#48 Cincinnati

Cincinnati, OH

Nippert Stadium

September 4, 2021

Cincinnati 49 - Miami (OH) 14 (ESPN Recap)

College football is back! Tailgating, packed stadiums, and full schedules. I wanted to get up to Nippert for a night game last year so badly, but they had a COVID no-fans policy the entire season. Luckily for me, Des Ridder returned for another year, and they were home Week 1 for a cross-state non-conference “rivalry” game.

24-hour trip with a 7am flight MIA to CVG on Saturday morning ($47) and a 7am flight CVG to FLL on Sunday morning.

I love Des Ridder

I also really like Coach Fickell and the clock management that Cincy runs. Last year I thought they deserved a CFP bid and this year I think they’re in the Top 5 in the country. The Big 12 likes them too!

Arrived in Northern Kentucky at 11am and take a ride with a MAGA to The Graduate wearing an American flag bandana as his mask and listening to heavy metal. He’s really mad at Biden that gas prices are high in states like Florida and California but says it’s not my fault and they can keep their gas…IDK.

Pleasant surprise #1 was that my hotel (The Graduate) was where the Bearcats stayed the night before the game, and as I was checking in, they were leaving the lunch room and returning to their rooms for final low key time before heading over to the stadium. Took an elevator up to my floor with Arquon Bush. He’s starting Nickel coverage CB and said not to worry about Miami Ohio because they’re a nobody. I agreed and felt more confident about the 1H -13 and full game -22.

Walked over to Vine St to get some food and catch the noon kickoffs. Pleasant surprise #2 was sitting next to Nate W. and his cousin Shane S at Ladder 19. Two really nice UC grads who happened to be a wealth of knowledge when it came to Bearcats Football (Nate was a manager and diversion signal caller for five years). Even got to take a picture of Nate’s 2014 AAC Championship ring. Some $2 bearcat shots later and the cheer squad walking down the street cheering 2.5 hours before gametime, and Nate and Shane adopted me to roll with them for the day. Super grateful to walk the commons with Nate, who knows everyone, and to play cornhole with Shane (we went 4-2 and finished even on money games).

Cats by 90 was the plan, as it is every gameday at Nippert.

Nate & Shane let me sit with them in the family section, which served as a great place to crush on Des and to watch the blowout. Pleasant surprise #3 was the 35-0 domination that put me in a very happy place. We bounced to the student section for the first series of the second half, and then sat with some former players on the opposite sideline for the rest of the game. I took a tough beat on the 2H TTU 7.0 for Miami OH, who scored a TD against backups with 6 mins left on multiple 4th down conversions on what would have probably been their last possession of the game, and then they subsequently picked off the Cincy backup for a pick-6. Other than that, a perfect game.

Nippert was rocking and today wasn’t even a big game or a night game. 47,000 loud fans who missed being at their team’s home games, especially coming off of a special 2020 season where they made a Jan 1 bowl game and should have beaten Georgia.

Post-game, I power napped at the hotel for ~2 hours and then met up with Nate and Shane at Woody’s to watch Georgia beat Clemson and the first half of the late games.

On to TCU and SMU next weekend for a double-header.