Cincinnati Football: 3 takeaways from Birmingham Bowl win over Boston College

2. Desmond Ridder puts up a personal best on the ground

It wasn’t exactly the best day passing the ball for Desmond Ridder. Even though the Cincinnati quarterback averaged only 172 yards per game through the air, it was still a rough outing statistically for Ridder. He finished the day 14-of-24 with only 95 passing yards. He did throw one touchdown pass to Malick Mbodj, but it was with his legs that Ridder did his most damage to complete his redshirt sophomore season with the Bearcats.

For the first time in his college career, Ridder ran for multiple touchdowns in a game. The quarterback finished with three scores on the ground, as Cincinnati ran up the score on their hapless ACC opponent. Ridder carried the ball 21 times as he finished the day with 105 rushing yards by himself against a Boston College defense that gave up an average of 180 yards per game.

What makes it more impressive is that Ridder sat out much of the fourth quarter after his third touchdown run of the game. That score came with 13:06 remaining, effectively meaning Ridder did his damage in only three quarters and change. After a quick Boston College three-and-out took just over a minute off the clock, Ben Bryant came on in relief of Ridder for the rest of the Cincinnati victory.

With Ridder back next season, the Bearcats offense will continue to skew run-heavy. As their field general showed against Boston College on the second day of 2020, Luke Fickell’s team performs just fine without needing too much productivity through the air from their quarterback.