In this week’s review, Cincinnati Football punches their ticket to their conference championship. The Cincinnati Bengals set an unflattering franchise record. While Cincinnati and Xavier Basketball suffer early season tournament losses.

Cincinnati Football wins their division in a nail biter

This season will go down in the history books for Cincinnati Football. Qualifying for their first American Athletic Conference Championship Game on Saturday. Through a 15-13 senior night victory against Temple Football. Winning the AAC East division title in the process. While the Cincinnati Bearcats also snapped a four game losing streak to Temple.

Cincinnati’s win came about partly through two game-changing plays. The Bearcats were the beneficiaries of a blocked field goal returned for a two-point conversion. Later, Darrick Forrest snagged an interception in crunch time. Effectively winning the game and the division for the Bearcats. Now Cincinnati turns to their regular season finale at Memphis Football this Friday. In a game that could determine home field advantage for the conference title game. Kickoff for that game is set for 3:30 PM Eastern on ABC.

Elsewhere in Cincinnati Football news, a former Bearcats quarterback won a title on Sunday. Former Bearcats quarterback Zach Collaros helped lead the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to victory in Canada’s Grey Cup. Ending a nearly 30 year long Grey Cup drought for Winnipeg. He was one of two former Bearcats quarterbacks in this game. The other being Hayden Moore, a backup quarterback for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The Cincinnati Bengals winless season continues

The Cincinnati Bengals are off to a franchise-worst 0-11 start. After falling 16-10 Sunday at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cincinnati kept Pittsburgh out of the end zone in the first half. Taking a 7-3 lead into halftime, thanks largely to efforts from Tyler Boyd. He made electrifying back-to-back catches in the second quarter. The first was a SportsCenter Top Ten worthy catch that put Cincinnati in the red zone. Boyd’s second resulted in Cincinnati’s lone touchdown of the day.

On an unfortunate note, Boyd gave up one of two critical Bengals second half fumbles. Both halting potential game winning drives for the Bengals. Ryan Finley fumbled the ball while being sacked. Ending Cincinnati’s last offensive drive in a rough day for Finley. Completing 12 of 26 pass attempts and failing to come through in the clutch.

Cincinnati lost this game to a quite beatable Steelers team. Rocked by injuries and the fallout from their Week 11 brawl with the Cleveland Browns. Pittsburgh even benched quarterback Mason Rudolph in the second half. After throwing an interception to Shawn Williams and several three and out drives. Nevertheless, backup quarterback Devlin Hodges and Pittsburgh’s defense came through in crunch time.

Next up for the Bengals, a meeting with New York Jets this coming Sunday. That game will kickoff at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium at 1 PM Eastern on CBS.

The local college basketball roundup

Two local teams had early season tournament tests in the last week. Xavier Basketball lost for the first time this season on Sunday. Losing to Florida in the Charleston Classic in South Carolina. Dropping from 18th to 25th in the latest AP Top 25 poll as a result. Earlier in the weekend, Xavier squeaked by with an overtime win against Connecticut in Charleston.

Cincinnati Basketball also lost on Sunday evening in the US Virgin Islands. Losing to Bowling Green in overtime, after surviving a close call last Friday to Illinois State. Cincinnati’s Paradise Jam continues with Valparaiso today at 5:45 PM Eastern time. Meanwhile, Northern Kentucky Basketball spent their week much closer to home. Beating Ball State on the road by two last Wednesday. Then losing to Texas Southern by two at home last Saturday. Northern Kentucky has another home game tonight at 7 PM Eastern against Midway.