There was no handshake on the field after the game, between coach Luke Fickell and East Carolina coach Mike Houston. But there certainly was a lengthy conversation, longer than usual.

It was pretty easy to figure out the topic of the talk. In the fourth quarter, with Cincinnati leading 42-10, it executed a fake punt in which Joel Dublanko ran for 29 yards and a first down. It led to a touchdown run by running back Jerome Ford. And with 17 seconds to play, instead of taking a knee to end the game, quarterback Ben Bryant handed off to senior running back Cameron Young for a 75-yard touchdown.

Fickell was coy about the discussion afterward.

"I don't know, I think that's COVID-related," he said. "I don't know, I don't wanna say shaking hands. It's one of those situations. Probably one of my worst losses was at ECU four, three and a half years ago, whatever it was. I think I had told him about that at one point in time, and I think that's about all I really said to him, was it felt like it was a similar thing to him. We're all competitive. I think that's the greatest thing that we've got and that we can give to our program, the competitive spirit and what we do. Just gotta continue to move on."

Fickell, quarterback Desmond Ridder and safety James Wiggins spoke to members of the media after the game.