The Kentucky Wildcats are still searching for win No. 1 in 1996 after suffering a24-3 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati, OH onSaturday afternoon. Cincinnati evened its record to 1-1 while the Wildcats fell to0-2.
The Bearcats used two first-quarter touchdowns, including a blocked punt returnfor a TD, to establish a lead that would not be challenged. Kentuckys only pointscame on a 33-yard field goal by Brian Johnson with no time remaining in thesecond quarter.
Cincinnati’s first touchdown came on a 10-yard pass from quarterback ChadPlummer to Daryl Royal. Less than a minute later, Anthony Ladd returned ablocked punt for touchdown, stretching the lead to 14-0. The Bearcats extendedthe lead to 21-3 on a Chad Plummer-to-Robert Tate 37-yard touchdown pass thatwas set up by Darius Felders recovery of a fumbled punt return by Kentucky.Eric Richards nailed a 23-yard field goal in the third quarter to complete thescoring. Neither team scored in the fourth.
The Wildcats amassed only 56 yards in the air, all by Billy Jack Haskins. RayMcLaurin carried the ball 19 times for 82 yards.
Game Preview and Stats Game FactsSept 7, 1996 Nippert Stadium Attendance: 30,729Cincinnati 24 Kentucky 3Score By Quarters 1 2 3 4 FinalKentucky 0 3 0 0 3Cincinnati 14 7 3 0 24First Quarter:5:38 Cin-Daryl Royal 10 yard pass from Chad Plummer (Eric Richards kick)C 7 UK 0Scoring drive: 4 plays, 30 yards4:36 Cin-Anthony Ladd 5 yard return of blocked punt (Eric Richards kick) C 14 UK 0Second Quarter::40 Cin-Robert Tate 37 yard pass from Chad Plummer (Eric Richards kick)Scoring drive: 7 plays, 50 yards:00 UK-FG Brian Johnson, 33 yardsScoring drive: 4 plays, 41 yardsThird Quarter:1:34 Cin-FG Eric Richards, 23 yards Scoring drive: 7 plays, 74 yardsFourth Quarter:No Scoring Game Stats Team Statistics UC UK First downs 13 12 Rushing 5 7 Passing 8 4 Penalty 0 1 Rushing attempts 40 37 Yards gained rushing 164 156 Yards lost rushing 40 39 Net yards rushing 124 117 Net yards passing 223 56 Passes attempted 19 20 Passes completed 12 8 Had intercepted 0 0 Total offensive plays 59 57 Total net yards 347 173 Average gain/play 5.9 3.0 Fumbles: number-lost 2-1 3-2 Penalties: number-lost 8-79 8-58 Number of punts-yards 5-206 9-335 Average/per 41.2 37.2 Punt returns: number-yards 8-69 3-12 Kickoff returns: number-yards 1-23 5-94 Interception returns: no.-yards 0-0 0-0 Fumble returns: number-yards 0-0 0-0 Possession time 30:02 29:58 Third-down conversions 3 of 13 4 of 15 Fourth-down conversions 1 of 1 0 of 0 Sacks by: number-yards 4-29 0-0 Individual Statistics Cincinnati (1-0) Rushing Att. Yards TD Long Royal 10 46 0 14 O. Smith 14 43 0 12 L. Smith 5 30 0 11 Passing Att-Comp-Int. Yards TD Long Plummer 18-12-0 223 2 62 Pass Receiving No. Yards TD Long Tate 3 54 1 37 Ladd 3 36 0 25 L. Smith 2 82 0 62 Kentucky (0-2) Rushing Att. Yards TD Long McLaurin 19 82 0 19 Haskins 10 22 0 12 Passing Att-Comp-Int. Yards TD Long Haskins 16-8-0 56 0 18 Couch 0-4-0 0 0 0 Pass Receiving No. Yards TD Long Coleman 3 22 0 10 McCord 2 26 0 18
