As I passed through the hot sun to get to my car last Saturday afternoon, I picked up my phone and dialed my dad’s number.
“Hello?” he answered with a not-so-enthusiastic tone.
“Hey,” I responded, followed by a nine-month-pregnant pause.
After what seemed like minutes, I spoke up again.
“So … uh … what happened, man?” I asked with a half-joking spirit.
He knew exactly what I was referring to.
And so came the rant.
My dad is the biggest Notre Dame football fan I know.
In fact, he’s the only Notre Dame fan I’ve met in my two-plus decades of life.
His blood isn’t dark blue on the inside or red on the outside. It’s green — with a tinge of Carolina blue — through-and-through.
Over the years, my dad’s disappointment-filled rants have become commonplace during the fall months, all thanks to Notre Dame failing to show up in big moments, namely the College Football Playoff — where the Fighting Irish have made two appearances, both losses by a combined score of 61-17 — and 2013 BCS title game, which ended in a 42-14 shellacking by Alabama.
And on Saturday, with the 9th-ranked Fighting Irish suffering their first loss of the season against the 7th-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats, 24-13, another vent session was inevitable. And I was there to listen.
Personally, I’m not a Notre Dame guy. I’ve never cared for the Fighting Irish aside from their ability to churn out high-ceiling NFL tight ends and wide receivers and their gorgeous, solid-gold helmets.
Oh, and my dad.
I’ve always wanted to see Notre Dame win, just so I could see him happy. (His NFL team is the Miami Dolphins, so they aren’t really helping anything, either).
I’ve rooted for them during their CFP appearances and high-stakes primetime games, only to be disappointed when they come up short (or way short).
For years, I’ve waited for the moment that Notre Dame finally broke through and won the big one to see my dad — who can be seen wearing a Notre Dame jacket, hoodie or hat about 75% of the time — over the moon.
But for the first time that I can remember (aside from when the Irish are playing the Tar Heels), I rooted against Notre Dame on Saturday.
Not because I have anything against this year’s Fighting Irish team, but because I’m in love with the Bearcats.
No, I wasn’t able to watch the game on Saturday — the “what happened?” I posed to my dad was legitimate, because I truly didn’t know aside from the final score — and I’ve seen minimal Cincinnati games so far this year aside from highlights, but believe me when I say that I’m in love.
A month or so ago, I wrote about how the 2017 and 2018 UCF Knights teams ruined college football for me.
But the 2021 Cincinnati Bearcats might be able to restore my faith in the sport.
Through four games this season, the Bearcats are a perfect 4-0 with all four coming in the form of double-digit wins.
And after college football’s chaotic Week 5 in which four of the AP Top 10 teams lost, they’re officially ranked 5th in the nation, passing the one-loss Oregon Ducks (No. 8) and leap-frogging the struggling Oklahoma Sooners (No. 6).
They’ve got an awesome Heisman-contending quarterback in Desmond Ridder, who sealed the win against Notre Dame with a TD on the ground late in the fourth quarter to capture what’s arguably the biggest win in program history.
They’ve got it all.
There’s just so much to be infatuated with. And I’m all the way there.
The Bearcats’ win over the Fighting Irish on Saturday was special, there’s no way around it.
It was Cincinnati’s first-ever win against a top-10 team on the road. And this wasn’t just any top-10 team.
Facing their former head coach in Brian Kelly — now the winningest head coach in Notre Dame history, no small feat for such a storied program — the Bearcats went into a hostile environment, stared down the Fighting Irish’s legacy and crushed it with their own bare hands.
History, pressure-filled expectations and their opponent’s talent be damned.
Despite the close-ish final score, this was Cincinnati’s game to lose after taking a 17-0 halftime lead and running off two of Notre Dame’s quarterbacks after forcing a slew of incompletions and mistakes.
And then, just as the Fighting Irish’s third-stringer Drew Pyne brought them back into the game, Ridder happened, scoring his program-defining TD to cement it.
Now, sitting at No. 5 in the nation with a perfect record and a top-10 win on its resume, Cincinnati has a legitimate opportunity to be the first Group of Five team to make it into the CFP, completing the journey that AAC conference-mate UCF set off on four years ago.
By 2024, the Bearcats, along with UCF, BYU and Houston, will join the Big 12 to fill the holes being left by Oklahoma’s and Texas’ move to the SEC.
So, while Cincinnati is a soon-to-be Power 5 school, there’s no better way to cap off its journey as a scrappy program than by fighting its way to college football glory.
As long as it doesn’t stumble along its remaining schedule or get passed over by the CFP Selection Committee, which notoriously looks down upon Group of Five schools, it should be there in January, though I still have my doubts.
I just hope rooting for my dad’s early-season disappointment was worth it.
Reporter Victor Hensley can be reached at vhensley@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @Frezeal33.