BIG EAST FOOTBALL PREVIEW: GAME #8 CINCINNATI

October 30, 2008



This week's Thursday Night special features the South Florida Bulls travelling north to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats in a key Big East conference match-up. The Bulls have seen their conference championship hopes take a big hit, losing two of their last three games to fall to 1-2 in the conference.

Cincinnati is coming off a 40-16 road loss at the hands of UConn, evening the Bearcats' Big East mark at 1-1. The latest football lines have UC as a road underdog with the Bulls being a 2 1/2 point favorite in this contest.

The biggest area of concern for Cincinnati is in the injury department where quarterbacks Dustin Grutza (ankle) and Tony Pike (hand) are likely out of action again, leaving freshmen Zach Collaros and Chazz Anderson under center. Not a favorable situation against a speed USF defense

While the injury list is long for South Florida as well, only Mike Ford's name is of major concern, but they have been dealing with his gimpy ankle since the season opener. The Bulls have a very good run defense and that is the area of the game that UC will have to rely on with the inexperience at QB. That match-up is the area to exploit for the Bulls and if they can, they should put themselves back into the conference race.

Prediction:

South Florida 27
Cincinnati 17