It was no surprise, but Luke Fickell finally did it. University of Cincinnati football coach Fickell on Monday named junior Hayden Moore as the starting quarterback for the Bearcats' opener against Austin Peay on Thursday (7 p.m.) at Nippert Stadium.

Incumbent starter Moore and sophomore Ross Trail had been battling for the job. Trail's cause was hurt by an abdominal strain which has limited him recently, but Moore emerged No. 1 from spring practice and did nothing to lose the job in summer practices.

"It kind of comes down to experience, consistency in the things we're doing and the management of our offense," Fickell said, speaking on the first weekly American Athletic Conference coaches teleconference. "It was very tight, a tough battle. It really comes down to the whole body of everything that we're doing, the consistency to give us an opportunity to be successful."

Trail spiced things up by throwing four touchdown passes in an Aug. 12 scrimmage. Yet, Moore never lost his grip on the job and Trail then got hurt. Fickell still wanted to let things play out as long as possible, to keep Moore in competition mode and give Trail as much rope as possible.

"He's obviously been hampered by that (injury)," Fickell said of Trail. "It didn't help him in the competition. That put him quite a bit behind the 8-ball, but it is what it is. We had to continue to move forward, and everybody understands that."

Neither Moore nor Trail were available for comment Monday. UC will make players available to the media Tuesday at Fickell's first media luncheon of the year.

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Moore started seven games last year. UC went 2-5 in those games and Moore had a touchdown-interception ratio of 11-7. Trail started twice, with a 1-1 record and a poor 1-6 TD-interception ratio. Now-departed Gunner Kiel made three starts last year, with a 1-2 record and a 6-2 TD-interception tally.

"(Moore) brings not just an experience of playing but obviously a knowledge, being a fourth-year junior guy," Fickell said. "He's seen a lot of different things, three or mabye four systems now. He started seven or eight games last year and did a lot of things that will give him a chance to be successful. Being a mature kid, it's probably given him the heads-up, the nudge to be the guy that leads the team."

MISMATCH: FCS team Austin Peay (Clarksville, Tenn.) has lost 27 straight games and is 1-45 the past four seasons. Fickell, naturally, has told his team to ignore all that.

"People have asked about different games, but to be honest, we've focused on ourselves," Fickell said. "When you really kind of kick-start and create a new culture, for us it was a big focus on ourselves. How do we become the best we can be, and try to take the nameless, faceless opponent from the get-go."

Fickell said that Austin Peay has 13 transfers, be they junior college or Division I-A transfers.

"I don't know where they exactly fit in, but it tells you they've probably upgraded a lot of the potential on their roster at each position," Fickell said.

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Opening game

UC vs. Austin Peay

Thursday, 7 p.m. at Nippert Stadium

Radio/TV: 100.7 FM (The Project)/ESPN3

2016 records: UC 4-8, Austin Peay 0-11

NOTE: Game is on 100.7 FM radio because of conflict with Bengals preseason game

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