The Cincinnati Bearcats began their season under the bright lights of Arrowhead Stadium. With alum Travis Kelce on the sidelines, Taylor Swift in the box, Scott Satterfield’s team came close to upsetting the Huskers. A 17-20 loss tells the story of a hard-fought contest. Of course, wins get you momentum, but in the Bearcats’ case, the performance in Week 1 did that for them. Next three games? Three wins. And then came the ultimate challenge of No. 14 Iowa State. Cincinnati went on to win the game 38-30. ESPN’s Greg McElroy is rightly awed by Satterfield’s squad.

Defeating Iowa State was no fluke. The Cyclones have been among the favorites to win the conference. But Cincinnati’s offense didn’t care that they were playing a ranked team. At the end of the first quarter, the scorecard read 17-0 to the home team. But the game was won on the line of scrimmage, especially with their run game. Greg McElroy appeared on his October 5th podcast episode and praised Cincinnati’s running game and the job the trenches did.

“This is big. All right. Huge, huge performance by the Bearcats, being able to kind of control the line of scrimmage and gassing Iowa State’s defense for nearly 260 yards on the ground,” said the ESPN analyst. The Bearcats accumulated 264 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, at an impressive average of 8 yards. When you look at Cincinnati’s RB room, it’s easy to understand why.

“You got Evan Pryor, who goes for 111 (yards). You got Tawee Walker, who goes for 89 (yards). Those guys were relentless. I mean, breaking tackles, controlling the line of scrimmage. If you look at the yards per carry numbers for Cincinnati, to average over seven and a half per carry, pretty impressive by not just the running backs, but also the offensive line, because they were probably able to get a bunch of guys to the second and third levels,” said McElroy.

Cincinnati did this to a rush defense that allowed 128 yards per game before Week 6. The Bearcats got more than the double of that.

However, the next games for the team can be challenging against UCF, followed by Baylor, Utah, BYU, and TCU. The teams have the potential to test Cincinnati’s prowess, and if they can win at least 4 out of 5, a playoff berth and a Big 12 championship game spot won’t be too far-fetched. While for now, that may seem too much, the team has everything this year to do just that.

Big 12 championship hopes lie ahead for Scott Satterfield

Against Iowa State, Cincinnati gained a whopping 31-7 lead in the second quarter and was continuously maintaining drives. In the second quarter, the team started the offense with an incredible 55-yard touchdown drive and ended the quarter with another 80-yard touchdown drive. They were also efficient in limiting Iowa State’s third downs, as the Cyclones finished 4/17 on third-down efficiency. That kind of performance is needed to make it to the Big 12 game, and it’s achievable, too.

“I think the Cincinnati teams were legit. I think they were a real deal football team. So, they’re going to be around here throughout the rest of the year,” announced Greg McElroy. Stewart Mandel of The Athletic also predicted that the Bearcats winning the Big 12 won’t be a surprise now. “We’ve got a field storming at Nippert Stadium. Cincinnati, so bad its first two seasons in the Big 12, knocks off No. 14 Iowa State and may well be a title contender,” wrote Mandel after the upset.

Cincinnati under Satterfield has done an incredible job, coming off a 5-win season last year. That was possible by the work the head coach has done through the portal, bringing those high-caliber players. For instance, the receiver room alone was wholly revamped with Jeff Caldwell, Caleb Goodie, Cyrus Allen, and Joe Cotton coming from the portal. Bringing in Tawee Walker was also a revelation as he has dominated the running game so far, and players like Christian Harrison and Matthew McDoom in the secondary are paying off. It sure won’t be a surprise then to see the team in the Big 12 championship game.