The Bearcats played their home games at Nippert Stadium, and competed as members of the East Division in the American Athletic Conference.

The Bearcats kicked off the 2019 season before a raucous near capacity crowd at Nippert Stadium and a national TV audience, and like their previous meeting against the visitors from the Pac-12 dominated the game after a slow start.

The Bruins nearly flipped the game momentum when Ridder threw an interception near the goal line late in the first half, CB Jay Shaw raced 60 yards with the pass before Josiah Deguara heroically shed several blockers to make the tackle.

The Bearcats men's basketball team logged wins over the Bruins in Dec 2017 in Los Angeles and in 2018 in the newly renovated Fifth Third Arena.

The win ensured the Victory Bell stays in Cincinnati for the 14th straight year, the longest run in the series which dates back to 1888 and is the oldest collegiate football rivalry west of the Alleghenies.

Shaking off their reputation for slow starts the Bearcats scored the game's first 45 points en route to a 52–14 blasting of Marshall in front of a sullen crowd in Huntington, W Va.

In front of a frenzied, black-clad crowd of 40,121 (which included a record 7,825 UC students), the Bearcats upset the 18th ranked Knights and avenged a pair of lopsided defeats from the previous two seasons.

The Bearcats forced 4 turnovers, limited UCF to 3.0 yards per carry, and held the high-powered Knights offense under 30 points for the first time in 31 games (which was an FBS record).

Sauce Gardner picked off a Dillon Gabriel pass and raced 16 yards with the stolen loaf to give the Bearcats a lead they would never relinquish.

After extending their lead to 11 with Desmond Ridder's scoring strike to Alec Pierce, the Knights fought back to close the game to 3 with a 45-yard pass from Gabriel to Nixon.

Michael Warren II took a screen pass from Ridder and pinballed his way to the end zone on an 11-yard TD to open the 4th quarter scoring and give the Bearcats a 28–17 lead.

After a Sam Crosa field goal increased the Bearcat lead to 8, the Cougars got the ball back needing a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie the score.

The Cougars started their drive inside their own 20 and Clayton Tune's 3rd down pass was batted by Malik Vann with Perry Young corralling the ricochet and waltzing into the end zone from 2 yards out for the clinching touchdown.

Gerrid Doaks scored three times as he filled in for Michael Warren II who was hampered by nagging injuries and held to 35 yards rushing.

After a bye week, the #17 ranked Bearcats headed on the road to face East Carolina, a team that they beat 56–6 in their previous meeting to end the 2018 regular season.

The Bearcats opening the scoring with a short TD run by Michael Warren II, only to have the Pirates answer with a 75-yard touchdown pass from Holton Ahlers to CJ Johnson.

The biggest play of the game came from the much-maligned defense—with the Pirates pushing into Bearcats territory for a potential backbreaking score, Sauce Gardner intercepted a short out route pass and raced 62 yards with the stolen loaf for a momentum turning touchdown.

With good field position due to a poor kickoff by Verity, UC's Ridder raced 30 yards on the first play, and a trio of short passes to Malick Mbodj got the Bearcats to the ECU 16-yard line.

The rout gave Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell a chance to use a majority of reserve players in the 2nd half, providing valuable game experience.

Combined with the loss by UCF to Tulsa earlier in the day, the win clinched no worse than a tie for the American Eastern Division.

The Bearcats failed to move the ball (actually losing 14 yards) and settled for a second Crosa field goal to double their lead going into the half.

Taking advantage of the kickoff going out of bounds, the Bearcats drove 65 yards in 9 plays, highlighted by an 18-yard run by Michael Warren II and a 14-yard scamper by Gerrid Doaks.

Taking over with one time-out and needing at 45 yards to get into field goal range, the Owls tried a last desperate drive, but 4 plays later Darrick Forrest picked off a deep pass attempt by Russo to seal the game.

The game was nationally televised on ABC and got off to an inauspicious start for the Bearcats as the kickoff was run back 94 yards by Chris Claybrooks for a Memphis touchdown.

Redshirt freshman Ben Bryant would get the start in Ridder's place and the Bearcat offense struggled to move consistently in the 1st quarter.

Trailing 17–3, the Bearcats drove the length of the field at the start of the 2nd quarter and Bryant found TE Leonard Taylor for a 4-yard touchdown pass.

The Bearcats cut the deficit back to 3 on a 12-yard touchdown scramble by Bryant, but the Tigers ground out another long drive aided by a costly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Myjai Sanders on what should have been a 3rd down stop.

Riley Patterson validated his 1st team all-AAC selection by booming a 52-yard field goal and heading into the final quarter, the Bearcats held a narrow 21–20 lead.

The Bearcats seniors were led by LB Perry Young, a Birmingham native who would be playing his final game in front of his hometown crowd.

Two plays into the subsequent BC drive, Eagle QB Dennis Grosel was sacked by Ethan Tucky and fumbled the ball.