Cincinnati Football: Bearcats fight off fourth quarter comeback against SMU

It seemed like the Bearcats were going to coast to a double digit win before fighting off a fourth quarter comeback at SMU. Despite a disappointing second half, Cincinnati escaped with a 29-27 win to reach bowl eligibility for the fifth consecutive campaign.

After a first quarter interception from Arquon Bush, the Bearcats scored a field goal and two touchdowns including Charles McClelland’s 76-yard run to take a 17-0 lead. SMU scored a pair of touchdowns late in the first half to cut the deficit to 20-14 at halftime.

Even though the Bearcats struggled to convert in the red zone, Ryan Coe stepped up with three field goals to take a 29-14 lead. SMU answered with two quick touchdowns but came up empty on a game-tying two-point conversion with 1:57 left in the game.

Cincinnati Football: Bearcats fight off fourth quarter comeback against SMU

Cincinnati moved to 6-1 with the win but committed a season-high 14 penalties for 128 yards. In order to stay unbeaten in conference play and take down UCF next Saturday, the Bearcats have to play with much more patience and avoid unnecessary penalties.

In addition to extending the win streak against AAC opponents, Luke Fickell secured his 54th career win and moved past Rick Minter as the winningest head coach in program history. McClelland finished with a game-high 129 rushing yards in the narrow win.

Fickell discussed the performance at SMU in the postgame press conference per Cincinnati Athletics.

"“We’re obviously really excited to get out of here with a win. There’s a lot of things that we have to do better. It’s not easy to win on the road. They were better than us in both red zones and that’s why it was such a tight game. We’re aggressive and I don’t want to say too aggressive but we have to be smarter. That falls on me. There’s a part of me that wants to play with that edge but we can’t put ourselves in those positions. You have to be able to play in chaos. I think we’ve unfortunately created some of that chaos. We have to do a better job of finding ways to be more consistent.”"