Notre Dame Soccer 2021 Schedule Countdown: No. 5, Cincinnati

March 11, 2021

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This is the eighth part of our 12 part series in which we count down the strength of the Notre Dame schedule for 2021 based on our difficulty level from 12 to 1. In fifth place is the home competition with Cincinnati on October 2nd.

Head coach: Luke Fickell – 41-21 (.674) in five seasons as head coach.

Joins Season 5 in Cincinnati where he is 35-14 years old (.714)

Fickell was 6-7 in his one season as interim coach at Ohio State (2011).

Quarterback Desmond Ridder has passed for 6,905 yards and ran for 1,814 in his career. (Tim Flores / USA TODAY Sports)

Recruitment rankings 2017-21: 2017 (63rd), 2018 (47th), 2019 (89th), 2020 (39th), 2021 (37th)

2020 record: 9-1

For the second time in their history, the Bearcats finished an undefeated regular season (9-0) and were bid for a New Year’s Six Bowl (Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl), where they lost to an understaffed Georgia team 24-21 on a 53 yard field goal with three seconds left.

Seven of the nine regular season games were played at Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium, including the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Championship, a 27:24 win over Tulsa in 23rd, in which Cole Smith hit a 34-yard field after time ran out. Goal transformed.

The only two street games were a 42:13 game against SMU No. 16 on October 24 and a conquest of central Florida (36:33) on November 21, in which Cincinnati was the best program of the group of five in the country . After beating UCF, the Bearcats stopped playing for three weeks or until the AAC title game on December 19 due to coronavirus problems.

The only other unbeaten regular season in Cincinnati was of course 2009 under head coach Brian Kelly, who incorporated that 12-0 result into the setting at Notre Dame.

Did you know…

Cincinnati began its soccer program in 1954 and was only rated 54 yards later, in 2007 under head coach Kelly for the first year – No. 17 with a 10-3 record, in the Associated Press poll. The Bearcats took 17th place again in 2008 (11-3) and 8th place (12-1) with Kelly in 2009.

If Texas hadn’t implemented a 46-yard field goal to place the Longhorns in the BCS championship against Alabama after the time ran out for a 13:12 win over Nebraska in the Big 12 championship, Kelly’s troops stood next for the title game he would have coached instead of taking the Notre Dame post on December 9th of that season.

Since Kelly’s departure after the 2009 regular season, Cincinnati has made it into the top 25 four times, particularly in the last three under Fickell. His 31-6 run over the past three seasons was comparable to Kelly’s 33-6 performance of 2007-09. The Bearcats took 24th place (11-2) in 2018, 21st place (11-3) in 2019 and 8th place (9-1) last year and achieved the highest result in 2009.

2021 capsule summary

Two new assistants have been brought on board by Fickell, notably Mike Tressel – nephew of former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel – as defensive coordinator after Marcus Freeman was hired by Notre Dame this winter to replace Clark Lea. Under Freeman, the Bearcats led the AAC in goal defense for three years in a row, finishing 8th nationwide last year (16.8 points per game).

Darren Paige from East Michigan will now also instruct the running backs under offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, who trained for Kelly at Notre Dame from 2010 to 2016, to succeed Dan Enos, the new offensive coordinator at Maryland.

Cincinnati is expected to maintain its status as the top tier of the country’s five-man team and ranked 11th in the ESPN poll “way too early” for the 2021 preseason. Eight starters return on the offensive, seven on the defensive and kicker Smith.

At the forefront of the offense is senior double-threat quarterback Desmond Ridder, the AAC Offensive Player of the Year who recorded 6,905 yards of passing (66.2 completion rate last year) and 1,814 rushing, including 12 touchdowns last year Has. The offensive averaged 6.7 meters per game last season, where he was the catalyst.

The line has to find a couple of tackles, but the backcourt returns former Alabama transfer Jerome Ford, who rushed 483 yards and 6.6 yards per carry in Cincinnati in 2020. The reception corps is well balanced. Notre Dame transfer Michael Young set the pace after leading the Bearcats with 29 catches for 332 yards and three points last year.

Defensively, safety is the main concern, but Ahmad Gardner is one of the most important corners of the country and in the end Myjai Sanders showed his playing skills last season with 10.5 tackles against loss, seven sacks and five passes defended. The Bearcats also add 295 pounds of Virginia grade transfer Jowon Briggs to the interior.

Why 5th under 12 in the countdown

A strong argument can be made that the Bearcats should be even higher because of a developed winning culture, quality coaching, and a fourth year starter at Quarterback who poses one of the country’s biggest double threats.

After playing Indiana on September 18, Cincinnati says goodbye before traveling to Notre Dame on October 2 – while Notre Dame has a big showdown with Wisconsin in Chicago the week before Fickell’s troops join. The Freeman angle also makes this a fascinating matchup.

Even so, Notre Dame has recruited at a significantly higher level and the Irish have been excellent at home for the past three years. We expect them to be at least a touchdown favorite depending on how the first month goes, especially when compared to Wisconsin.

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