‘We’re not there yet’: Cincinnati Bearcats come up just short against Georgia Bulldogs in Peach Bowl
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ATLANTA — Junior quarterback Desmond Ridder snaked his way out of the tunnel with his hood up, his mask on and his hands in his pockets. It was 9:55 on Friday morning at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, and the No. 8 (College Football Playoff ranking) University of Cincinnati Bearcats football players walked onto the field for the first time before the Peach Bowl game against No. 9 Georgia.
The other players around Ridder had their phones out, taking videos and photos of the scene. It was the first NFL stadium some of them had ever played in. There was a circular scoreboard at the top of the stadium. The ceiling lit up.
By the time Ridder reached the 10-yard line, he emerged from the pack while keeping his eyes trained mid-field, where the Bearcats were about to meet.
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Ridder looked like he belonged. So did the Bearcats.
UC was only two yards away from proving it with a win.
“We’ve been ready to play this game for a long time,” Ridder said “It’s just disappointing, obviously, the way it ended.”
After the Bearcats couldn’t convert on 3rd and 2 near midfield, they punted the ball to the Bulldogs with 1:28 left. Georgia kicker Jack Podlesny made the game-winning 53-yard field goal with three seconds remaining, and the Bulldogs beat UC 24-21 in the Peach Bowl.
“We’re not there yet,” head coach Luke Fickell said. “That’s what keeps motivating you, and I think that there’s a lot of things we’re going to take from this that we know we can do.”
It was nearly a program-defining win for the Bearcats, and Ridder nearly led UC to the first New Year’s Six bowl win in program history. At the end of the third quarter, the Bearcats led 21-10 and had the ball. With 1:47 left in the game, UC had a 21-19 lead and a first down.
Instead, the Bearcats lost on a field goal.
“It also helps us and makes us hungrier to say, ‘Hey, we know what we’ve got to get to,’” Fickell said. “There’s a few other steps that we’ve still got to be able to take, closing it and sealing it.”
If UC had gotten 10 more yards in the last two minutes, the Bearcats could have kneeled the clock out the rest of the way.
Earlier in the drive, the Bearcats snapped the ball twice with more than 10 seconds left on a running play clock. UC could have killed 22 more seconds on the game clock by the time they got a first down on the Bearcats’ 32-yard line with 1:47 left.
Even though what happened next didn’t work out, Fickell stood by the play-calling.
“We’re going to play to win,” Fickell said. “We play to win. And you know, we do what we do… We’re not going to go back wondering and trying to play the wishing and wanting game. We’re going to be aggressive.”
On first down from the Bearcats’ 32-yard line, sophomore running back Jerome Ford ran the ball for a 1-yard loss. UC was playing without all-conference running back Gerrid Doaks and all-conference left tackle James Hudson, and Ford said the run game was struggling.
“(We were) shooting ourselves in the foot,” Ford said.
Onsecond and 11, Ridder completed an 8-yard pass to tight end Bruno Labelle. That set up third and 2 from the 40-yard line with 1:41 left, and the Bearcats designed a short passing play to star tight end Josh Whyle, who had already made a diving touchdown catch in the first half.
After a Georgia defensive back covered Whyle, Ridder saw senior wide receiver Michael Young Jr. open down the field, and Ridder tried to seal the win with a deep pass.
“The ball just didn’t get (there),” Ridder said. “The ball hung up in the air for what felt like an eternity. But if that ball would have gotten up and down quicker, it would have been a completion.”
The Bulldogs had 40 more seconds to work with.
With 1:28 and no timeouts, Georgia quarterback JT Daniels had the ball on the Bulldogs’ 25-yard-line. Facing a Bearcats defense that was missing two injured defensive backs –– second team All-American safety James Wiggins and second team All-American cornerback Ahmad Gardner –– Daniels completed five consecutive passes to get to the Bearcats’ 36-yard line.
Podlesny made a Peach Bowl record 53-yard field goal that gave Georgia a 22-21 lead. The Bearcats final snap as the clock ran out went for a safety.
Ridder had one of his best games of the season, completing 24-of-37 passes for 207 yards. And even though the Bearcats defense forced two turnovers, UC lost the game at the end.
“The Cincinnati team had an absolute incredible effort,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. “The way they played us defensively, I have a lot of respect for Luke Fickell and his team. The quarterback they have is a talented man. For people to try to take shots at their conference and their level of play, they got a really, really good quality football team.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bearcats come up two yards short in devastating 24-21 Peach Bowl loss to Georgia