Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
The Big East title is up for grabs when the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats visit the Pittsburgh Panthers in the final week of the college football regular season.
Oddsmakers have set the Panthers as 1-point home underdogs. Pitt has won three of the four meetings between these teams, covering in their first three games. However, The Bearcats took last year’s contest, 28-21, as 6-point favorites. Cincinnati held off a fourth-quarter push from Pittsburgh, which put the final over the 48-point total.
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The Panthers fell for the classic look-ahead spot last week, losing to rival West Virginia 19-16 on a last-second 43-yard field goal. That defeat moved Pitt to 5-1 in Big East play, putting more pressure on the Panthers for this Saturday’s tilt with Cincy.
Pitt is in a must-win situation against the Bearcats. A win would tie them with Cincinnati and would give them half the conference title and a trip to the Orange Bowl. If the Bearcats remain undefeated, they would likely have a date with the loser of the SEC title game in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day.
Cincinnati is coming off a big 49-36 win over the Illinois Fighting Illini as an 18.5-point favorite in Week 13. Bearcats quarterback Tony Pike had his best performance since returning from injury, putting up just under 400 yards passing and six touchdowns.
Pike has had an impressive senior season, totaling more than 2,000 yards through the air, 23 touchdowns, and just three interceptions. Against the Panthers last year, Pike threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns.
The Panthers don’t have a slouch under center either. Senior quarterback Bill Stull leads the Big East in passing, averaging more than 208 yards per game. He’s totaled 19 touchdowns and six interceptions – two of those picks coming in the loss to WVU.
Stull passed for only 179 yards (16-for-30) and one score against the Mountaineers. In his one start against Cincinnati, Stull threw for just 141 yards on 55.5 percent completions, while connecting for two touchdowns and an interception in 2008.
If Stull continues to struggle, the Panthers have a backup plan in freshman running back Dion Lewis. The first-year phenom has exploded onto the national scene, leading the conference in rushing and sitting fourth in the country with more than 131 yards on the ground per game.
He dashed for 150 yards against WVU, but was held out of the end zone for just the third game this season. Lewis has found paydirt 14 times, with one of those touchdowns coming off a reception in the opening week of the season.
Cincinnati’s rushing defense has not looked sharp in recent games. On the year, the Bearcats sit third-last in the Big East in stopping the run. Last week, the Bearcats couldn’t handle Illinois’ rush-heavy offense, allowing 159 total yards on the ground and one score. In Week 12, West Virginia ran up more than 200 yards rushing on Cincy’s defense, and the week before that Connecticut totaled 201 yards on the ground and four rushing touchdowns.
Books have yet to set a total for Saturday’s game. These teams have finished over the total in three of their four meetings since 2005. Cincinnati owns a 5-6 over/under mark while Pitt posts a 3-7 over/under record and has finished below the total in the last three games.
