After joining the Big East for the 2005 season, the Bearcats have gone 155–75, along with 14 bowl game appearances, 7 conference titles, 4 BCS/NY6 Bowl berths (including being the only Group of 5 team to appear in the 4 team playoff format with their College Football Playoff berth in 2021) and 38 NFL Draft selections, as of the 2022 season.

He directed the Bearcats to three conference titles and a pair of bowl game appearances during his six seasons (1949–54) before leaving for the professional ranks.

Cincinnati, with Gillman developing the passing offenses which would make him successful in the pro ranks, became known for its aerial attack in the early 1950s.

Quarterback Greg Cook was the NCAA's total offense leader with receiver/kicker Jim O'Brien the national scoring champ.

[24][25] UC's fortunes turned around under head coach Tony Mason, who led the Bearcats for four seasons and compiled a 25–19 record.

[28] Ohio State assistant coach Ralph Staub was hired as Mason's replacement, and the Bearcats stumbled mightily.

[43] Long Beach State head coach Dave Currey was hired as Brown's replacement, and the Bearcats' struggles returned.

[51] Notre Dame defensive coordinator Rick Minter was selected as the Bearcats head coach after Murphy's departure.

[59] During Dantonio's time at UC, he led the Bearcats to a bowl game victory and directed the team's transition into the Big East Conference in 2005, where they would remain until 2012.

In 2008, Kelly led Cincinnati to its first ever outright Big East title with key wins over West Virginia and Pittsburgh.

Kelly became the first coach to win all three of the Bearcats' traveling trophies—[70] the Victory Bell (Miami [OH]), the Keg of Nails (Louisville), and the River City Rivalry Trophy (Pitt).

The Bearcats played in the Orange Bowl versus the ACC champion, Virginia Tech, on January 1, 2009, but lost 20–7 to finish the season 11–3.

[82] Jones led the Bearcats to a 9–3 regular season record in 2012,[83] leading them to the Belk Bowl in Charlotte to play against Duke University, a game Cincinnati won.

[84] Twenty days prior to the bowl game, on December 7, 2012, Jones announced to the team that he would be resigning to accept the job as head football coach at Tennessee,[85] after declining offers from Colorado, Purdue, and others.

[88][89] Cincinnati's athletic director, Whit Babcock, had previously worked with Tuberville at Auburn; the two have been friends for several years.

[90] On December 9 an article in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal pointed out that Cincinnati is only 30 miles from Guilford, Indiana, home of Tuberville's wife, Suzanne.

[103] The 2018 season saw a much improved team, with the Bearcats finishing with an 11–2 (6–2 AAC) record, and winning the Military Bowl against Virginia Tech.

The Bearcats returned to the AAC Championship game, this time defeating Tulsa to end the regular season with an undefeated record.

In 2021, the Bearcats went undefeated in the regular season, including a notable road victory against Notre Dame and former coach Brian Kelly.

[105] After defeating Houston in the AAC Championship, Cincinnati became the first so-called "Group of Five" team to qualify to the College Football Playoff (debuting in the "final four" of that list on November 26).

[109] Coincidentally, Satterfield's former team, the rival Louisville Cardinals, were set to play Cincinnati only a few days later in the 2022 Fenway Bowl.

On September 9, 2023, Satterfield and the Bearcats defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers 27–21, in the first ever college football game aired on The CW.

The exchange is believed to have been initiated by fraternity chapters on the UC and U of L campuses, signifying that the winning players in the game were "tough as nails."

The Victory Bell is the trophy awarded to the winner of the American college football rivalry game played by the Cincinnati and Miami (OH).

The Victory Bell is the oldest current non-conference college football rivalry in the United States (though the teams were conference rivals for a few years in the late 1940s and early 1950s).

The rivalry went on hiatus, like many others throughout the country, in the aftermath of the 2010–13 NCAA conference realignment, which left the programs in separate leagues.

The Panthers had an early 31–10 lead, however, the ensuing kickoff was returned for a touchdown by Mardy Gilyard to make it a 31–17 game at halftime.

Pittsburgh running back Dion Lewis scored a touchdown with 1:36 left in the game, but a mishandled snap by Andrew Janocko prevented the Panthers from converting the extra point.

The Bearcats then drove down the field and scored on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Tony Pike to Armon Binns with 33 seconds left.

One national columnist, visiting the sold-out Keg of Nails rivalry game in 2013, described Nippert Stadium as a "quaint bowl of angry noise sitting under the gaze of remarkable architecture" and went on to compare it to a "baby Death Valley" (referring to LSU's notoriously intimidating Tiger Stadium).