Cincinnati took on the Navy Midshipmen of the AAC in the Liberty Bowl on Friday afternoon on ESPN. The Bearcats were coming off an 7-5 campaign under head coach Scott Satterfield, while Navy entered the season with a 10-2 record. Last year, it was a Big 12 vs. SEC match up, with the Arkansas Razorbacks beating the Texas Tech Red Raiders 39-26.
Navy and Cincinnati had met six times, splitting them each with three wins a piece, with their last meeting in 2022 when Cincinnati won 20-10 at home. On Friday afternoon in a rain-soaked Memphis, Tennessee, it was Navy winning 28-7. Here are the top three takeaways from the game.
Cincinnati Missing Too Much
As I was concerned with coming into the game on Friday, the Bearcats were missing everyone from their star quarterback Brendan Sorsby, top two running backs, and most of their starting defense. Both sides of the ball really struggled on Friday. The offense couldn’t get anything going in the passing game, while the running game could not keep pace with Navy’s, led by Alex Tecza.
Cincinnati was outgained 349-239, while being outgained on the ground 241-142, with Navy controlling Time of Possession 34-26.
Navy’s Passing Game Steps Up
While Navy leads the nation in rushing yards per game, it was their passing game that made some big plays to help the Midshipmen win the game on Friday. In the final minute of the first half, quarterback Blake Horvath, after missing a wide-open Brandon Chatman for a touchdown, he connected with Luke Hutchinson for a 30-yard score to put Navy up 14-7 at halftime. And then, Navy got the ball to start the second half and put seven more points on the board. The drive was highlighted by a short pass to Eli Heidenreich, who took it for a 26-yard gain, and then the drive capped off with Horvath finding Heidenreich for a 13-yard score to make it 21-7 Navy. The icing on the cake came in the fourth quarter when Navy went 56 yards in 14 plays, taking nearly eight minutes off the clock, with Tecza scoring from three yards out to make it a 28-7 game.
Big 12 Falls to 4-3 in Bowl Games
After starting of 3-0 in bowl games, the Big 12 is now 4-3 and has lost three of their last four. The Big 12 started off with wins by BYU, Houston and then TCU. But since then, the league has suffered losses by Arizona State, Texas Tech and now Cincinnati, with the only win during that stretch coming from Utah vs. Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl.
The Big 12 has one more chance to finish above .500 this bowl season when Arizona takes on SMU in the Holiday Bowl on Friday night. Granted, as I’ve written for the last few weeks, the Big 12 really needed Texas Tech to make some noise in the College Football Playoff, but we know that didn’t happen with the 23-0 loss to Oregon in the Orange Bowl. So after a hot start, it’s been a rough couple of days for the league as it closes out bowl season.
But hey, at least the Big 12 is doing better than the SEC.
