CINCINNATI — Cincinnati couldn't have asked for a better record through the first five games of the season. The Bearcats are 4-1, already own a Big 12 victory, and have shown enough resilience to survive games that appeared to be getting away from them.

Now the schedule gets much less forgiving.

Cincinnati enters its bye week before beginning a seven-game stretch in which its remaining opponents currently own a combined 25-8 record. Four are ranked in the latest Associated Press Top 25, and three of the Bearcats’ final four games will be played on the road.

The first challenge comes October 17 at West Virginia. The Mountaineers are only 3-2, but both losses have come in Big 12 play, and Cincinnati will have to go into Morgantown looking for a much better road performance than the one it produced Saturday night at Arizona.

From there, the difficulty only increases.

No. 11 Texas Tech visits Nippert Stadium for Cincinnati’s 100th Homecoming game on October 24. The Red Raiders are 5-0 and have already established themselves as one of the better teams in the Big 12. One week later, No. 12 Utah comes to Cincinnati carrying a 4-0 record and one of the strongest starts in the conference.

Then the Bearcats go back on the road to face No. 22 Houston, which is 4-1, before traveling to Iowa State the following week. The Cyclones sit at 3-2, but both losses came against ranked opponents, and Ames has rarely been an easy place for visiting teams.

Cincinnati finally returns home November 21 against Colorado before finishing the regular season at No. 8 BYU in Provo. BYU is currently 4-0 and has already won twice away from home.

That is a very different second half from the schedule Cincinnati navigated during September.

The Bearcats opened with victories over Boston College and Western Carolina before rallying past Miami and Kansas State in consecutive weeks. Those wins mattered, particularly the comeback against Miami after Cincinnati trailed 21-0 at halftime and the Big 12 victory over Kansas State.

Arizona, however, provided a reminder of what happens when Cincinnati does not play clean football.

The Bearcats had early opportunities to change the direction of that game but failed to capitalize, and once Arizona took control, Cincinnati never recovered. The 34-7 loss was the first real setback of the season and came immediately before a stretch in which similar mistakes will become much more difficult to overcome.

That makes the bye week especially valuable.

Cincinnati has already shown that it can score, run the football, and fight its way back into games when things start poorly. What the Bearcats have not shown yet is that they can consistently do those things against the caliber of competition they are about to face.

The next seven games will answer that question.

A 4-1 record has given Cincinnati a strong foundation and kept plenty of possibilities open for the second half of the season. The Bearcats have put themselves in position to make this year interesting.

Now they have to prove they belong.