Desmond Ridder was, and always will be, a special player for the Cincinnati Bearcats football program. Under head coach Luke Fickell, the program became the first ever Group of Five team to make the College Football Playoff. Over their four years together, the Bearcats went 43-6 with a few marquee wins. Now a member of the Atlanta Falcons, Ridder will be looking to continue those winning ways at the professional level.
Was there a certain game that personified that mentality? Luke Fickell joined Thomas Mott to discuss.
There are many different games that fans could point to that illustrate how important Ridder was to the Bearcat football program. They secured numerous victories over Power Five programs like Virginia Tech, UCLA, and Boston College.
That success, however, was taken to new heights in the 2021 season. Cincinnati was on a quest to make the Playoff, and that required marquee wins. Those came over when the Bearcats bested both Indiana and top-10 Notre Dame on road. Many fans would point to the heroic effort the team had against the Fighting Irish as the moment that personified Desmond Ridder, but Fickell disagreed.
It was the third week of the college football season, and all eyes shifted to Bloomington, Indiana for the showdown between Cincinnati and Indiana. The Hoosiers were coming off one of their best seasons, but were struggling early. It was a must-win game for both teams and IU came out swinging.
The Bearcats trailed 14-0 with under two minutes to play in the first half.
"In the before (the Notre Dame game), we played about the worst 28 minutes of football in the first half," Fickell said, "He never panicked. We made a drive, we had a two-minute situation to put it within 10 points at halftime and we were down. He had always been the leader and so smooth, but this is his senior year and this is press-time. How is he going to handle this locker room? How is he going to handle this second half?"
The Bearcats prevailed on the road after outscoring the Hoosiers 28-10 in the second half. That starts and ends with the leadership and poise of their quarterback.
"He was the example in that locker room of what cool, calm, and collected looks like. It's what you want your leader to be. And then went out in that second half, led us to victory, which led into Notre Dame which continued the momentum."
That Notre Dame game proceeded to put the program on the map, but it would have never been possible without the herculean effort from Ridder just two weeks before.