Filing The Film: Cincinnati Outclasses Miami in 38-17 Victory

Miami was no match for Cincinnati in 126th Battle for the Victory Bell.

Author:
Alex Frank
Updated:
Sep 21, 2022 12:24 PM EDT

In this story:

MACON — Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell always preaches respect when playing the Battle for the Victory Bell. It's one way he always has his team prepared for their biggest rivalry game of the season.

But re-watching the game between Cincinnati and Miami, it was blatantly obvious how much more Cincinnati wanted this game than Miami did. They were more physical, played with more energy—and let's be honest—were just far and away the better team.

Miami looked like they didn't even care. They were kicking off short for whatever reason—as if giving the Bearcats' dynamic offense a short field was a smart idea.

My question is: what's going to happen when the Bearcats join the Big 12? What's the future of this rivalry? The Bearcats are already the superior team—outscoring Miami 143-44 in the previous four meetings. So what will happen the Bearcats are in the Big 12, and their biggest rival is still an inferior MAC team—who looks like they don't even care about the rivalry.

That's both a testament to Miami not winning a game in this series since 2005 (were Blackberrys even out then?) and Luke Fickell taking the Bearcats program to uncharted heights.

Speaking of Fickell, Saturday was his 50th win as UC's head coach. Regardless of being the greatest leader in Bearcats football history, the way he prepares this team every year for the Battle for the Victory Bell is admirable.

This program takes this rivalry very seriously, and they play with tremendous pride each outing. They spend time talking about the game in camp. That's not something they have to do. But it matters to Fickell—and he makes it matter to the players. It clearly showed on Saturday.

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