Cincinnati insider breaks down Bearcats ahead of Arizona showdown

In the only matchup between the Wildcats and Bearcats, Arizona upset Cincinnati at Nippert Stadium last season. The Bearcats trek to Tucson for the first time in program history. It will be Cincinnati’s first game in the state of Arizona since its 14-0 win over Arizona State in Tempe in 1976.

To have a better understanding of the Bearcats, we called in an expert: Cincinnati Enquirer’s Scott Springer, who joined “Spears & Ali” on ESPN Tucson this week:

Since joining the Big 12, the Bearcats are 0-3 when they play games in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. Is the 8 p.m. start (11 p.m. ET) something that has been discussed?

A: “They’ve downplayed it some. I think they made preparations there. They are coming out a day early, which I don’t recall a Cincinnati football team ever doing that before. … Most of the kids don’t mind sitting around all day ready to go. On the other hand, they’re all night owls. These kids are talking about 11 p.m. kickoffs, but they’re up until 1 or 2 a.m. anyway. They should be fine. It just affects the old farts sitting at home.”

Cincinnati has the second-best rushing offense in the Big 12. What makes its run game special?

A: “They’ve got four really good running backs, but the top two are Gi’Bran Payne, who is a local kid and transferred back home. He went to Notre Dame and sat behind a couple of (first-round) draft choices, so he wasn’t getting his time and had the extra year and came home and it’s been working out well for him. He’s had three 100-plus-yard games.

“Cole Tabb is the kid from Stanford who rushed for a shade under 500 (yards) last year. He’s come here and he’s been electric when he’s gotten in and has a nose for the end zone. He was injured in the spring and out of the four (running backs), he might’ve been number four. He’s like the designated scorer. He has found the end zone, but it helps when you have those big guys in front of you rushing for all those guys.”

How would you compare and contrast Cincinnati quarterback JC French IV to former UC quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech and was ruled ineligible for gambling?

A: “Totally different guys. JC isn’t as big as Brendan. Brendan was 6-3, 235 (pounds), and that helped him with his running, because sometimes he didn’t like to slide; he wanted to get his yards and was an aggressive runner. JC French has not run like Brendan, but he’s on pace to run for more yards than he’s ever had, because a Scott Satterfield quarterback is going to run the ball.

“He hasn’t thrown any interceptions yet and has only been sacked five times in four games. He has better protection than he’s ever had at Georgia Southern. The biggest thing is they don’t want him turning the ball over. … (Sorsby) was a gambler and tried to take the long shot and squeeze the ball in. French doesn’t do that and he’d rather throw the quick out and take the 3-4 yards rather than throwing it to the other team.

“If you go back to last year’s game, it’s not the only reason why the Bearcats lost, but it certainly doesn’t help that on play number one, you throw a pick and give Arizona field position at the (25-yard line). You don’t want to hand Noah Fifita that, because he’ll tear you up. He was as good as any quarterback I saw last year against the Bearcats. He was sacked four times and (Arizona) still won.”

Cincinnati runs a 3-4 defense, so how do they apply pressure? Is it a blitz-heavy defense with outside linebackers?

A: “They do a lot of things. When you say 3-4, it’s not like they’re only rushing three. Sometimes they’ll rush seven. … It’s designed to create more havoc. They haven’t had a ton of sacks. … They have three interceptions, which doesn’t sound like a bunch, but they only had two all of last season. Whatever the defense was trying to accomplish last season, it wasn’t working. That 3-3-5 and having the guys drop back, Fifita had no problem picking them apart. These cornerbacks are better than people think.”

Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield is in his fourth season and has a 19-22 record. How would you summarize the Satterfield era up to this point and what kind of coach is he?

A: “He’s a wonderfully nice guy. Now, that doesn’t matter in the end because nice guys get fired a lot. They’ve made progress and the organizational structure is great with the general manager and the way they have things set up with the nutrition and the strength and conditioning. … He’s off to a great start. He needs to win a bowl or get to a bowl, preferably win one. I projected them to win seven games.

“They had to get out of September 4-0, because looking at these next eight (games), these are tough games. There’s four top-25 teams they’re facing and that doesn’t include Arizona, which could very well be a top-25 team. … Every game in this league is up for grabs.”