The Cardinals scored the game's third straight touchdown in response, with a pass from Brock Domann to Marshon Ford, and added another on their next drive with under a minute left.
[17] The Bearcats, representing the American Athletic Conference (AAC) and coming off of a College Football Playoff appearance in 2021, began their campaign with a road trip to play No.
[19] A neutral-site game at Paycor Stadium followed, as the Bearcats defeated rivals Miami (OH),[20] and they returned home to finish September with a 21-point win over Indiana.
[21] In their first AAC contest, the Bearcats beat Tulsa by ten,[22] which put them back into the AP Top 25 for the first time since the preseason poll.
[24] They earned bowl eligibility following a defeat of SMU on the road,[25] though dropped out of the rankings the next week after losing a four-point contest at UCF.
[26] They rebounded quickly with a pair of home conference wins against Navy[27] and East Carolina,[28] before traveling to Philadelphia and beating Temple by twenty points.
[35][36] Another pair of road games followed, as Louisville fell to Boston College by a single point[37] before beating Virginia by seventeen, earning their first ACC win before heading into a bye week.
[38] Their next contest, a homecoming matchup with Pittsburgh, marked Louisville's first run of consecutive wins on the year,[39] and they added a third in a row the following week by virtue of a 27-point upset of No.
Cincinnati started the game with a first down on their second play on a 10-yard rush by quarterback Evan Prater, but faced 3rd & 26 following a sack by Ashton Gillotte and a resulting fumble that was recovered by the Bearcats at the Louisville 46-yard-line.
Prater rushed for 12 yards and passed to Payten Singletary for 11 on consecutive plays to reach the Cincinnati 44-yard-line, but the Bearcats stalled from there and punted on 4th & 5 from near midfield.
The Cardinals were able to take advantage of the miscue and open the scoring with a 49-yard touchdown rush by Jawhar Jordan on their first play, leaving 21 seconds on the clock.
A pair of long passes followed, with Prater finding Smith for a 23-yard gain and Fisher on the next play for a 20-yard touchdown, tying the game with Christian Lowery's extra point.
The Bearcats' ensuing kickoff was returned to the 34-yard-line, and the Cardinals offense moved the ball into Cincinnati territory in three plays with an 18-yard pass from Domann to Jaelin Carter.
A 7-yard rush by Prater to start Cincinnati's next drive was offset by a loss of 5 yards on a sack by Ramon Puryear and Jared Dawson, and they were unable to convert third down and had to punt.
Turner rushed again for 8 yards a couple of plays later, and, despite an 8-yard sack by Ivan Pace Jr. on the ensuing first down, the Cardinals converted 3rd & 13 for a 41-yard touchdown by Jawhar Jordan.
A 13-yard-rush by Wright on the drive's second play moved the chains but a sack on their next third down pushed them back to 4th & 20 and forced a punt, which was fair caught at the Louisville 33-yard-line.
A 32-yard return by Drew Donley gave Cincinnati starting field position at their own 35-yard-line, and Wright crossed midfield with an 18-yard rush on the drive' second play.
Again, Cincinnati found themselves unable to turn the interception into points; a sack for a loss of 8 yards by YaYa Diaby on third down forced another Bearcats punt, fair caught at the Louisville 38-yard-line.
An 11-yard pass to Chris Bell two plays later put them in the red zone, but a fumble on 1st & Goal from the Cincinnati 5-yard-line ended the drive and gave the Bearcats the ball back.