Cincinnati Bearcats Defensive Star Wins Weekly Big 12 Award For First Time

 The UC defense put up a strong performance in Week 1, and it earned linebacker Jake Golday some recognition for his efforts. He picked up his first career Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week Award.

Golday posted 12 tackles (UC career-high), one sack, and one tackle for loss in the 20-17 defeat to Nebraska. The athletic, rangy linebacker was all over the field, making plays and withstanding a roughly 2-1 time of possession advantage from the Cornhuskers (78 total offensive snaps to Cincinnati's 57).

"That was one of the louder stadiums I’ve played a game in," UC head coach Scott Satterfield said after the game. "It certainly affected us offensively. Really proud of our guys. Our guys fought, they played hard, just looking at the sideline, and guys are flying around and playing physical. I was proud of them for that. I’m extremely proud of our defense. 

"They had to defend 40 minutes' worth of time of possession. Everybody’s talking about Dylan Raiola. He’s a really good player. He got 40 minutes worth of time of possession to go out and make plays, and they held him to 20 points. Seven of those points were a turnover we had on a short field. So, I'm extremely proud of our defense."

Golday also won Big 12 Newcomer of the week last year for his outing against UCF and is shaping up to be one of Cincinnati's best players this season.