Emory Jones Sets School Record in 66-13 Win over EKY

By: Ryan Roberts

 

 

 

Coming in to Saturday's season opener against Eastern Kentucky, Scott Satterfield had mentioned several times throughout the off season that he likes to be aggressive with his offense and puts trust in his defense to make plays.

 

 

 

It didn't take long for those words to ring true. 

 

 

 

The Bearcats opened the game going 79 yards on 7 plays in 3 minutes 15 seconds for their first score of the game. After driving to midfield, the Bearcats completed an apparent first down pass at the EKU 35 yard line that was called back on a hold. Back to back penalties pushed the Bearcats back to their own 35. An Emory Jones keeper on 3rd and 16 took the Bearcats to the EKU 49 and Scott Satterfield elected to keep his offense on the field for a 4th and 5. The result? An Emory Jones to Xzavier Henderson 49 yard touchdown pass to give the home team an early 7-0 lead. 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Ryan Luster

 

 

 

Emory Jones stayed hot on the second drive of the game, leading the Bearcats 87 yards on 5 plays. 

 

 

 

Myles Montgomery keyed the drive with two rushes for 15 yards but it was the big play connections on back to back plays that put the Bearcats in the end zone. Jones connected with his former Florida teammate, Xzavier Henderson, for a 31 yard pass and catch and on the very next play found Louisville transfer Dee Wiggins wide open down the middle of the field for a 39 yard score. 

 

 

 

Two drives. Two touchdowns. And Emory Jones was cooking, going 7 for 7 with 143 yards through the air. 

 

 

 

The third Bearcats drive would take a little more time but ended with the same result: a Cincinnati touchdown.

 

 

 

A perfect screen call to Ryan Montgomery picked up 25 yards and 2 plays later Jones completed a 32 yard pass to Chris Scott to take the Bearcats down to the EKU 10 yard line. Emory Jones got the Cincinnati offense down to the 4 yard line on a 6 yard keeper then took it in from one yard out on 4th and 1 after a penalty on the EKU defense to give Cincinnati a 21-0 lead with 1:41 remaining in the 1st quarter.  The scoring drive:  9 plays 80 yards in 3:43.

 

 

 

The first quarter saw Cincinnati dominate on both sides of the ball as they outgained EKU 251-57 with Emory Jones completing 10 of 11 passes for 206 yards and accounting for all three touchdowns.

 

 

 

On the first Eastern Kentucky drive of the second quarter, safety Bryon Threats picked off EKU quarterback Parker McKinney and it wouldn't take the Bearcat offense long to find the end zone again.

 

 

 

The first play after the interception was a career long 54 yard run by Corey Kiner to the EKU 23 yard line. Kiner followed that up with a 9 yard run  to the EKU 1 yard line after a reverse to Aaron Turner for 13 yards. On the next play, Emory Jones would find tight end Payton Singletary for a one yard touchdown with 11:47 remaining in the 2nd quarter to extend the lead to 28-0. The drive: 4 plays 77 yards in 1:23. 

 

 

 

Another Bearcats defensive stop would result in yet another Bearcats' touchdown on the 5th drive of the game.

 

 

 

Emory Jones moved the Bearcats 38 yards on his first two passes of the drive as he found former Florida teammate Xzavier Henderson for 29 and 9 yard gains on back to back plays. The two completions gave Henderson 6 catches for 136 yards, a new career high. Myles Montgomery used a 10 yard run to get the Cats down to the EKU 12 yard line and Jones accounted for his fifth touchdown of the game on a highlight reel scramble and run to extend the lead to 35-0 with 7:17 remaining in the 2nd qtr. The drive: 8 plays 65 yards 3:46

 

 

 

While the game seemed well out of reach, the EKU offense wasn't ready to give up just yet.

 

 

 

Quarterback Parker McKinney led the Colonel offense 74 yards on 4 plays in 2:03 to get EKU on the board. The scoring play came on a 17 yard pass to Hunter Brown. Prior to the scoring drive, EKU had totaled just 96 yards of offense.

 

 

 

While the Bearcats had shown through their first 5 drives that they were able to score quick both through the air and on the ground, it was a long sustained drive that led to their 6th touchdown of the first half. 

 

 

 

The Bearcats started on their own 16 yard line and drove 84 yards in 10 plays over 4:14 as the drive was capped off by a Jones to Braden Smith 48 yard passing touchdown with 49 seconds remaining in the first half. 

 

 

 

At the half, Scott Satterfield's team was rolling as they had outgained EKU 487-180 and held a 42-7 advantage on the scoreboard. Emory Jones accounted for all 6 touchdowns and was 17-21 passing for 326 yards, 4 TD's, with 34 yards on 6 carries and two touchdowns on the ground. The first half performance was Jones' second career 300 yard passing game. Xzavier Henderson  was leading the receiving end with 149 yards and a touchdown on 7 catches.

 

 

 

The second half began with a Daniel Grzesiak sack and fumble recovery but a penalty prevented the Bearcats from capitalizing on the turnover as they settled for a 46 yard Carter Brown field goal to extend their lead to 45-7 with 13:21 remaining in the third quarter.

 

 

 

EKU was able to gain momentum and drive down to the Bearcat 21 on the ensuing drive . On a 4th and 1 attempt, Eric Phillips met the EKU running back in the backfield and forced a fumble but EKU recovered to continue the drive. Three plays later, Phillips picked up a sack and 11 yard loss to force an EKU 42 yard field goal. With 8:12 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Cincinnati held a 45-10 lead.

 

 

 

With the game well out of reach, Scott Satterfield used the final drive with his starters to work on some different looks for Emory Jones and the offense. We saw multiple option looks with both receivers and running backs as the pitch man. Corey Kiner picked up 35 yards on the drive to put him over the 100 yard rushing mark with 105 yards, his second career 100 yard rushing game. The drive would last 5:30 as an 11 play, 75 yard drive was capped off by a Jones to Aaron Turner 6 yard touchdown. With 2:42 remaining in the third quarter, Cincinnati's lead had grown to 52-10.

 

 

 

 

 

Justin Harris picked off Parker McKinney on the next EKU drive to give Cincinnati the ball at the EKU 37 and Emory Jones day was finished as he had 345 yds and 5 touchdowns on 19 of 21 passing with 26 yards and 2 touchdowns on 9 carries. 

 

 

 

Brady Lichtenberg scored his first career touchdown on the next drive from 4 yards out as Scott Satterfield's offense extended the lead to 59-10 with 13:39 remaining. The Drive: 6 plays 37 yards 2:39.

 

 

 

Cincinnati finished the game outgaining EKU 667-302 as the Cats rolled in Scott Satterfield's first win as Cincinnati head coach. True freshman Barry Jackson took his first career catch 65 yards for a touchdown to make the final score 66-13. 

 

Photo by Ryan Luster

 

 

Notable Stats:

 

Corey Kiner- 13 carries 105 yards

 

Xzavier Henderson- 7 catches 149 yds 1 TD

 

Braden Smith- 4 catches 72 yds 1 TD

 

 

 

Daniel Grzesiak -  7 tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFL

 

Deshawn Pace - 6 tackles, 0.5 sacks , 0.5 TFL

 

 

 

Attendance:

 

38,193 (11th largest crowd in Nippert history)

 

 

 

Up Next;

 

Saturday September 9th at Pittsburgh  6:30 kickoff

 

 

 

Scott Satterfield will hold his weekly press conference on Tuesday to preview the match up.