College football 2020: Ranking the 3 worst losses from Week 8

2. No. 16 SMU dismantled at home by No. 9 Cincinnati

While the game of the week went to Michigan at Minnesota, one of the most important matchups was the race for first place in the American Conference. The No. 9 Cincinnati Bearcats and No. 16 SMU Mustangs both were looking to make the jump to being the first team from the Group of Five to make the playoffs.

To do that, they would have to go through each other.

The Mustangs were the ones that were favored going into the game. SMU was the team that won the turnover battle they had problems trying to make this game a shootout as it was anticipated.  The Bearcats out-gained the Mustangs in total yards 439-290 even though SMU had five more first downs than Cincinnati (22-17).

The biggest flaw of the Mustangs’ defense has been their inability to stop the run as they gave up 135 rushing yards per game before facing the Bearcats. The Bearcats rushed for 313 yards and five touchdowns on 35 carries. The SMU defense allowed big runs from dual-threat quarterback Desmond Ridder as he rushed for 179 yards and three touchdowns on eight carries. Running back Gerrid Doaks had 105 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.

Cincinnati had a highly efficient defense as it was ranked sixth in scoring defense but they had not faced a high-powered offense like SMU’s all season. Cincinnati held Shane Buechele to an average performance.