<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=44h1YA_0vj0Bd1K00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=44h1YA_0vj0Bd1K00" width="1763" height="1175" ><figcaption>Cincinnati linebacker Jonathan Thompson (22) stands in a pregame huddle before the University of Cincinnati Bearcats’ game against the Houston Cougars on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024 at Nippert Stadium. The Bearcats defeated the cougars 34-0. Maylea Salmon I Chief Photographer</figcaption></figure>The Cincinnati Bearcats entered conference play hungry for a victory. Now in their second year of Big 12 play, the Bearcats had only seen one conference win, coming last year on November 11, against the Houston Cougars.The Bearcats repeated the same success in this game, this time taking the victory decisively 34-0.Throughout the game, Cincinnati saw many high spots and overall looked like a team that is much stronger than what we have seen through the first three weeks of football.<h2>The Good</h2>The Bearcats saw success in all three phases of the game, looking strong offensively, defensively, and on special teams.Starting with the offense, the Bearcats saw great success, starting on their second offensive drive of the game. With good field position the Bearcats immediately got to work scoring in three plays on a Brendan Sorsby pass to Xzavier Henderson in the corner of the endzone. From there, the red and black continued, stringing together three scores; two touchdowns and a field goal to go into the half with a 24 to nothing lead.This offense saw so many high spots. Great play especially coming from redshirt sophomore quarterback Brendan Sorsby who went 12-15 on passes, 188 yards through the air, two touchdowns passing and one touchdown rushing. Sorsby also has yet to throw an interception, having currently attempted 118 passes, all to the correct team, an amount that’s good for best in the country.The ground success continued too with running back Corey Kiner scoring with 78 yards on the ground. In the receiving game, Xzavier Henderson recorded two scores as well as 34 yards. The yards leader however was Sterling Berkhalter, a breakout wide receiver. Berkhalter adds depth to an already strong receiving unit for the Bearcats.The offense, however, was supplemented by a stand-out defensive day for the Cincinnati unit. A group that throughout the season has been somewhat inconsistent in their coverage allowing a combined 62 points from the Bearcats previous three opponents and giving up 1,316 yards combined.In this game though, the defense allowed 0 points, pitching a shutout their first since 2018 and the first time any power four team has been shutout this season. The Cats were also strong in the turnover game, forcing two fumbles as well as picking up an interception.The special team’s unit also continued to be consistent, seeing success from Bearcats kicker Nathan Hawks who earned the starting job against Miami last week and continued to prove why he deserves it this week. Hawks booted through two, one from 46 and one from 34.<h2>The Not So Good</h2>In a 34-0 shutout there really isn’t that much to complain about, but the Bearcats still weren’t perfect.Looking at the defense, while not allowing any point they allowed Houston 233 yards overall, most of those coming on the ground. The Cats also got somewhat lucky with Houston’s one redzone trip ending in a missed field goal protecting the shutout.While the secondary has continued to improve every week, they still aren’t perfect, especially allowing chunk plays. The unit let up 92 yards, most of those coming on two big plays from Houston wide receivers. Plays of 52 and 16 were let up but this still is an improvement. The only other gripe could be somewhat poor game management. In a very strong game from all three phases of the game this really didn’t matter. There wasn’t much of an impact on the game, but had the game been closer this could have been more of an issue. I think that timeouts weren’t used effectively and were called at poor times one sticking out to me was on a Houston third and long a timeout was used towards the end of the play clock.Definitely a minor issue, but it’s the small things that win the big games.Overall, this team looked great. A lot better than the product we saw on the field the past three weeks, and it really looks like they are starting to gel as a unit. If the team continues to be successful like they were in this game the future of the season is very bright.They will have a lot more challenges going forward, and competition will be a little more difficult than Houston but the showing they put on should give everyone hope for how they can finish this season out.Cincinnati will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 8:00 p.m.</div></body>

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Takeaways from Cincinnati’s 34-0 win against Houston

The Cincinnati Bearcats entered conference play hungry for a victory. Now in their second year of Big 12 play, the Bearcats had only seen one conference win, coming last year on November 11, against the Houston Cougars. The Bearcats repeated the same success in this game, this time taking the...