Ohio State football: 5 reasons Bucks will dial up beatdown of Cincinnati

The Ohio State football  program face a familiar face at Ohio Stadium on Saturday in Luke Fickell, who now coaches the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Th Ohio State football program got a relatively easier assignment in the non-conference stretch this season.

Rather than playing a big name out of the Big 12, the Buckeyes will be playing host to the AAC’s very own Cincinnati Bearcats. Now this is more of a marquee match up in an emotional sense rather than physical as the Buckeyes have been big brother to the Bearcats for quite a while now. Just when the Bearcats thought they had basketball to hold over the Buckeyes, that changed rather quickly last fall.

The Bearcats are coached by former Buckeyes defensive coordinator and interim head coach Luke Fickell. Fickell was on the staff when the Buckeyes won the inaugural College Football Playoff in 2014.

The Bearcats had a rough start under Fickell in his first season as head coach. The expectations were there for Fickell to bring some success since leaving Ohio State but people should remember that he wasn’t as great of a head coach in his short experience with the Buckeyes either.

Fickell went 6-7 in his one season as interim head coach for the Buckeyes back in 2011. This is a small sample size and the Buckeyes were in a tough spot at the time. The following season was barred from possibility of playing in a postseason game as well but is still noteworthy.

Last season, the Bearcats shot up to an 11-2 overall record. They start off hot going undefeated before the bye week. The Bearcats’ win streak ended after an overtime loss to Temple immediately following the bye. Their second loss would come via a thrashing by the eventual AAC Conference winning UCF Knights who went undefeated in the regular season.

The Buckeyes are 14-2 in match ups against the Bearcats. This is one of the older series that the Buckeyes have been a part of with the first match up taking place in 1893. In fact, it’s been over a century since the Bearcats have beaten the Buckeyes. If it wasn’t for modern technology, nobody would have known about those wins for the Bearcats as there wasn’t many ways to communicate to the masses back then.

In what should be another match up where the Buckeyes outclass a weaker opponent, the opportunity rises once again for the team to improve. One thing that would have been appreciated last weekend would have been a larger margin of victory. The Buckeyes went up big early and should not have looked back. This weekend will give the Buckeyes another shot to be great.