Nov 20, 2025
3 min read
No. 11 BYU looks to continue its rise in the polls and secure a spot in the Big 12 title game and the College Football Playoff when it visits Cincinnati on Saturday night.
No.11 by Nisita Cincinnati with 12 big names, CFP last online
No. 11 BYU hopes to continue its rise in the polls and secure a spot in both the Big 12 title game and the College Football Playoff when it visits slumping Cincinnati on Saturday night.
No. 11 BYU continues to rise in the polls, securing a berth in both the Big 12 title game and the College Football Playoff when it visits slumping Cincinnati on Saturday night.
The Cougars (9-1, 4 of the BIG 12) can clinch a spot in the big Charles game with an Arizona Kansas State win or a TUPE Kansas State win at In Arizona in Ded.6.
Cincinnati (7-3, 5-2) was hoping to both play in the Big 12 championship game and advance to the CFP, but entered Saturday night on a two-game losing streak. The Bearcats, who lost 45-14 to No. 12 Utah State on Nov. 1, fell out of the top 25 rankings last week with a 30-24 home loss to Arizona.
BYU sits a half-game behind Texas Tech in the Big 12 standings and is one game ahead of Cincinnati, Houston, Arizona State and Utah, all of whom have 5-2 conference records.Ranked No. 11 in the CFP, the Cougars will be close to qualifying for the 12-team tournament.
The Cougars bounced back from their first loss at Texas Tech last week by beating TCU at home, 44-13, to improve their postseason chances.
Freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier passed for 296 yards and a touchdown and also ran for a 17-yard score.It was his 10th of the season, tying him with Steve Young (1982), Taysom Hill (2013) and Zach Wilson (2020) for the school record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a season.
Bachmeyer has 2,177 passing yards and 13 touchdowns this season.His 479 rushing yards are third among Big 12 quarterbacks, and his 10 rushing touchdowns are tied for second among all players in the conference.
"I liked the track after the last week," coach Byu Kalani said."I got to know them very well the whole week. I'm happy with everything. I think it's just a matter of all of us in the three categories."
"I thought it worked well, and it felt good, the way I was asked to play everything.
BYU's defense leads the Big 12 with 14 interceptions and is tied for fourth in the conference with 25 sacks.
Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby aims to get back on track after two poor performances in the team's last two losses.Sorsby has completed just 26 of 61 passes with two touchdowns and three interceptions over the past two games.He started the season with 20 TD passes and just one interception through the first eight games.
The No. 11 Cougars are the highest-ranked team to visit Nippert Stadium since No. 6 Houston in 2016.
Bearcats head coach Scott Satterfield will look to his veteran leadership on senior night as Cincinnati looks to regroup with late-season momentum.
"The message to the guys is we're dealing with adversity now," Satterfield said."It's easy to lead when things are going well. When you're dealing with adversity, how are we leading now? I've challenged my guys with that. We have great leadership, so I'm hoping those guys will come in and figure out what we can be better at."
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