the alliance, which was formed in response to the SEC's power move.

That left the Big 12 as the lone Power Five conference that hadn't increased its power in some way. The natural move was to add schools, which appears to be moving at warp speed to keep up with the rest of the college sports landscape.

As for when those schools will join, American Athletic Conference members UCF, Houston and Cincinnati's most "realistic timeline" is 2024, per ESPN.

American Athletic Conference bylaws require schools to give a 27-month notice before they leave and pay a $10 million buyout fee. In that scenario, joining by the 2023 season would be a long shot, but an earlier exit and higher buyout could be negotiated. The most realistic timeline, sources said, is 2024.

Sources told ESPN that those three schools have not told the AAC of their intentions.

BYU is an FBS independent but participates in the West Coast Conference for other sports. SI noted that the school must give the league advance notice if its intends to leave.

American Athletic Conference Commissioner Michael Aresco believes the BCS was a better system than the College Football Playoff after negative treatment of Cincinnati in the latest rankings.

Aresco complained about the current system Wednesday on The Paul Finebaum Show:

"I never thought I’d say this but if this continues, let’s bring back the BCS and the computers. Because it would be a fairer system than what I’m seeing now." -AAC commissioner Mike Aresco feels the CFP deck is stacked against his teams pic.twitter.com/4qWqiWZdHM

— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) December 16, 2020

"This is the seventh year [of the CFP], and it does appear the deck is stacked against us and against other [Group of Five teams]," he added, via Mark Schlabach of ESPN.

Cincinnati is 8-0 but dropped from No. 7 to No. 9 in the CFP rankings despite being inactive for two weeks. 

Two-loss teams Florida, Iowa State and Georgia all rank above the Bearcats, with the first two likely having a better chance to reach the playoff if they win a conference title.

Cincinnati's last chance to impress the committee will come Saturday against Tulsa in the AAC title game.

"The eye test has been used over the years by the committee, but they refuse to use it with a team like Cincinnati," Aresco added. "This is a really elite team."

The Bearcats rank fifth in the country with just 15.0 points allowed per game, while the offense ranks 13th with 40.9 points per game.

This isn't the first year the AAC will likely be shut out of the playoff despite having an elite team with a legitimate claim.

UCF had an undefeated record going into the bowl season in both 2017 and 2018, and the Knights beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl in 2017 to finish 13-0. It still wasn't enough to finish within the top four spots according to the committee, preventing any chance to compete for a national title.

Small-conference teams weren't getting much of a chance during the BCS era, but the computer-based system at least created more objectivity in determining a champion.

The American Athletic Conference announced Wednesday that Saturday's scheduled football game between Cincinnati and Temple has been canceled because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within both programs.

Although both Cincinnati and Temple have an open date on Dec. 5, the game will not be scheduled since not enough players would be eligible to play under the AAC's return-to-play protocols. As a result, the game will be ruled a no-contest.

Had the game happened, Cincinnati would have looked to improve its 8-0 record against 1-6 Temple.

In the first set of College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday, Cincinnati came in at No. 7 behind only Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Florida.

The Bearcats are the top team outside the Power Five conferences in the rankings, seven spots ahead of undefeated BYU despite the fact that the Cougars have one more victory than the Bearcats at 9-0.

Of Cincy's eight wins, two of them came against teams that were ranked at the time. They beat then-No. 22 Army 24-10 and then-No. 16 SMU 42-13.

The Bearcats are in the hunt to become the first non-Power Five team in history to be part of the CFP thanks largely to the play of dual-threat junior quarterback Desmond Ridder.

Ridder has thrown for 1,821 yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions, while also rushing for 526 yards and 11 scores.

Cincinnati's game against Temple almost certainly would have been another win for the Bearcats given the Owls' struggles this season, but it would have done little to impress the CFP committee.

The Bearcats will still have opportunities to pad their resume, though, including their next game on Dec. 12 when they face No. 25 Tulsa, who is 5-0 in AAC play and 5-1 overall.

Cincinnati was supposed to play Tulsa earlier in the season, but the game was postponed until Dec. 12 because of positive COVID-19 cases within the Cincinnati program.

With a win over Tulsa and a win the following week in the ACC Championship Game, which could be a rematch against Tulsa, the Bearcats would finish 10-0.

Cincinnati would likely need some help in the form of Clemson, Texas A&M and Florida all suffering a second loss, but a top-four finish in the CFP rankings is not out of the question.

Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell apologized for a fake punt while leading 42-10 during the fourth quarter of Friday night's victory over East Carolina, which he said wasn't called by the sideline.

"We would not want to do it in that situation," Fickell told reporters.

Cincinnati runs a fake punt up 32 in the 4th! 👀 pic.twitter.com/fUJT5ecEza

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 14, 2020

Pirates head coach Mike Houston was asked about his conversation with Fickell after the game, which television cameras showed lasted for nearly a minute.

"I will leave what was said between us," Houston said.

Cincinnati's and East Carolina's head coaches had a lengthy exchange after the Bearcats ran the score up to 55-17 in the final minutes. pic.twitter.com/shmABfqiSD

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 14, 2020

The unexpected 29-yard run by senior linebacker Joel Dublanko was the highlight of a nine-play, 75-yard scoring driving by the Bearcats.

Cincinnati capped its scoring with a 75-yard touchdown run by Cameron Young on its final drive.

The blowout moved the seventh-ranked Bearcats to 7-0, and there's an argument they need to run up the score during the final month of the regular season in order to impress the College Football Playoff selection committee since they don't have any ranked opponents left to play.

Their best wins so far are 24-10 over No. 22 Army in September and 42-13 over No. 16 SMU in October.

That said, there's a difference between trying to score some style points amid a crowded CFP race and running a fake punt while up by 32 points. It sounds like Fickell was just as surprised as everyone else.

East Carolina dropped to 1-6 with its four straight loss.

Both AAC teams are back in action next Saturday. The Bearcats finish the regular season with three straight road games, starting with a visit to the Bounce House to face UCF. The Pirates head to Lincoln Financial Field for a clash with Temple.