Week 14: Syracuse Orange @ Cincinnati Bearcats
Anyone happen to see the Cincy fans throwing Oranges onto the field after they defeated Pittsburgh last week? Hm, I have a feeling it wasn’t in anticipation of facing the Orange this weekend…Lets hope the not only the fans overlook this game and Grob can grab a W in his final game as Syracuse Head Coach!
When: Saturday November 29th, 2008 – 12:00 PM Eastern
Where: Cincinnati, Ohio at Nippert Stadium
Capacity: 35,000 (we get about that at our basketball games…)
Television: ESPN Regional – ESPN Gameday – Will also be the Big East game of the week – check out Pacusefans thread for more TV listings.
The Spread: The line opened at Cincinnati -22 and sits at -22.5 at most books. The Over/Under is at 49.5.
Head Coaches: Cincinnati – Brian Kelly – 2nd season at Cincinnati (20-5 overall / coached 2006 Bowl Game) Syracuse- Greg Robinson – 4th and final season at Syracuse (10-36 overall.)
Last time they played: Last year Cincinnati smacked around the Orange in the Dome in an entertaining 52-31 victory. The all time series between the Orange and Bearcats is deadlocked at 4-4 with Cincinnati winning 4 of the last five meetings (three in a row.)
Cincinnati can see Orange – as in Orange Bowl. The Bearcats can sew up their first ever Big East championship with a win over another Orange, namely us. It is going to take more than a little bit of luck to be successful in Cincinnati on Saturday. The Bearcats have been especially good at home, winning all five of their games at Nippert Stadium and 16 of 18 dating back to 2006. They’ve averaged 30.0 points at home this season, while holding three of their five opponents to 10 or fewer. Ouch! If GRob is really going to submit his resume in for the open Cuse job, then he’s going to have to hope for more than the luck (as in bad) of the Irish. Here is the final look at what to expect this week.
LVO’s Five things to look for this Saturday:
1) Any residual effects from last week. Did we save any pixie dust for this week? It’s time to empty the bag o tricks this week as there is nothing to hold back now. The Wildcat gadgets were effective in keeping ND off balance last week. We are going to need more of the same if there is going to be a Queen City Miracle.
2) How many men will be on Arthur Jones? If Cincy can slow down Jones and company, it should be smooth sailing for the Bearcats. Here’s Brian Bennett’s take on if that is even possible.
3) Last chance to “flash”. We have several areas that need scrutiny. Namely the special teams, the secondary, and the young WR core. Still this is the last stand for seniors such as Ryan Durand, Curtis Brinkley, Nick Santiago, Bruce Williams et al. At some point on Saturday while your working on your leftovers, take a few moments to give it up for these kids.
4) Greg-isms. This is your last chance to hear them. Round ‘em up and get your favorites to Nunes, who is compiling the mother of Greg-isms. Don’t miss it.
5) Ryan Howard, please catch a punt. I don’t suspect there will be many opportunities to catch one, just don’t drop it.
Syracuse’s Offense vs Cincinnati Defense: Wow. Who was that team in Orange last week out in South Bend? The Wildcat Offense? Halfback passes? Last minute game winning drive? What? I’ll have some more please, Mr.Browning! With absolutely nothing to lose the staff finally threw some creativity into the Offense. I would have loved to of seen that earlier in the season, but what can you do. Brinkley had a lot of trouble gaining ground – but Freshman Antwon Bailey ran for 126 yards and provided a huge spark in Syracuse’s comeback win. GRob looked like an idiot when he burnt Baileys redshirt earlier this season against Pitt – but now I see why. He’s going to have to earn every single yard this weekend though. Cincinnati has been solid all year against the run – limiting opponents to only 105 ypg which ranks 17th in the nation. The Bearcats have held Pat White to 41 yards on 20 carries – LeSean McCoy to 82 yards on 16 carries – and only allowed 105 rushing yards to Akron (who we allowed to run for 218 yards.) I still have no idea why Hogue and Carter arent getting any playing time, but I’ll live with Bailey and Brinkley this weekend and worry about them after the season. If I were Brian Kelly, I’d stack 8-9 to stuff Bailey and Boonah and dare Dantley to beat me. Dantley has been serviceable and smart for the most part – but he’s going to have to take it up another level. Unfortunetly, 15 for 25 for 100 yards and a TD just isnt going to be enough. If Davis and Sales can’t get open this is going to be a very long day for our offense.
Cincinnati Offense vs Syracuse’s Defense: After 2007 QB Ben Mauk was denied his 408th year of eligibility by the NCAA…and QB Dustin Grutza went down – I thought Cincinnati’s shot at contending for a Big East Title were over. In steps Junior QB Tony Pike. Pike has 15 TD’s and 4 INT’s this season en route to guiding Cincy’s offense to a #21 national passing rank. Add to the mix WR’s Goodman and Gillyard (LVO players to watch) and the Orange D is in for a bad day. I feel good with how Holmes, Chiara, and Suter have played in the secondary – but if we’re going to have any shot at slowing down Cincy its imperative Kevyn Scott steps his game up. Scott was burnt for both of Notre Dames TD passes last weekend and just looked outmanned. That doesnt bode well against a Cincy WR core that is twice as good as Notre Dames. Unless Arthur can put on another show like he did last weekend – Pike is going to sit in the pocket and pick us apart.
Why Syracuse will win:The guys continue to fight for GRob. It really showed how much they care for that man with how much that put into last weekends win. It was a complete 180 from what we had seen all season.
Why Cincinnati will win: Cincinnati’s passing game is just too much for our weak secondary. Pike sits in the pocket unpressured all day and names the score – sending Cincinnati to the Orange Bowl to represent the Big East.
Syracuse player to watch: RB Antwon Bailey – 29 carries for 192 yards and 2 TDs. The star of last week’s game against ND gets another chance to showcase his talents for next season. While we know that Brinkley will get his touches, and Boonah deserves a bunch of them, it will be interesting to see how early the staff turns to Bailey. Will there be more Wildcat formations? Can Bailey deliver with a defense that won’t sleep on him this week. I’m all eyes.
Cincinnati players to watch: WRs Mardy Gilyard (56 receptions/868 yards and 9 TDS) and Dominick Goodman (70/903/7). These two guys both could conceivably crack 1000 yards after this game. They will certainly have it by season’s end. These two have more yards combined than our entire team. Gilyard is just one TD reception behind out entire team’s TD totals. I don’t think you’ll see us stack the box and have poor Kevyn Scott on an island against this pair.
Lvilleorange Prediction: I think I’ve proven that my predictions aren’t always spot on. Actually I think I’ve proven that they basically stink. With that said I offer up my final salvo for the season. I expect to see the field get pelted with a few oranges. Robinson leaves the field with his head held high, just without anything resembling the outcome of last week. Cincy wins pretty comfortably 38-20.
Reyes39 Prediction: Syracuse 27 Cincinnati 24 – go out and get em Grob!
2008 Parting notes:
I also want to give up some major props to Reyes39 for driving the boat on these pregames. It’s been a fun ride. Look for the Zero Hand to get into the coaching carousel, recruiting scene, and a post season look back as we head into another off season without a bowl game.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Steve
Fun ride? Jeesh…what are you smoking? I dunno about you but I got sick every time we previewed the different ways we were going to lose! But for real – a lot of thanks go out to Steve (LVO/Zero Hand) for helping with these previews and to Pacusefan for plugging along beside us with reading info for us all season. I look forward to doing it again next year – hopefully we have the opportunity at looking at the different ways we can win a game!
-Stats thanks to collegefootballdatabase and ncaa.org
-Photos thanks to ESPN
