The 2020 Cincinnati Bearcats football team represented the University of Cincinnati in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bearcats played their home games at Nippert Stadium and competed as members of the American Athletic Conference. They were led by fourth-year head coach Luke Fickell.
Recruits
Incoming transfers Name Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Prev. School Jerome Ford RB 5' 11" 206 Sophomore (Redshirt) Seffner, FL Alabama Michael Young Jr. WR 5' 11" 190 Junior Destrehan, LA Notre Dame Jordan Jones WR 6' 1" 185 Senior Smackover, AR Arkansas
Preseason
Award watch lists Listed in the order that they were released Bednarik AwardDarrick ForrestSSr.Sauce GardnerCBSo.Thorpe AwardDarrick ForrestSSr.Sauce GardnerCBSo.James WigginsSSr.Nagurski AwardDarrick ForrestSSr.James WigginsSSr.Ray Guy AwardJames SmithPSr.Wuerffel TrophyBlake BacevichDESo.
AAC preseason media poll The preseason Poll was released September 1
Media poll 1 UCF 204 (10) 2 Cincinnati 201 (7) 3 Memphis 192 (2) 4 SMU 146 5 Navy 125 (1) 6 Tulane 118 7 Houston 114 8 Temple 88 9 Tulsa 49 10 East Carolina 42 11 South Florida 41
Schedule The Bearcats' 2020 schedule consisted of six home games and four away games. with the departure of UConn, the American eliminated divisions for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, the Bearcats 2020 schedule will include eight conference games – four home games and four road games. Cincinnati hosted East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, and South Florida. They will travel to UCF, SMU, Temple, and Tulsa.
The Bearcats' hosted their opening non-conference game against Austin Peay (FCS). Cincinnati had a sixth home game against Western Michigan and two away games scheduled against Nebraska and Miami (OH), which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the first season since 1944 that the Bearcats did not play Miami (OH) in the battle for the Victory Bell. To replace the canceled games, Cincinnati added a series against Army with a return game at Army scheduled for 2031.
The game between Tulsa and Cincinnati was originally scheduled to take place on October 17, however, due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to positive tests and subsequent quarantine of individuals within the Cincinnati program, the game was eventually rescheduled for December 12.
A COVID-19 outbreak within the Cincinnati program lead to the cancellation of the game between Temple and Cincinnati, scheduled for November 28, and the rescheduled game between Tulsa and Cincinnati, scheduled for December 12. In lieu of a head-to-head result against Tulsa, Cincinnati was granted hosting rights for the American Championship based upon conference tiebreakers.
Schedule Source:
Game summaries
Austin Peay
Army
South Florida
At SMU
Memphis
Houston
East Carolina
At UCF
Tulsa (AAC Championship Game)
Georgia (Peach Bowl)
Personnel
Roster and staff
Depth chart
Rankings
Awards and milestones
American Athletic Conference Weekly Awards Jarell White Defensive Player of the Week September 30, 2020 Desmond Ridder Offensive Player of the Week October 26, 2020 Desmond Ridder Offensive Player of the Week November 2, 2020 Myjai Sanders Defensive Player of the Week Desmond Ridder Offensive Player of the Week November 16, 2020 Jarell White Co-defensive Player of the Week Desmond Ridder Co-offensive Player of the Week November 23, 2020
Walter Camp Football Foundation FBS Weekly Awards Desmond Ridder Offensive Player of the Week October 25, 2020 Jarell White Defensive Player of the Week November 15, 2020
Individual Awards AAC Offensive Player of the YearDesmond Ridder AAC Coach of the YearLuke Fickell
NCAA Recognized All-American Sauce Gardner 2 2 1 James Wiggins 2 The NCAA recognizes a selection to all five of the AP, AFCA, FWAA, TSN and WCFF first teams for unanimous selections and three of five for consensus selections.
Other All-American Honors Sauce Gardner 2 1 1 James Wiggins 1 4
All-AAC OT 1 QB 1 RB 1 DL 1 LB 1 CB 1 CB 1 S 1 WR 2 TE 2 DL 2 DL 2 LB 2 P 2 RS 2 S HM OT HM Reference:
Players drafted into the NFL
4 110 James Hudson OT Cleveland Browns 5 163 Darrick Forrest S Washington Football Team7243James WigginsSArizona Cardinals7244Gerrid DoaksRBMiami Dolphins
References