Final Huddle: Cincinnati Survives 27-21 at Pitt Behind Strong Pass Rush

Cincinnati won Scott Satterfield's first road game.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Sep 9, 2023 10:37 PM EDT

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CINCINNATI — Cincinnati is off to a great start in the Scott Satterfield era with a 27-21 win over Pittsburgh to move to 2-0 on the season. Corey Kiner posted a career-high 153 yards on 20 carries to drive the victory in a run-heavy day from UC.

The Bearcats defense hounded Pitt quarterback Phil Jurkovec (10-of-32, 179 passing yards, three touchdowns) all night to disjoint the home team and bleed the game away for a UC win.

Pitt gained just 4.3 yards per play and 2.9 yards per carry. It marked the second time in the past two seasons that Pitt's been under three yards per carry.

Cincinnati is now 8-5 all-time in this series.

Blackcats Still Here

Pittsburgh had few answers for Cincinnati's defensive front on a night where they racked up plenty of pressures and eight tackles for loss. Jack Dingle (career-high seven tackles, two tackles for loss) posted a fourth-down sack to help ice the win in the fourth quarter. UC defensive coordinator Bryan Brown had a nice mix of pressure packages ready for his first road outing as UC defensive coordinator.

Jurkovec was running for his life and usually not far as Dontay Corleone (three tackles, one sack, one TFL), Jowon Briggs (four tackles, one sack, two TFLs), Daniel Grzesiak (three tackles, half sack, half TFL) and more combined for a strong road effort.

It ended up as as a career-worst completion percentage for Jurkovec (31%) when throwing at least 20 times.

The secondary played a nice role in that number as Taj Ward forced the game's only turnover to create a scoring drive in the other phase. Cincinnati is performing like a top-30 team as they get ready for Miami (OH) and Oklahoma.

Rush Lanes Reward

Cincinnati's offensive line showed great highs on Saturday night against a perennial threat on the other side. Cincinnati had to lean on the run due to the strong Pitt pass rush and it worked out with Kiner leading the way.

He told me multiple times this week how the line is doing the work and he is just executing. It looked like that to an extent on Saturday. Kiner definitely created some yards on his own, but the offensive line made up for a bad pass-blocking outing with some road grading on big run plays.

The lead back tallied a career-long 68-yard run to set up a score.

Satterfield has built his offense around consistent run games with a few big pass plays working off that. Saturday was an example, as Jones's wonderful 21-yard touchdown to Braden Smith ended up the difference on Saturday.

Pitt Pass Rush Pounces

Cincinnati leaned on the run in the second half as Pitt's vaunted pass rush wore down that part of the offensive line. Cincinnati threw 26 passes to 42 runs as Pitt produced two sacks, eight QB hits, and six tackles for loss.

Cincinnati worked the clock and ground down the game after going up 27-7 with just enough to win, but the pressure was palpable. It constricted the second-half playcalling and required some great plays to hang on. Jones directly threw his first interception as a Bearcat because of pressure off the left edge of the line.

Still, the opening script gave Cincinnati enough leeway to etch a W.

Jones did a nice job producing positive yards from some tough situations. His athleticism and some nice playcalling in key moments got UC across the finish line.

Cincinnati welcomes the RedHawks for Nipp at Nite next Saturday at 7 p.m ET.

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