Your Friday Bearcat Bulletin

—Spread check: FB at Tulane on 10/30 – Cincinnati by 26

—University of Cincinnati Athletics recently announced Bearcats Fan Contests, a new department initiative consisting of promotions and prizes. Intended to excite the fanbase with contests and special offerings and also help fans reconnect with the athletic brand after this past year or so of Covidity, this is new and fans can view various items and sign up here to participate.

—Yes, you can help further raise Desmond Ridder’s profile:

—UC Clermont Volleyball remains atop the USCAA Division II rankings, and they have held that position since the beginning of the 2021 season. Middle Hitter Kara Heckmueller and Setter Zoe England have each snagged player-of-the-week honors multiple times this season.

—USA Today’s Erick Smith says UC Football’s chances of being left out of the Playoff are growing smaller with each passing day, and yet he still has the Bearcats in a New Year’s Six slot.

—Go inside practice with UC’s Dalvin Jones, Director of Football Equipment:

—Cincy cornerback duo Coby Bryant and Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner have been named national semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award.

—Earlier in October, Bearcat Baseball split home exhibition matches against Indiana (L 16-18, 14 innings) and Northern Kentucky (W 14-11, 14 innings). The team will now extend its annual Red vs. Black World Series intra-squad scrimmages into this weekend with one game on Friday at 3:00 pm and another on Saturday at noon. Admission is free!

—The #82 Bearcat Soccer team defeated #38 UCF at home Thursday evening by a score of 3-1. The win actually ends the season for the team since only the top six teams in the AAC standings qualify for the conference tournament. The Bearcats finish the season in seventh place behind...sixth place UCF.

—Senior Maria Mallon continues to impress with her work on the court, earning her AAC weekly honors again. Shannon Williams ended the match with three straight kills for the 3-0 sweep of Tulane:

—If you need to brush up on your Bearcats 101 fandom, including cheers and rivalry info, head on over to the classic RallyCats site.

—Despite dropping his federal lawsuit against UC, The Sporting News reports that attorneys for former men’s basketball head coach John Brannen are now moving forward with a breach of contract claim for early termination. Seeking to recoup the $5.25 million buyout from his contract, the suit claims he was pushed out through concocted “for cause” reasons. His attorneys say the University breached contact when they denied Brannen due process over an alleged NCAA violation.

—Keith Jenkins over at the Enquirer writes about how first-year basketball head coach Wes Miller is excited to get his newfound Cincinnati squad onto the court, and he is also hoping to tap into the energy flowing from Bearcat Football this season.

—And finally, an Only at UC short story. A few weeks ago, I was meeting with a student during office hours outside Nippert Stadium and I met a man from Raleigh, North Carolina. He was quietly sitting in stands after hopping around the Queen City and waiting for his accountant wife to finish her meetings in downtown. We struck up a conversation about the university and the campus and he impressed me with his knowledge of the current goings-on of the athletics program. Most of all, he was madly impressed with the prominent, open football stadium right in the middle of campus. While we both watched students exercising and running up and down the stands, students studying and eating lunch in between classes, and even one student playing fetch with his dog on the 5-yard line with a tennis ball, we reminisced about my undergrad at Louisville and his at NC State. Neither one of us could name any other big-time university whose football field is accessible by students nearly all the time, much less one that is used as a sort of outside dining or study or recreation hall. Can you?

Only at UC, perhaps.