Sooners prove to be a cut above Big 12 newcomers Cincinnati

Michael Cohen

College Football and College Basketball Writer

CINCINNATI — The pomp and circumstance surrounding Cincinnati’s indoctrination to Big 12 football began long before dawn on Saturday. Students with painted chests, hand-drawn signs and the remnants of last night’s liquid courage flooded to Bearcat Commons on the west side of Nippert Stadium for what could only be viewed as a watershed moment regardless of the impending result against No. 16 Oklahoma.

For 10 long seasons, the Bearcats had toiled in the oft-discarded American Athletic Conference following the collapse of the old Big East. They won a share of the league title under head coach Tommy Tuberville in 2014 and proved they were better than everyone else when Luke Fickell, now in charge at Wisconsin, assumed control three seasons later. It was Fickell who elevated Cincinnati and every non-Power 5 school to new heights by winning 53 games in five seasons and leading the Bearcats to the College Football Playoff — a feat that seemed all but impossible until, suddenly, it wasn’t.

All that winning and all those conference championships finally paid off on June 10, 2022, when Cincinnati reached a deal to exit the American in pursuit of the greener — and greenbacked — pastures of the Big 12. Entry to a Power 5 conference granted the Bearcats a level of prestige they yearned for after a decade on the outside looking in. In addition to earning more money through a better television deal, they’d also have a cleaner path to the College Football Playoff.

But a date with traditional conference powerhouse Oklahoma illustrated to head coach Scott Satterfield and the 38,193 fans in attendance that simply gaining entry to the Power 5 doesn’t guarantee success. There are levels to college football, and everything about Saturday’s lopsided 20-6 rout proved the Sooners are a cut above the newcomers.

Here are some quick takeaways from the game:

Player of the game

A tremendous start to the season for quarterback Dillon Gabriel continued when he completed 26 of 38 passes for 322 yards and a touchdown in a measured performance against a Cincinnati defense that entered the weekend ranked among the top 50 nationally. He also added 25 rushing yards and an additional score with his legs.

Consecutive blowouts over Arkansas State (73-0), Southern Methodist (28-11) and Tulsa (66-17) inflated Gabriel’s completion rate to a national-best 82.5% as the Sooners feasted on overmatched defenses with inferior athletes across the board. But Gabriel maintained his poise and composure against a group of Bearcats that were tied for second in the Big 12 in sacks by flashing the kind of sound decision-making that has Oklahoma fans giddy about what this season has in store. He never misfired on more than two consecutive passes on Saturday and put together two strings in excess of eight straight completions.

Gabriel’s 1-yard rushing touchdown was an equally impressive display of toughness as he plowed through two defenders who first contacted him more than six feet from the goal line. He later converted a critical fourth-and-1 with a successful option keeper.

Highlights: Check out the best plays from Oklahoma vs. Cincinnati

Play of the game

Trailing 20-6 near the midway point of the fourth quarter, Cincinnati quarterback Emory Jones knew his team was desperate. He’d progressed the Bearcats from their own 25-yard line into Oklahoma territory with a series of scrambles that, in truth, represented some of the most effective offensive gains of the afternoon. And Satterfield kept him on the field facing fourth-and-2 from the OU 40.

Facing immediate pressure, Jones heaved a ball downfield with a Sooner clinging to his feet around the line of scrimmage. Jones’ pass caromed off the hands of intended receiver Evan Prater and off the hands of another Bearcat running a deeper pattern downfield. The second deflection gave Oklahoma strong safety Billy Bowman an opportunity to tip the ball to himself for a lunging interception.

It was at that moment when scores of fans began pouring out of Nippert Stadium.

Turning point of the game

The packed crowd at Nippert Stadium was hungry for any and every opportunity to explode on what they hoped would be a celebratory day for the Bearcats. A career-long 54-yard field goal by Cincinnati kicker Carter Brown gave the impassioned fans a glimmer of hope when the home team pulled within 10-6 early in the third quarter. The decibels amplified when Oklahoma’s offense took the field on the ensuing possession.

But just as any legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate would, Gabriel silenced the home fans by orchestrating a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that culminated with his bludgeoning rushing score. Gabriel was responsible for 39 of those yards by mixing quarterback runs with timely passes, and he also drew the critical 15-yard penalty that pushed the Sooners to midfield.

When he finally plunged across the goal line with 5:23 remaining, nearly everyone in attendance knew the game was out of reach for a suspect Cincinnati offense that never reached the end zone.

Key stat

The difference in Saturday’s game can be boiled down to fourth-down conversions and red-zone success rate.

Oklahoma’s defense stymied the Bearcats on three consecutive fourth-down attempts in the third and fourth quarters to kill a series of drives that ventured into Sooners’ territory. They stopped Cincinnati at the 20-yard line, the 26-yard line and the 41-yard line to snuff out three legitimate scoring chances on drives that gained 130 combined yards but produced zero points.

And Oklahoma displayed ruthless efficiency in the red zone by scoring four times in five attempts, two of which produced touchdowns.

What’s next for Oklahoma?

Four straight wins to begin the season have positioned the Sooners just two weeks shy of an unblemished first half of their schedule before a bye on Oct. 14. They’ll return home next weekend to host a middling Iowa State team that entered Week 4 having lost consecutive games to archrival Iowa and then Ohio of the Mid-American Conference, with the latter pulling a stunning home upset last Saturday. Now the stumbling Cyclones are the only team standing between Oklahoma and what could be a seismic matchup against No. 3 Texas in this year’s edition of the Red River Showdown.

What’s next for Cincinnati?

After back-to-back losses against Miami (Ohio) and Oklahoma, the Bearcats will get another difficult taste of what life in the Big 12 is like with a trip to Brigham Young next weekend. Not only will the game begin at 10:15 p.m. ET — a highly unusual start time for Cincinnati — but it will also be played at an elevation of 4,553 feet, which is just another variable for Satterfield and his staff to consider. A bounce-back performance would do wonders for the Bearcats to avoid entering their Oct. 7 bye week on a three-game losing skid.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.

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