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Grading The Cats: No-Shows on Offense, Poor Pass Coverage Drive 30-10 Loss to Iowa State

Cincinnati is floundering on a four-game win streak as Baylor awaits next.

CINCINNATI — The Pro Football Focus grades are out for Cincinnati's disastrous 30-10 drubbing at the hands of Iowa State. Offensively, Cincinnati had few decent grades as quarterback Emory Jones led the way with a 69.8 overall grade. Jones, Luke Kandra, and tight end Barak Faulk were the only Bearcats to crack a 60 overall grade on offense (minimum 15 snaps).

Most of Jones's number got powered by a 79.1 rushing grade to just a 57.1 passing grade. His 15 carries for 72 yards were the only consistent thing UC did well on that side of the ball. Passing was a massive issue once again Saturday

Kandra (offensive-line high 61.1 grade) continued his run as UC's best offensive linemen. Not one other offensive linemen graded higher than a 56 overall.

Jones didn't throw the ball well, but his receivers rarely got open and the grades reflected that. Xzavier Henderson (51.3), Donovan Ollie (49.8), and Dee Wiggins (48.9) all struggled mightily against a very strong Iowa State secondary.

Defensively, things looked better as five players graded 70 or better, led by Dorian Jones (83.2) and Dontay Corleone (82.3). The team's 14 pressures actually tied for the second-most this season, although they cashed in for just two sacks.

The top encouraging takeways from the defense was a strong game out of cornerback Justin Harris (70.7, highest since Week 1). Still, the back end is a complete headache right now. Six of the team's eight worst qualified grades belonged to members of the secondary rotation, stamped by a disastrous day from cornerback Jordan Young (52.1).

He's supposed to be UC's top coverage man and he's been anything but stable. Young's game has fallen off a cliff compared to his limited snaps at Florida (57.1 2023 grade, 78.3 grade at Florida in 2022).

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