UCF Knights at Cincinnati Bearcats

Brendan Sorsby throws 2 TD passes and Cincinnati beats UCF 20-11

The Bearcats (5-1, 3-0 Big 12) won despite being outgained 413 to 306.

“We defended a lot of snaps today and only gave up 11 points,” Bearcats coach Scott Satterfield said. "We’ll take that. Our offense is not going to be complacent after that showing. It’s not good enough.”

Due to injuries to two other quarterbacks, Florida Atlantic transfer Cam Fancher made his second start of the season for UCF (3-3, 0-3) and passed for 222 yards while rushing for 108 yards and a touchdown.

“The fight and the effort was unbelievable," UCF coach Scott Frost said. "We were plenty explosive until we got in the red zone. That's three weeks in a row we've shot ourselves in the foot on a lot of drives.”

The Knights held their first five opponents scoreless in the first quarter this season before Sorsby found Caldwell for a 40-yard touchdown pass to put Cincinnati ahead 7-0.

Sorsby, the nation's highest-rated QB (91.1) through five games according to Pro Football Focus, connected with Caldwell again in the second quarter for a 9-yard TD to make the score 14-0.

Cincinnati went 2 for 9 on third down.

“We found a way to put points on the board when we needed to," Sorsby said. “We had an alright day as an offense. We can't have three-and-outs and rely on our defense to get stops.”

UCF's pass defense, which ranked 15th nationally with 150.8 yards allowed per game, limited Sorsby to 116 yards passing until tight end Joe Royer's 67-yard reception with 59 seconds left in the third quarter.

Royer's big play set up Stephen Rusnak's second field goal, a 24-yarder to make the score 20-3 early in the fourth.

“What we’ve shown is that we can win in a lot of ways,” Satterfield said. “It was kind of a crazy, bizarre game. Proud of the defense the way they played, keeping Central Florida out of the end zone.”

Positives UCF nearly doubled Cincinnati's time of possession (39:44 to 20:16) and ran 90 plays to the Bearcats' 48.

“I'm disappointed for the guys and encouraged at the same time,” Frost said. "As well as our defense played, we busted one coverage and gave them a touchdown and dropped a tight end on another one and set up a (field goal). The details got to be better."

Mr. Reliable Rusnak is 9 of 9 on field goal attempts this season and has made 20 straight attempts dating back to last year when he made all 11 at Charlotte before transferring to Cincinnati. Rusnak is 25 of 25 on PATs for the Bearcats.

The takeaway UCF: The Knights were without two quarterbacks on Saturday. Starter Tayven Jackson and backup Jacurri Brown were both listed as questionable on this week's injury report but Fancher was named the starter in a game-time decision.

Cincinnati: The Bearcats received 129 poll points good for 26th in the AP poll, putting them on the brink of being ranked for the first time since 2022.

Up next UCF hosts West Virginia on Saturday.

Cincinnati plays at Oklahoma State on Saturday.