CINCINNATI — For the first time in more than 1,000 days, Cincinnati Bearcats head football coach Luke Fickell addressed the media following a regular season loss. The Bearcats are coming off of a 31-24 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Despite the final score, Fickell said he found a bunch of positives from the game. Roger Bacon alum and LSU transfer running back Corey Kiner impressed Fickell in his Bearcats debut.
“That was one of those question marks, I had no real idea how it was going to go. That position in particular I think is the most difficult one when you don’t know because you don’t tackle really as much (in practice). I thought he did a really good job. I thought he was physical, I thought he took care of the football. He made a couple big plays. There is going to be a lot more coming down the chute for him,” Fickell said.
A glaring issue from last week that needs to be addressed is the number of helmets that came off of Cincinnati players' heads during the game. Every time a helmet comes off of a player, they are forced to sit out at least one play.
“We are going to use double-sided tape inside there, and stick them on their heads,” Fickell joked when asked about how the team plans to fix the issue of helmets falling off. “We are going to tighten our chin straps, that was something that came out of the blue for us. You don’t tackle as much in fall camp, you don’t recognize those things, it’s probably a lot simpler than that."
The Bearcats' opponent this week is a stark contrast to the nationally ranked Arkansas Razorbacks of the SEC. Cincinnati will play in their home opener this Saturday against an FCS team, the Kennesaw State Owls.
“The preparation is so critical,” Fickell said about the upcoming matchup. “The first is (after the loss) to humble yourself. Then to challenge yourself to realize you have to get better…we did a lot more on Sunday because our kids were willing to,” Fickell said.
Kick off this Saturday at Nippert Stadium is 3:30 p.m.
