What Cincinnati Expects From First Big 12 Road Game At BYU
Jul 13, 2023, 11:11 AM | Updated: 11:13 am
Cincinnati Bearcats football helmet at Big 12 media days (Photo by Matt Baiamonte, KSL Sports)
(Photo by Matt Baiamonte, KSL Sports)
ARLINGTON, Texas – The debut season as a Big 12 conference member can’t come soon enough for BYU football.
A day years in the making, BYU will host the Cincinnati Bearcats in their first-ever Big 12 conference home game on September 29th.
It will be the third meeting between the two schools. BYU is 2-0 all-time against Cincinnati.
Tanner Mangum led the Cougars to a 38-24 victory in 2015 after starting quarterback Taysom Hill went down with a season-ending injury in the opener against Nebraska.
Crowd cheers Tanner Mangum on Senior Night. #BYU pic.twitter.com/RVz5wWW82n
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) November 18, 2018
Hill returned the next season to help the Cougars with a 20-3 win on the road against Cincinnati under first-year head coach Kalani Sitake.
There’s been a lot of change inside the Bearcats program since that time.
None of the current players under first-year coach Scott Satterfield played in either of those games.
Previous head coach Luke Fickell came and went since the last time these two teams met. He’s now the head coach for the Wisconsin Badgers.
Traveling to Provo will be a historic moment for the visiting Bearcats. It will be their first road game as a member of the Big 12 conference.
Expectations For Cincinnati’s First Big 12 Road Game
“That’s a long trip for us and that’s going to be a night game,” Satterfield said to Big 12 media members.
“I think maybe 10:30 eastern time on that Friday night. We know that’s a hostile environment.
They’ve got a great football team and great fan support there. That’s going to be an extreme challenge, and to come out there right after you play Oklahoma and have to leave out on a Thursday to go and play them. But you know what,we’re taking it one week at a time.
𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ✨#Bearcats | #Big12FB pic.twitter.com/wMbRP61Yr0
— Cincinnati Football (@GoBearcatsFB) July 13, 2023
After the Oklahoma game we’ll have a plan in place to get as prepared as possible to go out there and be prepared to play BYU.”
Cincinnati preparations for a quick turnaround against BYU
BYU football has played on Friday night before The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints general conference in October all throughout the independent era.
Many believed this would go away after joining the Big 12 conference. However, the conference helped the Cougars in scheduling by keeping BYU on that Friday night.
“I hate playing on short weeks,” Satterfield told the media.
BYU is used to playing late games inside Lavell Edwards stadium which makes this a clear advantage for the Cougars.
“I don’t like it. I don’t know anybody that really likes it,” continued Satterfield.
“The players don’t like it. The coaches don’t like it. It’s tough to bounce back, win or lose, and play the next week, particularly on the road. That’s a long trip for us.”
This is an important conference game matchup between the two newcomers and both teams could use a win before getting into the thick of conference play.
Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 PM MST on ESPN.
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