Cincinnati Football Preview 2026: Bearcats Have to Break Through
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Bottom line, Cincinnati has improved in each of the last three seasons under Scott Satterfield.
It might not seem like it, considering the way the team collapsed over the second half of last season, but in a rebuilding mode, the program went from three wins to five to seven.
Cincinnati Needs the Improvements To Work Now
The problem now is the perception in a Big 12 that’s loaded with improvement and above-average teams.
Satterfield left Louisville after going 25-24 in four seasons, and Jeff Brohm came in and took things to another level. 40-46 now as an FBS head man, this is the year when the Bearcats have to bust through.
A whopper of a transfer portal haul will help, but seemingly everyone else in the Big 12 – okay, maybe not Colorado and Iowa State – got better, too.
Cincinnati Quick Hits
- Head Coach: Scott Satterfield (4th year at Cincinnati, 15-22; 14th year overall, 91-70)
- Best Case / Worst Case: Everything clicks in a Big 12 title push/Third losing season in four years
- Key Player: JC French IV, QB Sr.
- 2025 Record: 7-6
- Biggest Question: Can the defense slow down any of the great offenses on the Big 12 schedule?
– 2026 Cincinnati Schedule Analysis
Cincinnati Key 2025 Stats
- Sacks: Cincinnati 23 for 118 yards, Opponents 8 for 40 yards
- Two-Point Conversions: Opponents 4-of-7, Cincinnati 0-2
- 1st Quarter Scoring: Cincinnati 125, Opponents 66
Offense
When the offense worked, everything was great, the team was winning, the world was a bright sunny place, and …
Life was horrible when the thing stalled.
It’s a fast attack that doesn’t care about the time of possession battle or keeping control on long, drawn-out marches. It does care about going 1000 miles per hour and keeping defenses on their toes, and this year, let’s just say things have changed a little bit.
What’s Working
Without getting into the Brendan Sorsby stuff, there’s a reason why he was among the hottest quarterbacks in the portal. In this offense, the deep shots are there, and when Sorsby was on, everything exploded.
The Bearcats went 6-0 when they averaged more than 8.5 yards per completion, and even without Sorsby, they’re going to keep it flying thanks to Georgia Southern quarterback transfer JC French IV.
The running backs are coming in to fill the holes. Zion Johnson is about to be a star as the main man in the backfield, but French can run, and so can backs Gi’Bran Payne (Notre Dame), Cole Tabb (Stanford), and Zylan Perry (Louisiana) coming in.
The receiving corps is even more impressive. Who doesn’t want to play in this offense and catch a ton of deep balls?
Top target Cyrus Allen and his 13 touchdown catches is gone, but Cade Wolford (Kent State), JV Gibson (Oklahoma), Larenzo Fenner (South Dakota), Flynn Schele (Colorado School of Mines), and Malachi Henry (Central Arkansas) give the Bearcats one of the deepest receiving corps in the Big 12.
What Needs Work
Here’s the part no one likes to talk about – the offense only worked against the blah. All of those big performances and wins came against teams that finished with losing records, with the exception of an Iowa State team whose wheels came off as the season went on.
Who slowed the thing down? BYU, Utah, TCU, Arizona, and Nebraska.
The time of possession thing really does matter. There’s a reason the fourth quarter was the Cincinnati defense’s worst. The Bearcats were dead last in the nation at keeping control of the clock, holding the ball for just over 24 minutes per game.
Not surprisingly, this had a lot to do with third down conversions. For the most part, everything was great when the Bearcats were moving the chains.
Over the late backslide, they didn’t convert more than 34% of the time in any of the last four games.
Again, not to get into the Sorsby issues, but he really is a great quarterback. He’s got NFL upside, and French, as experienced and accurate as he is, is a 6-1, 205-pound baller. The yards and big plays will be there, but he threw 19 picks over the last two seasons at Georgia Southern.
Player to Watch
Zion Johnson, RB RFr.
The Bearcats don’t need a big-time workhorse with all the talent at running back, but there’s a ton to like about the 5-8, 185-pound redshirt freshman. Johnson can dart through the slightest crease, has good power, and is the perfect fit for the attack.
Defense
The defense didn’t do a heck of a lot to help the cause late in the season, but it didn’t help that the offense was on the field for all of, seemingly, 45 seconds a game.
The fast-paced style isn’t changing, so the defense has to get better. That’s where new defensive coordinator Nate Woody comes in.
More attacking, more toughness against the run, and most importantly on this team, more third down stops are a must.
What’s Working
At least early on, the defense was great against the run. This is where the momentum side from the UC offense matters. When it’s rolling, teams have to throw to keep up.
Good things happened when the Bearcats held up, and teams didn’t run – Cincinnati was 7-2 when teams ran 48 times or fewer.
Along with bringing in Nate Woody, the transfer portal should help fix the glitches. Here comes the beef for the interior with Chidera Otutu (UTSA) and Josh Hough (California of Pennsylvania) to help out an already decent pair of Elijah Gunn and Cam Roetherford on the inside.
The pressure comes from all sides. There might not be an established FBS pass rusher to rely on – more on this in a moment – but the Bearcats aren’t bad at getting into the backfield and being a bother. The defensive style will change a bit with more quarterback hits on the way.
What Needs Work
There’s a flip side to dealing with teams that didn’t run enough. How do you keep control against the Bearcats? You run, dominate the clock and tempo, and you own the narrative. That’s teams that could run and pound away close to 50 times or more won.
A lot more takeaways would be a huge help. There were 389 passes thrown against Cincinnati. The Bearcat defense intercepted just two of them.
To keep this simple, the D needs to get off the field by any way possible.
Yeah, duh, that’s sort of the point, but really, for a group that has to be on the field as much as this one, it has to beg, borrow, and steal stalled drives. To keep hammering on this …
There are way too many first downs allowed. The Bearcats were dead last in the Big 12 when it came to the chains moving, allowing teams to crank up 22.7 per game. Even worse, most of them came on the ground – only three teams gave up more rushing first downs.
Player to Watch
Thomas Johnson, EDGE Sr.
No pressure, new guy, just be the pass rusher the program desperately needed over the last few years.
The 6-3, 250-pound transfer from North Carolina Central was a dominant force last season on the lower level with 12 sacks and 18 tackles for loss. He’ll be put on one edge and told to turn it loose.
Keys to the Season
Do things better.
Cincinnati might have more talent coming – there’s a lot to like – but it has to win games on its schematic advantages.
The offense has to be more consistently effective, and the defense has to find ways to help the cause when the momentum is starting to slip away.
This can work.
Player Who Needs To Shine
JC French, QB Sr.
Brendan Sorsby might have looked great in the system, but French is used to throwing lots and lots of passes. He won’t be fazed by what he has to do to get this moving.
French threw it almost 800 times for close to 6,000 yards over the last two seasons. Yes, he threw a lot of picks, but his interception rate was terrific considering the volume.
Biggest Concern
Can the defense start to hold up?
The talent coming in should make everything better, but there were too many times over the second half of last season when the line was getting shoved around with ease.
This can’t be a better campaign unless the defense holds more teams ot four yards per carry or fewer.
Biggest Game
Kansas State, September 26
The Bearcats can’t and won’t take any game lightly, but as long as they can get the offense moving, they should beat Boston College, Western Carolina, and Miami University to start the season.
Kansas State will be far better than last year, the ground game will be great, and the Bearcats need to stop it to win the Big 12 home opener. With five of the last eight games on the road, they can’t give this away.
Transfer Portal
Considering they lost a quarterback of Brendan Sorsby’s talent, the transfer portal was an overall win.
The Bearcats crushed the skill player signings, loading up at receiver and running back, and they at least addressed the concerns on the defensive side by throwing lots and lots of options at the wall to see what sticks.
Best Signing
Cade Wolford, WR (Kent State)
You want to talk about the perfect fit for the perfect attack – Cincinnati likes to chuck it deep, and it got a guy who blows the top off of defenses.
Wolford only caught 19 passes last year for Kent State, but they went for close to 27 yards per grab with seven scores. He’ll get the ball in his hands in a variety of ways.
Biggest Loss
Christian Harrison, S (Arkansas)
Of course, losing a high-profile quarterback like Sorsby is the biggest loss, but if he had stuck around Cincinnati, he almost certainly wouldn’t have ended up playing.
The defense needed to keep as many key parts as possible. Harrison was fourth on the team with 66 tackles and led the way with seven broken up passes. Now he’s a Hog.
Other Names to Know
- JV Gibson, WR (Oklahoma)
- MJ Cannon, CB (Bowling Green)
- Chidera Otutu, NT (UTSA)
CFN Season Prediction
It’s a better Cincinnati team, and there’s a lot to like about how the program has sort of settled in a bit now under Satterfield, and there’s real hope for this to be a bigger season if the defense comes together, and …
Remember, the Bearcats mostly just beat the bad teams last year, and there aren’t many on this year’s slate. On the contrary, the word you’re looking for when it comes to the Big 12 schedule is yeeeeeeeeeeesh.
CFN Prediction: 4-8
It’ll be hard, because the Bearcats should rip through their first three games without much of a problem. But try this out for a road run.
Arizona, West Virginia, Houston (who should be fantastic this season), Iowa State, and BYU. Okay, so maybe there’s a win or two in that bunch, but the Big 12 home slate is Kansas State, Texas Tech, Utah, and Colorado.
The Bearcats will probably be the underdog against everyone in conference play but Colorado, but getting to six wins and a bowl game is on the table.
Anything more would take something amazing.
Related: Big 12 Football Win Totals 2026: Spring Predictions for All 16 Teams
This story was originally published by College Football News on Jun 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add College Football News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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