Luke Fickell's first season as University of Cincinnati head football coach was a learning experience.
Fickell has said he needed time to "figure out a lot of things," including how to be a successful head coach and what all the UC program needed in order to be a consistent winner.
The learning curve was steep for Fickell during that 2017 season. Fickell's Bearcats finished 4-8. One of those eight losses was a 42-32 defeat at Navy.
Cincinnati allowed 569 yards on the ground to the Midshipmen's vaunted triple-option rushing attack in the 10-point loss.