Pittsburgh at Cincinnati Odds

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the Pittsburgh Panthers will look to keep their slim Big East title hopes alive when they go on the road to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Panthers got blown out at home by West Virginia 35-10, and the only way they can win the Big East is if West Virginia and Connecticut both lose this weekend. The Bearcats got rolled at Connecticut 38-17 last week, and have now lost four of their last five. While Pittsburgh leads the series 7-2, Cincinnati has won two straight, including a thrilling 45-44 win at Pittsburgh last season. If you are thinking about betting on the game this weekend, the current college football odds have the Bearcats favored by 2-points over the Panthers at home.

Pittsburgh (6-5, 4-2 Big East): The Panthers will need a lot of help from South Florida and Rutgers this Saturday, but I am not even sure the Panthers can beat a struggling Cincinnati team after the performance they gave at home last week. The Panthers finished with just 78 yards on the ground, and killed themselves with four turnovers.

Tino Sunseri completed 28 of 46 for 284 with a touchdown and an interception, and was also the team’s leading rusher with 38 yards on five carries. Dion Lewis and Ray Graham combined for just 55 yards on 21 carries, and each had a fumble. The Panthers had 205 total yards to the Mountaineers 75 at half, but thanks to turnovers they trailed 14-7.

If the Panthers can keep from making mistakes, they should have some success moving the ball against the Bearcats defense this week. Cincinnati gave up 236 rushing yards to the Huskies last week, and figure to have their hands ful with Lewis and Graham.

Cincinnati (4-7, 2-4 Big East): The Bearcats will not be playing in a bowl game this season, so this is it for them, and it will be interesting to see what kind of effort they give. Last week against the Huskies the Bearcats trailed by just seven with a little under nine minutes to play, but couldn’t make the plays when it mattered the most.

Quarterback Zach Collaros completed just 26 of 50 attempts for 288 yards and a score, and also added 84 yards and a touchdown on the ground, but Collaros did have a season-high four interceptions that really hurt the Bearcats chances of winning. Collaros had just one interception over the Bearcats first five games of the season, but in his last five games he has thrown 10 interceptions.

A big reason for Collaros struggles is the fact that the Bearcats don’t have much of a running game, and seem to find themselves playing from behind more times than not. The Panthers come in 23rd in the country against the pass, allowing just 190 yards a game, but will likely have a hard time keeping Collaros under that mark. If Collaros can keep the mistakes to a minimum, the Bearcats have a shot at finishing the season with a win.

Looking at the Odds: I think there is no question that you have to take the Panthers at +2 in this one. The Panthers still have a shot at winning the conference, so they are going to come out and play hard. Cincinnati can’t bank on the Panthers turning it over all game, and when you look at the two teams schedule, all signs points to a Panthers blowout. My final score prediction is Pittsburgh 38, Cincinnati 20.

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