Three Things Cincinnati Coach Scott Satterfield Said ahead of the Bearcats’ Trip to Stillwater

Don’t look now, but the Bearcats are coming to Stillwater in mid-October with Big 12 title aspirations. Not sure many would’ve expected that coming into the year.

Oklahoma State and Cincinnati play at 7 p.m. Saturday in Boone Pickens Stadium for what will be the Cowboys’ homecoming game. Cincy coach Scott Satterfield met with reporters Tuesday to preview the game. Here are three things he said that stood out.

1. A Return to America’s Greatest Homecoming

This isn’t the first Satterfield has brought the Bearcats to Stillwater on homecoming.

Back in 2023, the first year Cincy was in the Big 12 and the first year Satterfield was the Bearcats’ coach, Cincinnati came down for what turned out to be a rainy night game on homecoming weekend.

The Cowboys won that one 45-13. It was in the midst of Ollie-Mania, as the eventual Doak Walker winner ran for 271 yards and two touchdowns.

But Satterfield and the Bearcats have been building. That 2023 season saw Cincy finish 3-9 before the Bearcats went 5-7 last year. Cincinnati will come to Stillwater at 5-1 this year, ranked 24th nationally.

“We’ve got a better team than we did, certainly, when we went there (in 2023),” Satterfield said. “I think what we’ve been able to do is to build out our team the way we like — tough, gritty, hard-nosed players that play fast, that play physical. Obviously, I think, you feel a lot better going to Stillwater this year than we did two years ago with what we have on that plane that we’re gonna be taking over there.

“We have a lot of belief in the locker room, too. I think that’s huge. They believe they’ll go out and play well and believe they’ll go out and get the win. Having belief is something that’s hard to get, but you get that through hard work, through adversity, all the things we’ve gone through the last two years.”

2. Preparing for the Unpredictable

It’s not necessarily a good thing that OSU’s offense has been so unpredictable this season, but it does make things at least a little tricky to prepare for.

The Cowboys are on their third starting quarterback after starter Hauss Hejny was injured three drives into the season and Zane Flores was hurt a few weeks back in Tucson. That’s led to quarterback-turned-wide receiver-turned quarterback Sam Jackson to step into the starting role.

Since Doug Meacham took over as OSU’s interim coach, the Cowboys have also been using gadget plays like their a standard zone run play.

“They’ve had eight different players throw a pass this year, which I don’t know if that’s a record, but it’s close probably,” Satterfield said. “The player that was a wideout but is now a quarterback, you turn the film on and watch him last week against Houston, I mean, he can throw the football. The ball was getting ripped out there. …

“You have to be ready for everything. This is a team that, they haven’t had the best of years, but it is homecoming, they do have a lot of pride, all the alumni will be coming back, they want to put on a great show for their fans. They got a pride about themselves, as well. We’re gonna get their best shot. Here comes a ranked team in there for homecoming. We’re gonna get everything they got.”

3. On Being a Big Favorite

Because of reasons we’ve already discussed, OSU is currently a 22.5-point underdog this weekend.

Perhaps the next step in Satterfield’s time as the Bearcats’ head coach is his squad learning how to handle such expectations.

“It goes back to how we prepare and our mindset,” Satterfield said. “We’ve got something to prove each and every time we go on the field. You’re only as good as your last game, your last play. What we did in the past does not matter this week. It has nothing to do with this week. We have to stay in the moment, and we have to focus as much as we can to go out and practice as hard as we can practice today.”