ANNAPOLIS, Md.-The No. 2 ranked Cincinnati Bearcats outscored Navy 14-0 in the third quarter and hung on to defeat the Midshipmen to remain unbeaten 27-20 in front of 32,004 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Saturday.  The Bearcats improve to 7-0 and 3-0 in the American Athletic Conference, while Navy fell to 1-6 and 1-4 in the AAC.

"First of all, proud of our players.  28-point underdogs to the No. 2 team in the country.  I thought we went toe-to-toe with them," said Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo.

Navy jumped out to a 7-0 first quarter lead on a two-yard touchdown run by Tai Lavatai that capped a 13-play, 79-yard scoring drive that drained 7:12 off the clock.  

The Bearcats would tie the game on the ensuing drive when quarterback Desmond Ridder hit a wide open Josh Whyle fwith a 31-yard touchdown pass with 2:50 remaining in the first quarter.

Navy went back up on top early in the second quarter on a 33-yard field goal by Bijan Nichols and maintained the three-point lead when senior corner Jamal Glenn picked off Ridder at the Navy 3.

The Mids, however, would go three-and-out after the interception and the Bearcats grounded out a 15-play, 61-yard drive that resulted in a 32-yard field goal by Christian Lowery to tie the game at 10.

Navy went on a long drive of its own on the next possession and looked like it would have a chance to take a halftime lead until disaster struck.  After reaching the Bearcat 25 yard line, Lavatai was dropped for a loss of three yards on first down and was sacked for a six yard loss on second down.  Navy would then spike the ball on third down with 10 seconds left in the half to set up a 51-yard field goal by Bijan Nichols.

Nichols field goal attempt was blocked by Deshawn Pace and Pace returned the blocked field goal to the Navy 34 before he stepped out of bounds with one second left.  Alex Bales came on to nail a 52-yard field goal at the gun to give Cincinnati a 13-10 hafltime lead.

 "I probably mismanaged the clock at the end (of the first half)," said Niumatalolo.  "That's my fault.  Coaches told me to just hold on and we could have shaved some seconds there.  Bad job.  The six-point swing was huge.  We tried to lift our guys up at half, but that was a tough one.  I felt we had all of the momentum.  That's why I deferred, in hopes we could get the ball at the end of the first half and then at the start of the second half.  That was a huge turnaround."

That turn of events seemed to deflate the Mids as Cincinnati outscored Navy 14-0 in the third quarter to take a 27-10 lead.  Jerome Ford, who was shut down most of the day by the Navy defense, scored on a 43-yard run and Ridder connected with Whyle for a second time on a three-yard touchdown pass with 1:13 left in the third quarter.

The MIds, however, would not go away.  Nichols hit a 27-yard field goal with 7:34 left to make it a two score game and after the Navy defense forced a Cincinnati punt, the Mids marched 90 yards in 16 plays to score on a one-yard touchdown run by Lavatai with :50 seconds left to make it 27-20.

Navy would get the ball right back when Daniel Davies executed a beautiful onside kick that Glenn would recover to give Navy the ball at its own 47 and a chance to either tie or win the game.

Arquon Bush, though had other ideas as he would intercept Lavatai on Navy's third play to seal the win.

The Navy defense held the potent Cincinnati offense to 271 yards, the least amount of yards that the Bearcats have gained in span of 19 contests. Ford, a Heisman Trophy candidate, managed just 9- yards on the ground on 15 carries, while Ridder completed 18 of his 30 pass attempts for 176 yards and two touchdowns. 

Isaac Ruoss led a Navy ground attack with 80 yards on 19 carries, while Lavatai completed 11 of his 15 pass attempts for 116 yards.  

"Besides last week against Memphis, I felt our program starting with the Houston game has been playing well," said Niumatalolo.  "I don't know what happened against Memphis, that's my fault and I am trying to re-evaluate what happened, but every other game since Houston, UCF, SMU, and today, our kids have battled against really good guys.  It hurts for our guys. I feel bad for them, but I am proud of them."