The University of Cincinnati football team will look to win its 22nd straight home opener and head coach Scott Satterfield aims to win his debut at the helm of the Bearcats this Saturday when EKU travels to Nippert Stadium for a 3:32 p.m. ET kick.
UC, which joined the Big 12 on July 1, has sold out of tickets for the 12th consecutive game at home and will ring in its first season in its new Power 5 conference by welcoming a formidable Colonels squad that advanced to the FCS playoffs a year ago and beat an FBS team in Bowling Green last season.
"I'm as excited as I've ever been for a first game and to come out and coach in this environment, in this stadium, man it's going to be awesome," Satterfield said. "I love everything about it. I love the size, it's not 100,000 seat stadium, but it's right on top of you. The opponent hopefully will feel smothered and make it more difficult for them to do things and move the ball offensively. I know our players will feed off of the excitement and the atmosphere and it's just really inspirational to those guys and they'll continue to bring it every play."
EKU is led by senior quarterback Parker McKinney, a preseason FCS All-American, who passed for 3,956 yards and 33 touchdowns in 2022. The Colonels are expected to feature an explosive offense after averaging 36.9 points per game and eclipsing 40 points six times last season.
"We are facing one of the better passing teams at the FCS level last year," Satterfield said. "A quarterback that has a great opportunity at the next level…I think it's certainly going to be a test for our defense. If you give this quarterback time, he can pick you apart. We have to be able to create some pressure there and get him off his spot in that pocket and make him move his feet a little bit."
There may not be a team more prepared to pressure the quarterback than Cincinnati, which boasts one of the nation's top defensive lines, featuring preseason first team All-American Dontay "The Godfather" Corleone, all-conference defensive end Jowon Briggs and seniors Eric Phillips and Malik Vann.
"I think they're going to be hard to block," Satterfield said. "I think (Jowon) Briggs is playing the best ball of his career right now. We haven't played a game yet this year, but I think he will go out and make plays. Those guys will impact games."
Corleone, Briggs, quarterback Emory Jones and center Gavin Gerhardt were named captains by their peers on Sunday – the start of game week.
"It was an amazing feeling," said Jones. "There's no better feeling than to know your guys have your respect and that they look to you to be at your best at all times."
Gerhardt, a redshirt junior from Xenia, Ohio, is the only returning starter on offense, but Satterfield found plenty of veteran playmakers in the transfer portal this offseason.
Led by Jones, a sixth-year quarterback who started at Florida in 2021 and Arizona State in 2022, the Bearcats will employ an exciting, fast-paced and balanced attack. In addition to Jones, Cincinnati added 22 other transfers, including wide receivers Dee Wiggins (Louisville, Miami), Braden Smith (Louisville), Xzavier Henderson (Florida), Aaron Turner (UConn) and Donovan Ollie (Washington State), who all started at their previous schools.
Said Satterfield, "I want to make sure we're putting a great product on the field that's going to be very competitive and it's going to make some plays that the people are going to be excited about and cheer loud and go back and tell their friends, 'man, you got to come to a game – it's unbelievable.' So that's, that's what we have to do as coaches and players and keep them excited about coming back."
