Luke Fickell had an ambitious goal when he took over the University of Cincinnati football program in December 2016. Fickell wanted the Bearcats to be a top-10 program that rivals his alma mater, Ohio State.
Fickell, however, knew he had a long way to go to catch the Buckeyes, whom he helped lead to two national championships (2002 and 2014).
In the second game of his third season as Cincinnati head coach, the former Ohio State defensive lineman and longtime Buckeyes assistant watched as his old team handed his new team a 42-0 drubbing inside Ohio Stadium in Columbus.