In July, it appeared the football series between the University of Cincinnati Bearcats and Miami University RedHawks was coming to a halt. Miami administrators had backed out of a return game at Nippert Stadium in 2025, leaving Saturday’s game at Yager Stadium in Oxford as the final scheduled meeting on either campus.
That left the 2026 scheduled game at Paycor Stadium as the possible swan song for the “Battle for the Victory Bell”.
Now, The Enquirer has learned through UC sources the series could continue every few years. The plan would be a neutral site meeting. Recent such games were played at the Cincinnati Bengals stadium. Before Miami broke UC’s 16-game streak in the series in overtime at Nippert last year, the teams had played in downtown Cincinnati in 2022 and 2018. Their last episode at Yager Stadium came in 2017 when Luke Fickell’s Bearcats came from being down 17-6 with less than three minutes to go to prevail 21-17 thanks to a pick-six by Malik Clements.
In their last visit to Yager Stadium in 2017, UC defeated Miami in dramatic fashion to keep the Victory Bell.
Even this summer, both athletic directors appeared to leave a window open for future dates.
Cincinnati Bearcats AD John Cunningham
“We understand the importance of this historic rivalry to our fans and college football, and we are disappointed Miami University will not be coming to Nippert Stadium next season. However, we look forward to facing the RedHawks at Yager Stadium in the Battle for the Victory Bell this fall and at Paycor Stadium in 2026. We will continue to explore opportunities to play Miami in the future. We thank Miami for the many memorable moments over the years.”
Miami RedHawks AD David Sayler
“Fans will undoubtedly notice no game with Cincinnati on the 2025 schedule, however, we look forward to squaring off against them in 2026…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/cincinnati-bearcats-miami-redhawks-football-002650986.html
Author : Cincinnati.com | The Enquirer
Publish date : 2024-09-13 00:26:50
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