Well we are on to the final game of Syracuse’s 6 game home stand.  The final opponent is none other than defending Big East champion and Orange Bowl participant Cincinnati Bearcats.  I know, I am just as surprised as you are about saying that.  Let’s take a look at how the got there and where they stand for this season.

What we  know

Well it took the Bearcats 56 years to get a 10 win season, but only one year to repeat it, as Brian Kelly led Cincy to the top of the heap in the Big East with an 11-3 record.  The Bearcats defeated Eastern Kentucky, Miami OH, Akron, Marshall, Rutgers, South Florida, West Virginia, Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse and Hawaii.  The only stumbles were to Oklahoma, UConn and Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.

As we all know, Cincy clinched their first BE title by helping close out the Orange, bookending the 2008 season with the same 30-10 score that opened our season.  The road to the top was a strange one indeed as Cincy overcame the loss of not one, but two quarterbacks and ended up with 3rd stringer Tony Pike manning the controls.  Well the Bearcats didn’t miss a beat ranking 26th in the nation in passing.  Fortunately the Bearcats also were able to rely on a stingy defense that ranked 19th against the rush and 31st overall.

Spring Developments

The offense will be fully loaded this season with 7 returning starters, including QB Pike who is ranked as the 2nd best player in the BE by ESPN blogger Brian Bennett.  Another huge threat for the ‘Cats will be WR Mardy Gilyard, who snagged 11 TDs and 1200+ yards last season (oh btw he’s ranked 5th by BB).  The ground game wasn’t all that impressive last year, but hopes will rest on the return of John Goebel, who also has good hands and Isaiah Pead who has potential breakaway ability.  Jacob Ramsey also returns.  The Oline returns the entire left side.  LT Jeff Linkenbach could end up all BE.

For all the positives on offense there are an equal number of question marks on defense.  That side of the ball was gutted by attrition as only FS Aaron Webster returns as a starter off of last year’s team.  The good news is that a number of players saw action last year and SS Drew Frey was a starter before he broke his arm and missed the season.  Also Cincy will be transitioning from the 4-3 to a3-4 alignment.  New DC Bob Diaco, who worked with Kelly at Central Mich, is tasked with the transition.  DE/LB Curtis Young should excel as a hybrid style player.  He collected 7.5 sacks as a backup.  Kelly has been successful moving players and we will see if that works as former QB/ND transfer Demetrius Jones tries his hand at LB.

The Bearcats also must replace two time AA punter Kevin Huber.  Incoming frosh Patrick O’Donnell will most likely handle the punting chores.  K Jake Rodgers has a strong leg, albeit he’s a bit inaccurate, missing 5 PATs.  Rodgers may handle both duties if O’Donnell isn’t ready.

Interesting fact:

The Bearcats have a Ring of Honor.   Ever hear of Greg Cook, Tom Marvaso or Jack Lee?  Me neither.  Go brush up on Bearcat lore, pronto.

Chattering masses

Well in a big surprise, the Bearcats or should I say Brian Kelly doesn’t have a Twitter feed!  How can the leader of the free world, um I mean the Big East, not have a Twitter account.  It’s not like the Cincinnati area has anything else to hang their hats on, with both Reds and Bengals swooning.

You can check out some previews of the Bearcats at Bleacher Report and at Brian Bennett’s post spring report.  Rivals also has a nice look at Cincy, placing them at #33.

If you want blogging, you can get that here.

Why we can win

The Bearcats will have to win a few shootouts this season if they expect to win the BE.  Can we engage in some scoring battles against them?  We certainly have weapons at RB and WR to make it interesting.  The last game in 2007 at the Carrier Dome was a 52-31 points spree.  We are going to have to hope that some of Cincy’s -8 TO ratio shows up in this game.  Pike was prone to some INTs last year, witness his 4 picks against VT.

Why we can lose

The combo of Pike to Gilyard will be a handful for our youthful secondary.  This could be the best executed spread offense we see all season.  If we can’t move the ball and keep their offense off the field this could be a very long afternoon in the Dome.   If Cincy survives their opener at Rutgers, they should be in the hunt to repeat as conference champs.

The Pick

While I think we will be a better team this year.  I expect to struggle some against the elite of the conference as DM and Co look to close the talent gap.  While there is no question that the Bearcats will have issues to contend with on defense, the offense should find fertile ground against our defense.  I really don’t expect much in this one at this early a look in.  I could easily see a rather easy win for Cincy to the tune of 38-21.

What do you say?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 7:00 pm by LvilleOrange . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.