The Cincinnati Bearcats needed a big game for them to be fully in the hunt for a spot in the College Football Playoff. They were able to get that chance by going on the road in a hostile road environment against the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, led by former Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly.

This game was big for playoff reasons, but they also wanted revenge on Kelly for leaving the program for the job at Cincinnati.

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Earlier in the week, Kelly was asked why he scheduled to have his Notre Dame face his former team of four years at Cincinnati. Kelly responded, “just wanted to give those schools an opportunity if there was an opening on our schedule. Anytime you have those opportunities to play Notre Dame and usually, those schools are wanting to do that.”

Kelly said this while also mentioning Central Michigan as two schools that should feel honored to play Notre Dame in a football game. Cincinnati didn’t just feel honored to face Notre Dame, they gave them their first loss of the season at home 24-13.

Cincinnati outgained Notre Dame in total yards accounted for 386-to-341 as the defense for Cincinnati forced three turnovers from Notre Dame. Bearcats quarterback Desmond Ridder threw for 297 yards and two touchdowns on 19 completions (out of 32 passing attempts). He also had a six-yard rushing touchdown late in the fourth quarter, which sealed the game for Cincinnati.

This was Cincinnati’s first-ever win over Notre Dame in program history. Cincinnati continues its journey to potentially become the first group of five conference team to get into the College Football Playoff. Notre Dame has its playoff chances tarnished and almost out of reach.