The Cincinnati football team came up short in Week 1 in a 20-17 loss to Nebraska at Arrowhead Stadium. Former Cincinnati football stars Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce were on hand to watch their former team play in the Kansas City Chiefs stadium, but the Bearcats came up just short in a close game.
Nebraska had a 13-3 lead at halftime before Cincinnati made things interesting. Then, with the score at 20-17, Cincinnati needed just a field goal to tie it. The Bearcats were driving down the field, but Brendan Sorsby threw an interception that sealed their fate.
Sorsby, who transferred from Indiana for the 2024 season, returned in 2025 and was named the QB1. However, Week 1 was not a great outing as the signal-caller went just 13-of-25 for 69 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
After the loss, Sorsby had an honest reaction to the poor performance, per Neil Meyer of Front Office News.
“When you have 69 yards passing, you're either not doing enough right or their defense is doing everything right. Tonight, was a mix of both of those.”
On the other hand, Sorsby did lead the Bearcats in rushing with 96 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries, but the passing game was ineffective on opening night.
Cyrus Allen led the wide receivers with five catches for 41 yards, but no other pass catcher had more than 15 yards and only Joe Royer had more than one reception.
In 2024, Sorsby threw for 2,813 yards with 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions, which is an average of 234 yards per game, so this was a performance he will want to forget, although it will be one that could be on his mind as he tries to learn from it and improve.
Cincinnati will look to respond against Bowling Green in Week 2 and after that, it is Northwestern State before starting Big 12 Conference play against Kansas.
