TUCSON — There was not much good to take from Cincinnati’s 34-7 loss to Arizona. The Bearcats were shut out for more than 58 minutes, struggled to run the football, failed to capitalize on early opportunities and watched a 10-point halftime deficit turn into a rout.

Still, even in a game this ugly, there was something worth noticing: Cincinnati never quit. Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the Bearcats’ first loss of the season.

The Good: No Quit

Cincinnati was beaten badly Saturday night, but the Bearcats never looked like a team that stopped caring. Even when the game had clearly slipped away, players continued to fight for yards, finish tackles and compete through the final whistle.

JC French IV may have been the clearest example. By the fourth quarter, Cincinnati was down 34-0 and no longer playing for the outcome, but French continued to scramble, lower his shoulder and fight for every inch he could get. On Cincinnati’s final scoring drive, he kept putting his body on the line and eventually finished the possession himself with a 2-yard touchdown run with 1:56 remaining.

That score did not change the game or make the loss look much better, but it did say something about the quarterback and the team around him. The defense kept competing, too. Arizona had already put the game away, yet Cincinnati defenders continued pursuing the football and trying to keep the Wildcats out of the end zone.

Most times, you find out more about a person or a team during adversity than you do when everything is going well. Saturday was adversity, and while Cincinnati got embarrassed on the scoreboard, the Bearcats never embarrassed themselves with their effort. They continued to play for the guy next to them and for the program on the front of the jersey.

Now comes the more important part. Cincinnati has a week to live with this before heading back on the road to face West Virginia, and we will learn even more about this team by how it responds.

The Bad: The Running Game

Arizona’s defensive game plan was not particularly difficult to identify. The Wildcats were going to make sure Cincinnati did not run the football, and the Bearcats obliged far too often.

That is the frustrating part. Cincinnati has built much of its offensive identity around being physical, controlling the line of scrimmage and running the football. Arizona clearly decided that if the Bearcats were going to beat them, they were going to have to do it another way, and Cincinnati never found an answer.

The Wildcats crowded the box, attacked running lanes and consistently prevented Cincinnati from establishing any rhythm on the ground. Runs that had been productive in previous weeks were met at or near the line of scrimmage, and the Bearcats spent too much of the night playing behind schedule.

There is nothing wrong with adjusting when a defense takes something away, but if running the football is who you are, there also comes a point where you cannot simply accept the defense’s terms. Great running teams eventually find a way to run anyway, and Cincinnati did not.

The inability to establish the ground game put more pressure on French, made third downs more difficult and allowed Arizona’s defense to dictate how the game was played. If the Bearcats want to compete consistently in the Big 12, their running game has to be something opponents prepare for, not something they can eliminate.

The Ugly: West Coast Trips

Maybe Ohio football teams should just stop going west.

I am only half joking.

There is something about these trips that seems to turn otherwise recognizable football teams into complete strangers. Somewhere around Nebraska, apparently, the laws of football — and maybe sport in general — change, and the team that boarded the plane disappears.

Saturday night was another one of those games. The Cincinnati team we had watched through the first four weeks was physical, resilient and capable of digging itself out of trouble. That team erased a 21-point halftime deficit against Miami and found ways to survive ugly stretches against Kansas State.

The team that showed up in Tucson looked like it had borrowed Cincinnati’s uniforms. The offense could not run the ball, drives stalled, opportunities were wasted and Arizona controlled the second half. By the time Cincinnati finally reached the end zone, the only remaining question was whether the Bearcats would avoid a shutout.

This is hardly a Cincinnati-only phenomenon. For whatever reason, trips west seem to produce some truly bizarre performances from Ohio teams. Whether it is the travel, the time change, the unfamiliar environment or simply coincidence, too often the team that arrives looks nothing like the one that left home.

Saturday night fit the pattern perfectly. Cincinnati did not just lose; it looked completely unlike itself.

The good news is that one ugly night does not erase a 4-0 start or everything the Bearcats did well in September. The bad news is that Arizona exposed some real issues, particularly with Cincinnati’s inability to impose its offensive identity when the Wildcats took away the run.

The trip to Tucson is over. Now we find out whether Cincinnati leaves the imposter there.