On Saturday, September 2, the Colonels of Eastern Kentucky traveled an hour and a half North to open their season against a Big XII opponent: the Cincinnati Bearcats. EKU and UC had played twice before with the Bearcats winning both matchups 31-0 in 2006, and 40-7 in 2008. Head Coach Walt Wells has led the EKU program for the past three seasons and has rebuilt the football program, desiring to return the Colonels to championship form. The Colonels have won seven games against FBS opponents and came to Ohio looking for their eighth. Game one of the 2023 season was no cakewalk. Here is the EKU vs. Cincinnati recap.
First Quarter
The story of the first quarter was several solid plays, followed by one blown play. Cincinnati scored three times in the first. The first touchdown came on a drive where the EKU defense looked really good. They even had UC stopped, but on fourth down Tyrik Henderson had a receiver get behind him for a 54-yard touchdown. After the offense stalled out, UC scored on a 39-yard bomb when CB Tony Davis got beat. The EKU Defense began to look better, even though the Bearcats scored their third TD of the quarter. EKU was forced to punt twice in the quarter, but both punts had great coverage. Tre Goodin covered the first punt and Freshman Kyeaure Magloire had a great open field tackle on the second.
Second Quarter
The second quarter started similar to the first, but EKU did start seeing some improvement. UC scored on their first drive after a long run, and again after an EKU three-and-out. The Colonels were able to put points on the board when Parker McKinney found new TE Hunter Brown for a 17-yard touchdown pass. Cincinnati followed that with a long touchdown drive capped by a long TD pass. EKU entered the half trailing 7-42.
Third Quarter
The second half started with a strip sack of Parker McKinney, but the EKU D held strong by forcing a field goal following the Ryan Jackson sack. EKU had a good drive going with a 21-yard catch by Jalen Burbage, and a 14-yard run by Joshua Carter, but the Colonels could not convert on fourth down. The defense came through though when Cheik Fall got his own strip sack, and recovered the fumble. EKU kicked a field goal five plays later. Cincinnati began working the clock and put together a TD drive that lasted almost six minutes of game time. Then Parker McKinney threw his second interception of the game, trying to hit freshman Jayden West.
Fourth Quarter
With several players going down with cramps, the fourth quarter was all about getting better and getting out healthy. Cincinnati capped their drive that started in the third quarter with another score. Redshirt freshman QB Cameron Hergott finished the game out for EKU. He flashed his athleticism with a few first-down rushes. Patrick Nations added another field goal, going 2-2 from 42 yards and 43 yards on the day. The long day proved tough for tackling in the fourth, as the Bearcats took a short pass a long way to extend their lead late.
The Colonels face the in-state Kentucky Wildcats next week in another tough matchup.
Vince Stover covers EKU for Belly Up Sports and has a weekly EKU podcast that airs live on YouTube on Monday nights. Follow Vince on Twitter for more EKU coverage. All photos used in this article were taken by members of the EKU staff.
