Cincinnati Bearcats Football Secondary Posts Rough PFF Grades Across 30-24 Loss to Arizona

The secondary contributed a lot to Cincinnati's loss on Saturday.

Nov 15, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Brendan Sorsby (2) runs with the ball against the Arizona Wildcats in the second half at Nippert Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bearcats football team dropped its first home game of the 2025 season Saturday, 30-24, to Arizona, and it wasn't as bad a performance by Brendan Sorsby as the box score suggests.

Pro Football Focus released its grades from the game and gave him the benefit of the doubt when it came to multiple drops on Saturday. UC's quarterback was the highest-graded player on the offense with a 75.5 overall grade.

Two big drops hurt his final stat line and Cincinnati's chances to win the contest. The rest of the top five outings went in this order: Deondre Buford (73.6), Tawee Walker (71.9), Cyrus Allen (67.9), and Jeff Caldwell (66.7). Props to Buford for a strong outing; it was his best game since the Iowa State win.

Looking at the bottom, Isaiah Johnson's huge drop left him with a 43.4 overall grade. The rest of the bottom five went in this order: Joe Royer (49.1), Noah Jennings (50.1), Elijah Jones (55.5), and Devyn Zahursky (58.3). Cincinnati has to get better play from its wide receiver unit this week, facing a top-10 EPA/dropback defense in BYU.

Flipping to defense, Cincinnati's top performer was linebacker Jonathan Thompson (77.6). He was all over the field and made multiple key tackles in the game. The rest of the top five went in this order: Brian Simms III (77), Montay Weedon (76), Jake Golday (72.8), and Dontay Corleone (71.9).

It's great to see Corleone looking basically 100% healthy out of the bye week. His ankle injury was lingering as he fought through it in October, but logged a season-high 45 snaps on Saturday.

The secondary got some rough marks in this game, led by Daniel James (36.5), with by far the lowest mark on defense. The rest of the bottom five went in this order: Jiquan Sanks (48.9), Ormanie Arnold (51.2), Kamari Burns (53.2), and Christian Harrison (53.6).

Cincinnati's secondary has to clean things up in pursuit of an upset win at home this week. The Bearcats battle BYU at 8 p.m. ET this Saturday.

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