Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 OCT. 2, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: CINCINNATI "I want to say that this is the greatest thing that can happen for us because it is a reflection on what these guys have done on the football field," Fickell told local reporters. "So there are some great things about it. If that's what's being talked about, it has nothing to do with me. "It has to do with what Desmond Ridder and Myjai Sanders and Ahmad Gardner, and what those guys have done to put our program in a light. I hope there are a lot of calls like that at the end of the year." CHECKING THE BOXES Cincinnati has stayed inside the top 10 of both the Associated Press and Coaches' polls after a 3-0 start, with wins over Miami (Ohio), Murray State and Indiana. None of those teams are Notre Dame, but the Bearcats handled them accordingly; Cincinnati's average margin of victory is 28 points. That figure is a bit inflated from 35-point victories in the first two games of the sea- son. The Bearcats actually trailed Indiana on the road through three quarters. But fifth-year senior quarterback Desmond Ridder wasn't going to let Cincinnati's potential dream season fade away into the Indiana afternoon. Not in Bloomington, anyway. It could happen this week in South Bend, but because of Ridder it didn't happen two weeks ago against the Hoosiers. Ridder threw his seventh touchdown pass of the season early in the fourth quarter. Then he ran in his second rush- ing score of the season later in the frame to put the game away for good. "This is huge," Ridder said after the win. "I feel like it's a weight lifted off our shoulders. People talk about check- lists and what you've got to do, and that's a check mark off the list." Ridder has started the season 54- of-83 passing for 748 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. He also has 20 carries for 72 yards and two touchdowns. With all due respect to Florida State's combination of Jordan Travis and McKenzie Milton, Toledo's Carter Bradley and Purdue's Jack Plum- mer, Ridder is most likely the best quar- terback Notre Dame will have faced to this point. Ridder's somewhat meager rushing stats thus far could be a bit mislead- ing; he ran for 1,822 yards and 22 touch- downs in the previous three seasons. He can beat the Fighting Irish defense with his arm and his legs in a way that even Travis of FSU can't compete with. He is also got a more talented arse- nal receiving corps to throw the ball to. Cincinnati has four wide receivers who have at least 100 receiving yards. Soph- omore Tyler Scott leads the way with 172 and two touchdowns. Junior running back Jerome Ford is on his way to a career year as well. He has carried the ball 50 times for 300 yards and six touchdowns. The running game has revolved around Ford in every way; Ridder ranks second on the team in car- ries and rushing yards. Cincinnati has three other running backs who have reg- istered carries, but they've combined for just 19 attempts among the three of them. Cincinnati's running game goes as Ford goes. 'A LITTLE DIFFERENT WORLD' Two of the three players Fickell men- tioned when praising his team for put- ting him in a position to be potentially considered for the USC job play on the defensive side of the ball, but neither have had the start to the season many thought they would. Senior defensive end Myjai Sand- ers has not registered a sack through three games after recording seven in 10 contests last year. He has five total tackles (just one solo) and 0.5 tackles for loss. 2021 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 5 at Florida State W, 41-38 (OT) Sept. 11 Toledo W, 32-29 Sept. 18 Purdue W, 27-13 Sept. 25 vs. Wisconsin* W, 41-13 Oct. 2 Cincinnati (NBC) 2:30 p.m. Oct. 9 at Virginia Tech TBA Oct. 23 USC (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 North Carolina (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6 Navy (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at Virginia TBA Nov. 20 Georgia Tech (NBC) 2:30 p.m. Nov. 27 at Stanford TBA * at Soldier Field in Chicago Senior defensive end Myjai Sanders notched 11 sacks in 24 games over the past two seasons, but had yet to register one in 2021 due in part to the extra attention he has been receiving from blockers. PHOTO COURTESY CINCINNATI ATHLETICS