No. 11 BYU looks to continue its rise up the polls and to secure berths in both the Big 12 title game and the College Football Playoff when it visits slumping Cincinnati on Saturday night.
The Cougars (9-1, 6-1 Big 12) can clinch a spot in the Big 12 championship game in Dallas on Dec. 6 with a win, a Colorado win over Arizona State and either a Utah win over Kansas State or a TCU win over Houston.
Cincinnati (7-3, 5-2) heads into Saturday night on a two-game losing streak after having hopes for both a Big 12 championship game appearance and a run at the CFP. After suffering a 45-14 loss at No. 12 Utah on Nov. 1, the Bearcats were upset at home last week, 30-24, by Arizona, which knocked them out of the Top 25 rankings.
BYU sits a half-game back in the Big 12 standings behind Texas Tech and one game above Cincinnati, Houston, Arizona State and Utah, who all own 5-2 conference records. At No. 11 in the CFP rankings, the Cougars would be on the brink of qualifying for the 12-team tournament.
The Cougars rebounded last week from their first loss at Texas Tech by blowing out TCU at home, 44-13, to improve their postseason chances.
Freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier passed for 296 yards and a touchdown and also ran for a 17-yard score. It was his 10th on the ground this season, tying him with Steve Young (1982), Taysom Hill (2013) and Zach Wilson (2020) for the school record for the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a single season.
Bachmeier has passed for 2,177 yards and 13 touchdowns this season. His 479 rushing yards are third among Big 12 quarterbacks, and his 10 rushing touchdowns are tied for second among all players in the conference.
“I liked the way they bounced back after last week,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said. “I felt a different sense of urgency from them all week long. I am glad that it all worked out. I think it was just a matter of us putting it all together in all three phases.
“I thought it worked out nicely, and it felt good, the way I have been asking us to play this whole time. It is my job to get us to play this way every game, but I am glad it showed up now, especially in November, where we can try to build some momentum off it.”
The BYU defense leads the Big 12 with 14 interceptions and is tied for fourth in the conference with 25 sacks.
Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby aims to get back on track after two poor performances in the team’s two most-recent losses. Sorsby has completed only 26 of 61 passes, with two touchdowns and three interceptions over the last two games. He started the season with 20 TD passes and just one interception in the first eight games.
The No. 11 Cougars are the highest-ranked team to visit Nippert Stadium since No. 6 Houston in 2016.
Bearcats head coach Scott Satterfield will be looking to his veteran leadership on senior night as Cincinnati aims to regroup late-season momentum.
“The message to the guys is we’re facing some adversity now,” Satterfield said. “It’s easy to lead when things are going good. When you’re facing some adversity, how are we going to lead now? I’ve challenged our guys with that. We have great leadership, so I would expect those guys to come in and figure out what we need to get better at.”
