5 Cincinnati Bearcats football takeaways from win vs. Western Carolina

By nature, bearcats are nocturnal animals.

The Cincinnati Bearcats allowed Western Carolina to creep as close as 14-10 in the second quarter Sept. 12 in the first “Nipp at Night” game. As the sky darkened, the Bearcats ran off 48 points in a row to swat the Catamounts, 62-10.

Limited to 14 passes in the opener against. Boston College, the Bearcats were flying JC French IV air in their second game. French finished 21-for-24 for 245 yards with two touchdown passes. His completion rate was 88% and his quarterback rating was 200.8.

UC had 690 yards of offense. They hadn’t surpassed 600 since last year’s bludgeoning of Northwestern State, followed by a comeback road win at Kansas.

Gi’Bran Payne led the rushing attack for a second straight week with 102 yards, adding two touchdowns. JV Gibson again topped the receivers with five grabs for 79 yards and a score.

The win puts UC at 2-0 for the first time since Scott Satterfield’s inaugural season of 2023. Before that, they went 2-0 when advancing to the College Football Playoff semifinal in 2021.

UC is 21-0 vs. FCS opponents since 2000, and they’re now 2-0 vs. Western Carolina, whom they last played in 2005.

The Catamounts drop to 1-2 and are now 0-65 facing FBS opponents. Western Carolina was paid a $475,000 guarantee for the game.

Keep attacking#GoBearcatspic.twitter.com/7d5FUzZcBa

— Cincinnati Football (@GoBearcatsFB) September 13, 2026

In last week’s Boston College win, French threw just one pass in the first quarter. In the night game vs. the Catamounts, French came out in the first series going 5-for-6 through the air. For the second week in a row, the first touchdown came on a French pass to JV Gibson.

By the second quarter, he was 9-for-10 completing passes to nine different receivers, including a touchdown to Winton Woods tight end Lyviel Waters.

At the break, French was 17-for-18 for 169 yards. He finished with just three incompletions and career highs in completion percentage and quarterback rating and gave way to backup Liam O’Brien late in the third quarter.

O’Brien was 5-for-5 for 18 yards passing and added an 11-yard rushing touchdown. Samaj Jones also played late in the game.

Payne had 31 yards on UC’s first touchdown drive, but couldn’t score in the red zone.

In the third quarter, Payne made a great cutback and trotted 40 yards for a score toward the student section end zone. It was his first as a Bearcat, his longest career run and his first touchdown since Nov. 25, 2023, when he ran for a score for Notre Dame in a 56-23 win over Stanford.

By quarter’s end, he was in the same end zone on a 17-yard run and had eclipsed the century mark for a second straight game. The last player to have back-to-back 100-plus-yard games for UC was Corey Kiner in the final two games of the 2024 season vs. Iowa State and TCU.

It was Payne’s first multi-touchdown game in college and his first since scoring three for the La Salle Lancers in a win over Louisville Trinity in a 48-27 win.

UC’s defense didn’t allow Boston College a score until late in the third quarter. Western Carolina took the opening kickoff and went 60 yards in a little over six minutes for a field goal. Later, they had an 11-play, 75-yard drive in the second quarter to get within 14-10.

The Bearcats scored the next 48 points and Western Carolina would not score again. The Catamounts had 176 yards of total offense at the half and were eventually outgained 690-241.

Marquavious Saboor had an interception for UC, the second for the defense this season. That’s as many as they had all of 2025.

Cole Tabb and Zion Johnson paid the end zone a visit in the first half, with Payne running for glory in the third quarter.

Not to be omitted, Zylan Perry rambled 40 yards late in the third quarter. Reserves Jayzon Thompson and James Lewis also got in the game, and quarterbacks O’Brien and Samaj Jones added scoring runs.

Tight end Lyviel Waters from Winton Woods also had his first UC score with a 2-yard reception from French early in the second quarter.

The Bengals great had recently visited with UC’s much-ballyhooed offensive line and came out of the tunnel first wearing a black shirt and bright red hat.

NFL Hall of Famer, Anthony Munoz in the house! pic.twitter.com/yWsE1UgCHR

— Cincinnati Football (@GoBearcatsFB) September 12, 2026

Assuming Jason and Travis Kelce are future NFL Hall of Famers, that makes one Cincinnatian with a gold jacket and two who will wear them in Canton sooner or later.

Also, at the game game was former Bearcats nose tackle Terrill Byrd from Colerain High School. Byrd was at UC from 2005-2008.

Our TQL alumni of the game is Terrill Byrd (2005-2008) 👏

Welcome back, Terrill! pic.twitter.com/QVtCLaeaJJ

— Cincinnati Bearcats (@GoBEARCATS) September 12, 2026

As first reported by The Enquirer in February and officially announced in June, the “Battle for the Victory Bell” is a neutral-site game on Sept. 19 at 3:30 p.m. at FC Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium. It’s the first American football game to be played at the venue.

The game was originally scheduled at the Bengals’ Paycor Stadium, but was moved to the 26,000-seat TQL Stadium. The teams last played at Yager Stadium in Oxford in 2024. That game drew 24,717, with the Bearcats prevailing 27-16.

UC leads the overall series 61-60-7. The two teams did not play last year. Miami defeated Holy Cross Sept. 12, 45-7, with the final quarter being reduced to 10 minutes because of the lopsided score. The RedHawks are 1-1.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 5 Cincinnati Bearcats football takeaways from win vs. Western Carolina