How to Watch: Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Austin Peay Governors

• Tipoff: 7 p.m. ET
• Television: ESPN3.com
• Announcing crew: Jim Barber (play-by-play) and John Gregory (analyst)
• Radio: 100.7 FM
• Announcing crew: Tom Gelehrter (play-by-play) Jim Kelly Jr (analyst) and Tony Pike (sideline reporter)
• Series history: 72-10. That was the score by which Cincinnati beat Austin Peay in the season opener for 2011, which happens to be the last time these programs met. The Bearcats are 5-0 all-time against the Governors.

It’s football time.

Cowabunga, indeed. Tonight the Luke Fickell era begins for real, as the Cincinnati Bearcats open the 2017 season with a test against the Austin Peay Governors at Nippert Stadium.

The Bearcats went just 4-8 last season in one of the most disheartening campaigns in recent memory. Part of the sadness came from the fact that the team was just boring. The offense was uninspired and the defense didn’t really make many big plays. That led to the resignation of Tommy Tuberville and the hiring of Fickell, who was brought in to infuse energy into the program. Tonight we get to see what he’s done in the nearly ninth months since being hired. We also get to see favorites like Mike Boone, Kahlil Lewis, Cortez Broughton and more play football.

Austin Peay isn’t a very good team, even by non-D1 standards. The Governors are 0-22 combined over the last two years and last won a game in October of 2014! Sounds like a good team to kick off the season against. Let’s go.