Cincinnati defeated East Carolina 54-46 on Friday night to claim a share of first place in the AAC, but it was in spite of some poor play and curious play calling in the final 3 minutes of the game that could have been the Bearcats undoing.
While up 45-40 with a little more than 2 minutes remaining, Cincinnati decided to go for it on fourth down from its own 33. It’s play of choice? An option pitch that was ultimately fumbled and recovered by East Carolina on the Cincinnati 27-yard line with 2:03 remaining.
Eight plays, and a couple Cincinnati penalties later, and ECU had taken a one-point lead with about a minute to go. The Pirates tried and failed a two-point conversion.
When all seemed lost for the Bearcats, quarterback Gunner Kiel led his team 35 yards and kicker Andrew Gantz made a career-long 47-yard field goal that proved to be the winning points.
Cincinnati scored a garbage touchdown as time expired after East Carolina basically gave up on a series of laterals and left a fumbled ball on the turf. The ball was recovered and run 20 yards into the end zone by Terrell Hartsfield.
East Carolina, which started hot and was (to-date) the only non-Power Five conference team to be ranked in the College Football Playoff rankings, is likely out of the race for the AAC title with two conference losses.
Cincinnati is now tied with Memphis for the conference lead with three games remaining. Memphis’ final three games, however, are against three of the worst teams in the conference. The Tigers also hold the tiebreaker against the Bearcats courtesy of a 41-14 win on Oct. 4.
For more Cincinnati news, visit BearcatReport.com.
For more East Carolina news, visit PirateIllustrated.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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From Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo Sports - Cincinnati beats East Carolina in spite of poor play calling late
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