Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder gives Notre Dame bulletin board material

The Cincinnati Bearcats will have to play lights out against Notre Dame if they want to back up some daring comments made by their quarterback.

Ahead of a top-10 matchup between No. 7 Cincinnati and No. 9 Notre Dame, tensions are starting to rise. The Irish are fighting to keep their 26-game home winning streak alive and riding the momentum of a 41-13 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers. The Bearcats are coming off of an early bye week and hungry to move to a 4-0 record.

With so much at stake for both teams, including their spots in the top 10, there is bound to be some animosity. Amongst those that are partaking in pregame taunting is Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder, who has some very public thoughts that Notre Dame will want to make him regret.

Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder made a bold statement heading into the contest against Notre Dame

Ridder has expectations of silencing a crowd so loud that even his coach felt a warning was needed. If nothing else, the young player has confidence on his side heading into the big game.

That confidence seems to be backed up by performance so far. Ridder has thrown some impressive games this season for Cincinnati and racked up 748 yards with seven touchdowns through the air in three games.

However, it is important to note that these numbers all came against unranked teams. While Ridder is a talented quarterback, he sits at the No. 44 spot in ESPN’s college football quarterback ratings, so he has room for improvement. He’ll be facing a Notre Dame defense that allowed 13 points and made life miserable for Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz last week.

It’s a good thing he’s getting his words out now, because if Ridder falls behind in Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, he may not even be able to hear himself think.

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