Cincinnati at Syracuse Line

Written by Steve Janus

The Cincinnati Bearcats are set to host the Syracuse Orange in Big East play this Saturday. While the Orange have no shot at winning the conference with a 1-4 mark inside the Big East, Cincinnati is right in the thick of things despite back-to-back losses Rutgers and Louisville are tired for the lead at 4-2, while Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia are all just a half-game back at 3-2. Not only will the Bearcats be looking to stay in the hunt for the title, they will be out for revenge against the Orange. Syracuse snapped a five game losing streak in the series with a 31-7 upset at Cincinnati last season.

Taking a look at the week 13 college football spreads, oddsmakers currently have Cincinnati favored by 3-points over Syracuse with the total set at 49.5 points.

Cincinnati:

It wasn’t that long ago the Bearcats were leading the Big East with a perfect 3-0 record, but things have taken a turn for the worst since they lost starting quarterback Zach Collaros for the season. Collaros was inured his knee during a 21-24 loss to West Virginia. While Cincinnati nearly went on to win that game, the offense would falter without him against Rutgers last week.

The Bearcats managed just 225 yards of total offense, and were held to just a field goal the entire game. Munchie Legaux came in an threw for 144 yards against West Virginia, but was unable to get much of anything going against Rutgers. Legaux was just 12 of 31 for 158 yards with an interception. With Rutgers not respecting the pass, they were able to load the box and take away the running game. Isaiah Pead managed just 28 yards on 14 attempts, as the Bearcats totaled just 67 yards on the ground.

If Leguax is going to have a big game throwing the football, it will likely come this week against the Orange, who come in allowing 266.1 passing yards a game. As bad as Syracuse is against the pass, I expect them to take their chances and force Leguax to beat them with his arm. Syracuse allows just 127.5 ypg on the ground, and their top priority will be making sure Pead doesn’t get anything going.

Syracuse:

It looked as though Syracuse was going to be a major player in the Big East after they rolled over West Virginia 49-23 at home. Instead they have followed up that performance with three straight losses against Louisville, Connecticut, and South Florida. They really looked bad in their last game against the Bulls, falling 17-37 at home. Still, this team is just one win away from becoming bowl eligible, and know they are playing a Cincinnati team that is headed in the wrong direction.

The offense has really taken a step back since that impressive performance against the Mountaineers. They have totaled just 48 points in their last three games combined. In their last game against South Florida they managed just 17 points on 405 yards of total offense. Usually when you see a statistic like that it means the offense turned the ball over, but the Orange didn’t have one turnover the entire game. Their inability to convert on 3rd and fourth down is what killed them (10 for 22 combined).

Ryan Nassib did his best to get the offense going with 297 yards and two touchdowns passing and another 30 yards rushing, but it simply wasn’t enough to keep the offense on the field long enough to put points on the board. Antwon Bailey rushed for 65 yards on 18 attempts and Alec Lemon hauled in 10 catches for 179 yards and two scores.

While Bailey and the ground game figure to struggle against a Cincinnati defense that allows just 92.3 ypg on the ground, Nassib and Lemon could be in for a huge game against a Bearcats secondary that is 105th in the nation, allowing 277.2 ypg.

Betting Trends:

Cincinnati is 3-9 ATS in their last 12 road games.

Syracuse is 6-13 ATS in their last 19 games following a double-digit loss at home.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in college football.

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