Wahoo Wire

The weather outside may have been a bit frightful, but Cincinnati’s offense found nickel-and-diming East Carolina’s overmatched defense to be oh-so-delightful as the Bearcats chipped their way to 13-0 and a date with No. 6 Florida in the Citrus Bowl.

Amidst light snowfall, All-Big East quarterback Tony Pike worked efficiently, completing 20 of his 25 pass attempts for 273 yards and three scores and moving Cincinnati down the field methodically. The Bearcats were forced to punt only four times, compared to eight punts by the Pirates, and all but one of their touchdowns came from inside the red zone.

“This isn’t ideal weather for us, obviously,” Pike said after the game. “We had to dial our offense down a notch, take what the defense gave us, but I think we ended up getting into a pretty good rhythm.”

Cincinnati running back Isaiah Pead grinded out 99 yards on 16 carries, including a 51-yard off-tackle run that was easily the game’s longest play. Backs Jacob Ramsey and John Goebel added 77 yards on 18 carries, helping the Bearcats to a six minute edge in time of possession.

Courtesy of walterfootball.com

Early on, East Carolina took a 7-0 lead on a first-quarter drive capped by a 17-yard pass from Patrick Pinkney to wide receiver Dwayne Harris. On the day, though, Pinkney connected on only 11 of 28 attempts for 129 yards as the Pirates struggled to block Cincinnati’s defensive front, allowing three sacks and countless hurries and managing only 3.2 yards per carry on 54 attempts.

“Pass protection was lacking today,” East Carolina head coach Skip Holtz said in his postgame address. “He [Pinkney] has the ability to extend plays with his feet, but we didn’t do a good job of sliding protection to give him time to make his reads.”

With their defense holding steady, the undefeated Bearcats went on a 38-7 run to put the game well out of the Pirates’ reach by the end of the third quarter.

Losing ended East Carolina’s surprise run to the postseason, one week after a 38-32 upset of Houston in the Conference USA Championship earned them an automatic bid.

Results of Other Games:

#1 Alabama vs. #16 Troy

#8 Oregon vs. #9 Ohio State

#4 TCU vs. #13 Iowa

#5 Boise State vs. #12 West Virginia

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#2 Texas vs. #15 Central Michigan

#7 Georgia Tech vs. #10 LSU

#6 Florida vs. #11 Virginia Tech

#3 Cincinnati vs. #14 East Carolina