No. 25 Cincinnati will try to remain in contention for an AAC title game appearance when it travels to Temple on Saturday afternoon. The Bearcats have won eight of their nine games since opening the season with a narrow loss at Arkansas. Temple has lost five of its last six games, including a 43-36 loss at Houston last week.
Cincinnati opened the season with College Football Playoff aspirations, but those were essentially dashed in a 31-24 loss to then-No. 19 Arkansas in Week 1. The Bearcats have not let that loss define their season, though, as they have won eight of their nine games since then. Their only other loss came at UCF at the end of October in a 25-21 final. They now find themselves tied with the UCF and Tulane atop the AAC standings—Cincinnati will face the Green Wave next Friday afternoon. The Bearcats have been playing well in November throughout head coach Luke Fickell’s tenure, going 18-4 during that stretch.
???? ???????? // Final regular season road game.
?? Temple
?? Saturday, November 19th
? 4PM
?? Lincoln Financial Field
?? ESPNU pic.twitter.com/VzDkUFQgDe— Cincinnati Football (@GoBearcatsFB) November 14, 2022
They did not put together a pretty performance in the win over East Carolina, as quarterback Ben Bryant completed just 14 of 30 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns. Cincinnati did enough to escape with a win, though, as a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown certainly helped. The Bearcats are going to be confident entering this matchup, as they blew out Temple in a 52-3 final last season. Their last trip to Philadelphia ended with a 24-17 overtime loss in 2018, though. Bryant has completed 61.9% of his passes for 2,602 yards, 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions this year. Senior running back Charles McClelland leads the rushing attack with 766 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 6.2 yards per attempt.