Cincinnati depleted, defeated by Louisville in Wasabi Fenway Bowl

A Hallmark holiday ending may have resulted in University of Cincinnati interim coach Kerry Coombs jumping on someone as Will McEnaney did to Johnny Bench to end the 1975 World Series at Fenway Park. Instead, Scott Satterfield's old team beat his new squad and did so soundly, 24-7.

Both teams started quarterbacks who primarily were reserves during the season. Both teams had opt-outs and players leaving via the transfer portal. But, the game is won up front by linemen imposing their will.

Louisville's offensive line bulldozed the Bearcats as freshman Maurice Turner and junior Jawhar Jordan both surpassed the century mark on the ground. Turner finished with 160 yards and Jordan had 115 with 89 of those coming on first-half touchdown trots. Louisville outrushed UC a whopping 287-55 and outgained them overall 419 yards to 138.

"That's a well-coached group and those two running backs are special players," Coombs said. "My hat's off to coach (Deion) Branch and the coaching staff that was there for the game. That's a good football team."

Defensively Louisville was second in the nation in sacks and showed why Saturday, planting redshirt sophomore quarterback Evan Prater into the temporary sod seven times. Louisville had no interceptions but didn't need them as UC's passing game was offset by the relentless pressure of the Cardinal defenders.

"They were bringing those guys and they had a great game plan for us," Prater said. "We tried to make adjustments and it all just wasn't working out in our favor sometimes. They were doing what they do best."

The Bearcats did not have a single pass completion in the second half. Prater finished 7-of-15 for 83 yards. UC's leading rusher was junior Ethan Wright with 43 yards after playing defense all season. Redshirt senior Charles McClelland was held to 15 yards. Normally able to scramble, the pressure on Prater and the Louisville sack attack left him with -30 yards on the ground, likely a first in his career at any level.

In his finale, senior Ivan Pace Jr. led both teams with 16 tackles and UC had interceptions from senior Ja'Von Hicks and redshirt freshman Armorion Smith. The defense also recovered two fumbles, but the offense consistently didn't capitalize.

Coach Coombs is now 4-2 in Keg of Nails rivalry games with his first shot at the helm ending in disappointment. He will stay around as secondary/special teams coach under the new regime.

"What should be remembered about this team, particularly those finishing their careers, those men have given (the younger players) a demonstration on how to be a man and how to be a champion,” Coombs said. “How to fight, scratch and claw. They came back and they fought. They had three one-score losses during the course of the regular season. All they did was keep showing up every day and working for each other. It was always about the team. Those kids have given the younger players something to live up to -- in their manhood, how to conduct yourself and how to be a real man and Bearcat. I promise you this, I will count these two weeks as two of the greatest weeks of my life. To be able to have the opportunity to stand with them and fight with them, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Didn't go the way we wanted. These are men's men, and it was a privilege."

Louisville and Cincinnati are separated by less than 100 miles and the bench areas were on the same side of Fenway, separated by just 10 yards. As a result, there was plenty of talking and penalties. In the end, if Louisville was out for revenge over the loss of Satterfield, they had the definitive upper hand in personnel.

New Bearcats coach Satterfield did not attend the game other than a cameo TV appearance from the Lindner Center. Familiar with Power Five recruiting, his staff that authored Louisville's ACC personnel was busy at work trying to gather its first Big 12 class at Cincinnati.

"It's an unusual situation that we have right now," Satterfield told ESPN. "I'm checking this out and looking forward to the 2023 Bearcats. We've been working on staff and working on recruiting. I've not seen one practice and I've not been in the indoor (Sheakley Center bubble) yet. We've got recruits in today. I've already talked to two this morning and I've got several more this afternoon."

The first quarter was somewhat of a comedy of errors. Under pressure, Prater had a couple of fumbles, the second of which led to Louisville's most notable play of the frame, a 49-yard touchdown sprint by Jordan.

In between, UC had a couple of near interceptions from Aruqon Bush and Hicks, a deflected punt courtesy of Wil Huber, a fumble recovery from Ryan Mullaney and redshirt sophomore Payton Singletary's first collegiate catch at tight end.

The Bearcats rebounded in the second quarter with Western Brown redshirt senior Wyatt Fischer making a pair of key plays. First, he bailed Prater out of a sack with an acrobatic catch. Then, with his third career Bearcat reception and first since 2019, he scampered unscathed to the Fenway endzone.

"Wyatt caught that ball and he's really the one that made that play," Prater said. "Shout out to Wyatt."

That would end UC's first-half notable production. Louisville quarterback Brock Domann engineered a 10-play, 66-yard drive ending with a scoring pass to Marshon Ford, then Jordan torched the Bearcats on another wide run, this from 41 yards.

Down 21-7 to start the second half, Brady Lichtenberg got his first UC quarterback snaps. On his third, he coughed up the ball to the Cardinals. Prater returned for the next series. The game remained a struggle offensively, even with UC coming up with turnovers to change momentum.

The Bearcats finish the season 9-4 as they were trying to gain a fourth 10-win season since 2018. Louisville finishes 8-5. Early signing day for both schools comes Wednesday.

"I accomplished a great brotherhood in these five years that I've been here," senior Hicks said. "We went through a lot of adversity the first few years. We got things back on track and we went up and up and last year went to the Cotton Bowl and playoffs for the first time in school history. This year didn't go as planned but I appreciate everything that happened this season. I appreciate Coach Coombs and the rest of the staff that stayed and helped us prepare for this bowl game."

A FENWAY FIRST: The Fenway Bowl was originally to commence in 2020 but was wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic. Last year's matchup between Virginia and SMU was wiped out three days before kickoff due to COVID issues with Virginia.

THE KEGGER: UC still leads the series with a 30-23-1. Their last win came at then-Paul Brown Stadium in 2011 under Butch Jones 25-16. So, the fabled Keg of Nails hasn't been in the Lindner Center trophy case in over a decade.

NOT DONE YET: Unanimous first-team All-American Ivan Pace Jr. and tight end Leonard Taylor will play in the Feb. 2 East-West Shrine Bowl. Tight end Josh Whyle will play in the Feb. 4 Reese's Senior Bowl. Whyle, Taylor, Tyler Scott and Tre Tucker all opted out of the Fenway Bowl to prepare for the NFL Draft, the first Bearcats to make such a move.

CINCINNATI 0 7 0 0 7

LOUISVILLE 7 14 3 0 24

L - Jordan 49-yard run (Turner kick)

UC - Fischer 20-yard pass from Prater (Lowery kick)

L - Domann 8-yard pass to Ford (Turner kick)

L - Jordan 41-yard run (Turner kick)

L - Turner 47-yard FG

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Louisville rushes by Cincinnati Bearcats in Wasabi Fenway Bowl