Still no ‘Nipp at night’ for Cincinnati Bearcats as Arizona announced as noon kickoff

• The Cincinnati Bearcats will face the Arizona Wildcats at noon on FS1 following their bye week.
• This marks the fifth daytime kickoff for the Bearcats this season and the third at noon.

For the fifth time this season, the Cincinnati Bearcats will have a daytime kickoff, and for the third time boot will meet ball at noon.

After the coming bye weekend, UC is back in action at Nippert Stadium against the Arizona Wildcats. Monday, Nov. 3, the game was announced as another “Nipp at noon” to be televised on FS1.

Cincinnati Bearcats at Nippert

The Bearcats are 5-0 at home, taking a pair of noon games from then-ranked Iowa State and UCF, a pair of 3:30 starts from Bowling Green and Northwestern State and a 4 p.m. start from Baylor Oct. 25.

UC is coming off a disappointing showing at Utah, where they lost 45-14 in a game that was the equivalent of a 10:15 p.m. start in the Eastern time zone. Now, they’ll entertain Arizona from the Mountain Time Zone, meaning the kickoff for those watching in Tucson will be 10 a.m.

Still no ‘Nipp at night’ for Cincinnati Bearcats fans

Though fans enjoy the night atmosphere and teams like Utah thrive in it, UC has not had a night home game this season. The previous two seasons, they have had but three. In 2023, UC lost to the Miami RedHawks in September and to Kansas in the November season finale. Last season, they didn’t have a home night affair until the snowy season-ender vs. TCU.

After Arizona, Big 12 leader BYU is scheduled to come Nov. 22. That could be an evening possibility, but the time has yet to be released by the Big 12 and could be determined by how each team fares. BYU is at Texas Tech this weekend for ESPN College GameDay. The regular season ends in Fort Worth against TCU Nov. 29 at a time to be determined.

Cincinnati Bearcats at night under Scott Satterfield

This season, in road night games, they are 1-2 with the Nebraska loss in Kansas City, a win at Oklahoma State and the Nov. 1 defeat in Utah.

In UC’s first Big 12 campaign in 2023, they had six night games, but just two at home. They won at Pitt, lost vs. Miami University, lost at BYU, lost at Oklahoma State, won at Houston and lost vs. Kansas. That’s 2-4 overall.

Last season, it was a loss at Texas Tech, a loss at Colorado, a loss at Iowa State, a loss at Kansas State and a loss vs. TCU to put them 0-5 under lights.

Despite the popularity of football under a darkened, fall sky, the Bearcats are just 3-11 with the moon in view the past three seasons.

What about Arizona?

The Wildcats are 5-3 after crushing Colorado 52-17 Nov. 1. They are 3-3 in the Big 12 with the win over the Buffaloes and victories in Tucson over Kansas State and Oklahoma State. They lost at Iowa State, at home to BYU in double overtime and at Houston.

UC and Arizona have never met in football.