:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61102787/852496638.jpg.0.jpg)
Welcome back to college football Saturdays. The Cincinnati Bearcats will begin their march through the 2018 schedule tonight with a matchup against the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl.
- Kickoff: 7 p.m. ET
- Television/Stream: ESPN/WatchESPN (Here’s a handy guide to what services you can find ESPN on if you don’t have cable. Shout out to Red Cup Rebellion)
- Announcing crew: Bob Wischusen (play-by-play), Brock Huard (analyst) and Allison Williams (sideline reporter)
- Radio: 102.7 WEBN FM/TuneIn.com
- Announcing crew: Dan Hoard (play-by-play), Jim Kelly Jr (analyst) and Tony Pike (sideline reporter)
- Series history: 404 file not available.
If you were to give Luke Fickell a grade for his first season as head coach, taking out everything besides the results on the field, you’d have to give him a C or maybe a D. The Bearcats went just 4-8 overall in Fickell’s first run, which kept pace with what they did the year before he was hired.
Now, we all know that grading a guy taking over the mess that was UC football in the wake of Tommy Tuberville should come with quite a bit of leniency. Let’s also remember that Fickell led UC to the No. 1 recruiting class in the American Athletic Conference last year as well. Today begins the next step in the rebuilding process.
UCLA wasn’t as disastrously affected by their former head coach, Jim Mora Jr., but they still let him go during last season. While the Bruins still made a bowl game, they didn’t win it and finished 6-7 overall, which technically means they have had losing seasons in back-to-back years. With Chip Kelly now at the helm, the Bruins are optimistic that those days are behind them.