Cincinnati Bearcats’ Full 2014 Football Schedule Released, Byes In First Two Weeks

Dec 5, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats running back Ralph Abernathy (1) rushes into the end zone for a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Louisville Cardinals at Nippert Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

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The Cincinnati Bearcats 2014 football schedule has now been made official. UC will open the season with Toledo on Friday, September 12th and close by hosting Houston on December 6th. The full slate of games is below followed by commentary. All home games will be played at Paul Brown Stadium in downtown Cincinnati due to the ongoing renovation of Nippert Stadium.

• August 30th: Bye
• September 6th: Bye
• September 12th: Toledo; Paul Brown Stadium; Cincinnati, Ohio
• September 20th: Miami (OH); Paul Brown Stadium; Cincinnati, Ohio
• September 27th: @ Ohio State; Ohio Stadium; Columbus, Ohio
• October 4th: Memphis; Paul Brown Stadium; Cincinnati, Ohio
• October 11th: @ Miami (FL); Sun Life Stadium; Miami Gardens, Florida
• October 18th: @ SMU; Gerald J. Ford Stadium; Dallas, Texas
• October 24th: South Florida; Paul Brown Stadium; Cincinnati, Ohio
• October 31st: @ Tulane; Yulman Stadium; New Orleans, Louisiana
• November 8th: Bye
• November 15th: East Carolina; Paul Brown Stadium; Cincinnati, Ohio
• November 22nd: @ UConn; Rentschler Field; East Hartford, Connecticut
• November 29th: @ Temple; Lincoln Financial Field; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• December 6th: Houston; Paul Brown Stadium; Cincinnati, Ohio

On The Double-Bye To Open The Season

Listen, I get that starting the season two weeks after most other teams is a bit of a downer. In a perfect world Cincinnati opens up with Stony Brook on August 30th, plays their non-conference schedule, has a bye week before their first AAC game, then has another bye in the middle of league play. It didn’t work out that way this season because UC opted to signed a home-and-home with the Miami Hurricanes in order to get them to come to new Nippert Stadium in 2015. To get them on the schedule in 2014, Stony Brook had to be cancelled. That’s a trade I would make any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Really, when you look at the layout of the schedule, it’s really not all that bad.

Cincinnati plays eight straight games from mid-September to the end of October. However, prior to their most important stretch against league title contenders East Carolina and Houston, the Bearcats have a fortunate bye week to rest up. That should only help UC’s chances in their final four games as they make an AAC championship run.

Toughest Home Conference Game

Hmm.. I’ll pick East Carolina here. You could easily make the argument for Houston considering they return just about everybody. But the Pirates are coming off a 10-win season and have senior quarterback Shane Carden back running the offense. He threw for 33 touchdowns to just 10 interceptions while passing for over 4,100 yards in 2013. Carden will be a senior in 2014 and should be the front runner to earn AAC Offensive Player of the Year honors.

Toughest Road Conference Game

SMU, and it’s not even close. No disrespect to Tulane, UConn, and Temple but they are downright horrendous (ok, maybe a little disrespect). Maybe a team like the Owls improve in 2014 but the Mustangs are just a better put together program under June Jones than the other three. Now, SMU loses senior quarterback Garrett Gilbert but return a pretty decent crop of talent. In all honesty, Cincinnati’s road slate doesn’t look all that daunting.

Stray Observations

• I love the idea of opening up at home on a Friday night. Given the sheer size of Paul Brown Stadium (roughly double that of current Nippert), Cincinnati will be hard pressed to get capacity crowds there over the course of the season. However the build up of the long offseason partnered with an evening down by the river might draw several thousand to watch the Bearcats then visit the venues at The Banks. Cincinnati v. Toledo could be one of the best atmospheres for a UC football home game over the last few years.
• On paper this is the toughest non-conference schedule the Bearcats will have played since 2010 when Cincinnati faced Fresno State and NC State on the road and hosted Oklahoma at Paul Brown Stadium. Those three teams wound up with a combined 29 wins by the end of the 2010 season and UC’s three opponents (Toledo, Ohio State, Miami (FL)) could break that mark in 2014. The Rockets beat UC last season and are never an easy win coming out of the MAC. They’ll probably contend for a conference title this year. Ohio State returns quarterback Braxton Miller and an entire team seething from losing to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship, eliminating them from the BCS National Championship game. Then there’s Miami (FL) on the road which won’t be an easy game in the least.
• If Cincinnati goes 2-2 in non-conference games I’ll be happy. If they go 3-1, I’ll be over the Moon. If they go undefeated, I’ll close up shop and move to Tijuana. But 2-2 is most likely against that slate.
• Now to the AAC schedule. The Bearcats have an opportunity to be unbeaten in their first 4 games since they get arguably their two toughest opponents (ECU, Houston) at home. But with a new starting quarterback and several question marks on both lines, I think Cincinnati splits those games but sweeps the rest. At worst I see the Bearcats going 6-2 against the AAC.
• So that brings me to my prediction for Cincinnati’s final record (in mid-March, I know). UC loses to Ohio State and Miami (FL) on the road but sweeps the home non-conference slate. Cincinnati goes undefeated in AAC play up until their game against East Carolina who give them their first loss in conference play. But UC rebounds to win out, earning a 10-3 record and going 7-1 in the American.