Cincinnati 40, Marshall 14

VIDEO PLAYLIST

• Cincinnati Rolls to 40-14 Victory

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Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	19	22
Total Yards	337	436
Passing	257	219
Rushing	80	217
Penalties	13-106	10-80
3rd Down Conversions	3-12	2-10
4th Down Conversions	0-0	0-3
Turnovers	2	0
Possession	30:17	29:43

Air/Ground Leaders
Marshall Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Morris 20/30 252 2 1 Anderson 1/2 5 0 0	Cincinnati Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Grutza 14/20 142 2 0 Mauk 6/7 77 1 0
Marshall Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Marshall 7 63 0 21 Morris 11 34 0 11	Cincinnati Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Moore 6 70 1 30 Ramsey 3 48 1 42
Marshall Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Passmore 7 106 1 38 Slate 6 49 0 11	Cincinnati Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Barnett 6 77 2 27 Gilyard 4 44 0 16

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				MRSH	CIN
	SF	07:22	Dustin Grutza Tackled By Byron Tinker In End Zone	2	0
	TD	05:29	Greg Moore 17 Yd Run (Jake Rogers Kick) Drive: 3 plays, 30 yds, :54	2	0
	SF	05:22	- Team Tackled By In End Zone	2	0
	FG	02:27	Jake Rogers 31 Yd Drive: 7 plays, 42 yds, 2:52	2	0
SECOND QUARTER				MRSH	CIN
	TD	14:55	Marcus Barnett 10 Yd Pass From Dustin Grutza (Jake Rogers Kick) Drive: 5 plays, 46 yds, :59	2	19
	TD	04:16	Marcus Barnett 27 Yd Pass From Ben Mauk (Jake Rogers Kick) Drive: 7 plays, 92 yds, 3:38	2	26
	TD	02:11	Courtney Edmonson 4 Yd Pass From Bernard Morris (Pat Blocked) Drive: 7 plays, 85 yds, 1:55	8	26
FOURTH QUARTER				MRSH	CIN
	TD	13:52	Darius Passmore 33 Yd Pass From Bernard Morris (Two-Point Pass Conversion Failed) Drive: 6 plays, 62 yds, 2:51	14	26
	TD	11:19	Connor Barwin 7 Yd Pass From Dustin Grutza (Jake Rogers Kick) Drive: 8 plays, 72 yds, 2:27	14	33
	TD	08:08	Jacob Ramsey 42 Yd Run (Jake Rogers Kick) Drive: 4 plays, 67 yds, 1:54	14	40

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Mike Mickens' interception and fumble recovery set up Cincinnati's first two touchdowns, and the unbeaten Bearcats defeated winless Marshall 40-14 Saturday night.

The Bearcats are 4-0 for the first time since 1954, revived by a defense ranked among the nation's best. It had two more tone-setting plays on Saturday.

During their attention-grabbing start, the Bearcats have 12 interceptions -- four by Mickens -- and seven fumble recoveries, setting up 79 points. The Bearcats have allowed only three touchdowns while outscoring opponents 180-30.

The Thundering Herd (0-4) couldn't put together a drive until late in the first half, when Cincinnati led 26-2 in front of a record crowd at Nippert Stadium.

Marshall is off to its worst start since 1969, when it lost its first six games. The Herd was coming off a 48-35 loss to New Hampshire, its first defeat to a lower-division team since it joined I-A in 1997.

Cincinnati's fast start under new coach Brian Kelly has renewed interest in a program largely ignored for decades. The capacity crowd of 35,097 was the largest at Nippert Stadium, which was expanded in 1992.

Fans saw a sloppy game that never got into a rhythm. Cincinnati put it away with Dustin Grutza's 7-yard touchdown pass and Jacob Ramsey's 42-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter.

The Bearcats provided some intrigue at the outset. For the second game in a row, Grutza learned shortly before the kickoff that he would start in place of quarterback Ben Mauk, bothered by a tired arm.

Mauk, who broke his passing arm and dislocated his shoulder last season at Wake Forest, started warming up after Grutza threw the ball at a lineman's feet while under pressure in the end zone, a grounding call that resulted in a safety and a 2-0 lead for Marshall.

Mauk got into the game midway through the second quarter, with Cincinnati leading 19-2 behind Mickens' two takeaways. Mauk shook his passing arm after throwing a crisp 13-yard completion on his first attempt, then put the Bearcats up 26-2 with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Barnett.

Mauk was 6-of-7 for 77 yards before he was replaced in the fourth quarter by Grutza, who led a clinching, 72-yard touchdown drive. Grutza went 5-of-7 for 63 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown pass to Connor Barwin that made it 33-14.

Grutza, who was the Bearcats' starter for most of last season, was 14-of-20 for 142 yards overall with two touchdowns.

Marshall's Bernard Morris, playing despite a nagging case of turf toe, went 20-of-30 for 252 yards with a pair of touchdowns. Darius Passmore had seven catches for 106 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown.