Cincinnati embarrasses UCF, 52-7

It was two weeks ago that UC made the trip down to Provo, Utah only to fall to the BYU Cougars by a score of 38-24 on ESPN. Last week, Cincinnati bounced back against Connecticut to jump back over the .500 mark with a 24-point defeat of the Huskies. Today, it was the Bearcats squaring off against the Knights of UCF, a team that has yet to pick up a win this season, and that would not change on this day.

It was a dominating performance in favor of the good guys who put together a 52-7 blowout win against the now 0-9 Knights. It was certainly not a good day for Danny Barrett, former UC quarterback, who is currently the interim head coach for UCF due to the George O'Leary's retirement.

UC got things going early in the 1st, after forcing a UCF punt, when QB Gunner Kiel delivered a strike to WR Chris Moore for a 16-yard touchdown pass -- his third TD reception on the season. Following a missed 34-yard FG from Knights kicker Matthew Wright, Cincinnati got right back into the endzone with WR Johnny Holton taking a third down completion from Kiel 59-yards for six points and the rout was on. Having an answer for the score wasn't in the cards for UCF and QB Justin Holman on the next drive, as he tossed an interception to CB Linden Stephens which UC would take advantage of. Kiel and Cincinnati earned their third and final TD of the first period on a 15-yard catch by TE D.J. Dowdy.

Heading into the second, up 21-0, the Bearcats sent in QB Hayden Moore. While he did throw an interception on his initial series, he made up for it by lofting an 11-yard touchdown pass to WR Shaq Washington on his second drive. Prior to the halftime break, with a little over four minutes left in the half, UC extended their lead to 35 points when RB Tion Green scampered for a 7-yard touchdown run.

The second half began just like the entire first half played out. On the second play of the 3rd quarter, Holton crossed the goal-line for his second time when he and Kiel hooked up for a 78-yard touchdown. UCF threatened on the following drive but a clank off of the uprights was all they came away with as Wright missed yet another 34-yard FG attempt which the Bearcats, just like earlier in the game, took advantage of. It was Shaq Washington again, who much like Holton, caught his second TD of the game in the third on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Kiel. Pretty much the only exciting thing worth watching in the second half of this one happened when Washington, in the winding moments of the third, caught a push pass from Kiel which made him Cincinnati's all-time leader in receptions with 205.

The beginning of the 4th quarter in this blood bath started with kicker Andrew Gantz finally getting a chance to knock down a non-PAT kick and he did as he drilled a 26-yard field goal to make it 52-0. With a little over 12 minutes left in the game, Central Florida finally joined the scoring column when RB C.J. Jones punched it in from 1-yard out, which would be the final scoring of this one-sided match-up that the Bearcats would win 52-7.

Next up for the Bearcats will be the Cougars of Houston. Tom Herman, who is in his first season as head coach at the program, has the Cougars currently sitting at 7-0 on the season. At 7:00 PM EST, Houston will be taking on Vanderbilt on ESPN2. Tune in if you want a preview of what Herman and his star Greg Ward Jr. are capable of -- surely the Bearcats will be.