Cincinnati at Louisville

Written by Steve Janus

This Friday the Louisville Cardinals will host the Cincinnati Bearcats in a Big East matchup that features two of the conferences new head coaches. Charlie Strong has the Cardinals off to a 3-2 start, while Butch Jones is struggling to get the Bearcats headed in the right direction, as they are just 2-3 after their first five games. These two schools are located just 106 miles apart from each other, and this series is known as the Battle for the Keg of Nails. The Bearcats have won the last two meetings, including a 41-10 blowout win at home last year. The oddsmakers are calling for a third straight win for the Bearcats, as the current college football lines have Cincinnati favored by 2.5-points over Louisville on the road.

Cincinnati (2-3, 0-0 Big East): The Bearcats come into the game off a nice 45-3 win over Miami (OH), as they piled on all 45 points in the first two quarters of play. Quarterback Zach Collaros threw for 216 yards and three touchdowns on 14 of 17 passing, including two touchdown strikes to wide out Armon Binns, who finished with five catches for 115 yards. Running back Isaiah Pead rushed for 197 yards on just 10 carries, including a nice 80 yard touchdown run. After missing time early in the season with a sore knee, Pead has rushed for 366 yards in his last two games, including a 169 yards against Oklahoma. If Pead can continue to run the ball like he has the past couple game, the Bearcats are going to start winning a lot more football games.

While Cincinnati is allowing on average just under 20 points a game this season, I believe their defense is much worse off than the stats say. Their two games against Indiana State and Miami really make that stat misleading, as they have given up 30 points against the other three teams they have faced. The problem on defense is their inability to stop the pass, as they have actually been very good against the run, as opposing teams are averaging 268 yards through the air.

Louisville (3-2,0-0 Big East): The Cardinals have looked pretty good so far this season, as their two losses have each been by seven points or less. Louisville comes into the game on a two game winning streak as they made easy work of Arkansas State and Memphis in their last two games. Quarterback Adam Froman is coming off his best game of the season, as he threw for 235 yards and four touchdowns on 12 of 16 passing against Memphis. Froman now has 1,177 yards and nine touchdowns to just four interceptions on the season. The Cardinals have been equally impressive running the football this season, as they come in averaging 218 yards a game on the ground. Bilal Powell leads the way with 689 yards and seven touchdowns, while Victor Anderson has added 245 yards on 48 carries.

The defense has also played pretty well for the Cardinals so far this season, as they have allowed more than 24 points just once. They have a tough task controlling the Bearcats offense this week, as they must find a way to slow Pead and Collaros down. If this unit can make some stops, I think the Cardinals will have a great shot at winning this game.

Looking at the Odds: I think the oddsmakers have got this one completely wrong, as I feel the Cardinals are not only going to cover the spread, but I believe they win this game outright. They are much better than they are getting credit for, while Cincinnati is not nearly as good as people think. I don’t think the Bearcats will be able to stop the passing attack of Froman and the Cardinals, as my final score prediction is Louisville 34, Cincinnati, 31.

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