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Tomorrow the Bearcats fight for the right to party with the Keg of Nails for a fourth straight year. It will be the first time since 1987 that Cincinnati will have this opportunity and only the second time ever in the history of the rivalry that dates back to the Great Depression. The Bearcats own a solid 29 – 20 – 1 record in the rivalry but are hungry for more wins. To keep the Keg in Clifton they need to focus on five key areas in the game:
- Abuse Louisville’s Offensive Line – Cincinnati’s D-Line led by Derek Wolfe has been pounding quarterbacks and running backs all season mainly because opposing blockers haven’t been able to stop them. They should be licking their chops this Saturday as Louisville’s O-Line can’t stop anybody right now.
- Protect Zach – The strength of the Cardinals is their defensive front four. I’m going to give Cincinnati’s offensive line the benefit of the doubt that the Miami game was an aberration and they have corrected some mistakes in the week off. But they need to give Zach time to find his receivers especially considering Louisville’s secondary is very suspect. If UC’s O-line can perform well, look for Zach to easily pick apart the Cardinals’ DBs.
- Get Isaiah Pead to 100+ Yards Rushing – The Cincinnati offense revolves around Zach making the proper pre- and post-snap reads. But having Pead get his yardage and keep the defense honest will only help the Bearcats’ offense score points. He’s always a threat to take one to the house but Louisville’s defensive lineman and linebackers have been very stout against the run this year. So it’s important for the offensive line to perform well in run blocking as well as Pead finding those holes and exploiting them.
- Stay Disciplined – True freshman Teddy Bridgewater could easily get the nod as Louisville’s quarterback on Saturday. He’s very talented but a prototypical scrambling quarterback and with his offensive line he really doesn’t have much of a choice. But he does move around well and Bearcats fans have seen how quarterbacks like these can gash Cincinnati’s defense (See: Russell Wilson, 2010). That’s why it’s important for UC’s DBs to maintain their assignments even when the play breaks down for UL’s offense. Bridgewater throws well on the run and I’m not looking forward to seeing another repeat of NC State in 2010.
- Win the Field Position Game – Louisville doesn’t do a whole lot well but one thing they can hang their hats on is that they are very good on punt coverage (.33 average, on only 3 punts mind you). Still, if offenses on both side bog down, it will be up to Pat O’Donnell to pin Louisville deep and Ralph David Abernathy/D.J. Woods to give Cincinnati favorable field position.
To the rest of the Big East. Syracuse and West Virginia with byes so not a whole lot else going on in the conference. This is why it sucks to only have 8 (6) teams in the Big East:
Pittsburgh vs. Utah: Pitt reverted back to the Wannstache days by not building on an impressive win against South Florida to losing to Rutgers pretty bad last week. They’re offensive line looked horrible as the Scarlet Knights were in the backfield almost as soon as the ball was snapped. Fortunately for Pitt, the opposing Utes are without starting quarterback Jordan Wynn and have been struggling with their new Pac-12 schedule (0 – 3). I’m taking the Panthers in this one. Pitt 31, Utah 20
Rutgers vs. Navy: Rutgers had a huge win last week against Pitt and is on top of the conference at 2 – 0. They’ve been doing it with a great defense despite playing yet another freshman at quarterback. I guess it helps when Sanu and Harrison are your receivers. Still, Navy’s option-esq offense can create a lot of problems for any team and they’re probably the best service academy among the trio. Rutgers, though, is just clicking more right now. Rutgers 30, Navy 24
South Florida vs. UConn: The only other conference game of weekend. The Bulls have had a week off to simmer about their embarrassing loss to Pitt a couple of Thursday’s ago and are ready to unleash that frustration on a pretty bad Husky team. Also, I’m sure Skip Holtz has used the two weeks well in correcting the problems from that game. That’s not good for the Huskies who continue to look like the bottomfeeders of the Big East this season. South Florida 37, UConn 13