No. 25 Cincinnati controls its destiny, or at least its path to the the Big 12 championship game.
If the Bearcats finish the last three weeks of the regular season with wins against Arizona, BYU and TCU, they’ll be in the conference title game.
The first challenge for Cincinnati (7-2, 5-1 Big 12) is Saturday at home against Arizona (6-3, 3-3).
The Wildcats have won their last two games against Colorado and Kansas after losing in double-overtime at home against BYU and falling short at Houston on a last-second field goal.
Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield is especially concerned about Arizona’s defense.
The Wildcats rank third in the Big 12 in total defense, allowing 302 yards per game. Their pass defense is second in the league at 160.1 yards allowed per game, close behind leader Utah (156.8).
In Cincinnati’s last game before its bye week, the Bearcats lost 45-14 at Utah. Brendan Sorsby struggled, completing 11 of 33 attempts for 221 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
“Everybody has to go out and execute at a high level,” Satterfield said. “When you’re playing really good defenses like Arizona’s, you have to execute. If one or two guys are not executing, then you’re going to have a much more difficult time moving the football.
“We’ve seen that from Arizona over this season, they do some great things on defense and shut down a lot of good offenses.”
Arizona coach Brent Brennan is equally impressed with Cincinnati’s offensive execution with Sorsby at quarterback.
Sorsby has the second-highest efficiency rating in the conference at 161.5. Sorsby has completed 144 of 237 pass attempts for 2,064 yards with 21 touchdowns and only two interceptions.
“The quarterback is the best quarterback we’ve seen so far,” Brennan said. “He’s a really, really clean passer, and he’s extremely athletic.
“This is the most team speed I think we’ve seen. … It is what we think is best football team we have played this year.”
Brennan added that Cincinnati receiver Cyrus Allen “is the best receiver we’ve played against.” Allen leads the Big 12 with 10 receiving touchdowns. He has 36 catches for 514 yards, an average of 14.3 yards per reception.
Cincinnati running back Evan Pryor, who missed the Utah game with an ankle injury, is questionable to play against Arizona. Pryor has rushed for 478 yards on 66 carries with three touchdowns.
“We’ll see where we’re at by the end of the week, but he’s making great improvement,” Satterfield said.
Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita enters the game with the opportunity to break the program record for the most career touchdowns in program history. His 67 touchdowns match the record held by Nick Foles and Willie Tuitama.
Fifita has completed 182 of 285 pass attempts this season for 2,200 yards with 23 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Ismail Mahdi leads Arizona in rushing with 597 yards on 88 carries.
Quincy Craig, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, produced the game-winning 24-yard touchdown run with 39 seconds left last week in the 24-20 win over Kansas.
–Field Level Media
