For the fourth time in the last five years the Cincinnati Bearcats finished with double digits in wins in 2011. The Bearcats went just 4-8 in Butch Jones\u2019 first year, but they went 10-3 and beat Vanderbilt in the Liberty Bowl at the end of the season. Cincinnati made a big move in 2011, but they return just 11 starters from that team. <\/p>\n
Big East Conference 2012-2013 College Football Previews: Cincinnati Bearcats<\/p>\n
Head Coach: Butch Jones<\/strong>
\n 2011 Record: 10-3<\/strong>
\n Cincinnati Gambling Odds from BetOnline to win BCS Championship: +10,000<\/strong>
\n Cincinnati Gambling Odds from BetOnline to win Big East Conference: +200<\/strong>
\nCincinnati Team Page \u2013 Players Stats \u2013 Roster \u2013 2012 Schedule \u2013><\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe offense returns only four starters, while the defense returns seven starters from last year. Butch Jones clearly has faith in the team, since he turned down a Big Ten job at Illinois to stay in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
College football as a whole has been undergoing some major changes with conference realignment, and no conference has seen its landscape change more than the Big East. Without West Virginia there to head the conference, many other schools will have a better chance in this conference. Cincinnati has had a lot of success in the past few years. Can the Bearcats overcome all their losses from graduation to stay at the top?<\/p>\n
Team Strengths:<\/h3>\n
The secondary doubled its interception total, and three of four starters return. The Bearcats have athletes all over the place in the secondary, which allows them to take chances and pick off passes that other teams wouldn\u2019t be able to get to. Depth is a major strength in the secondary at Cincinnati. Drew Fry has been called \u201ca rock of stability\u201d in the secondary by Coach Jones.<\/p>\n
The Bearcats have a trio of very talented receivers. This is a group that should be among the best in the conference. Anthony McClung is the best game breaker of the group.<\/p>\n
Walter Stewart and Dan Giordano are both stars at the defensive end spots. Look for them to rack up some big sack totals in 2012. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n
Team Weaknesses:<\/h3>\n
The offensive front will be a major problem for the Bearcats in 2012. Cincinnati has only one senior in this group and its top two linemen from last year are both gone. Inexperience will be the name of the game here. Bearcats fans can expect to be frustrated by this unit all year long. <\/p>\n
The entire backfield is a major question mark. Zach Collaros was one of the most talented dual-threat quarterbacks in the country and Isaiah Pead was one of the school\u2019s best runners ever, but they are both gone. Munchie Legeaux (what a name) played pretty well last year in limited action, but he is still a major question mark at the quarterback spot. At the running back spot, George Winn is the team\u2019s leading returning rusher, but he only had 219 rushing yards in 2011.<\/p>\n
2012-2013 Cincinnati Bearcats Football Prediction: 6-6<\/h3>\n
Butch Jones is a good coach, and I expect him to do well with this program, but I think the Bearcats are in for a down season. The offense is one major question mark, and the defense isn\u2019t good enough to carry them the whole way.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll find out a lot about this team right away when it hosts Pittsburgh in the season opener. The October game at Toledo is a dangerous game for Cincinnati, so watch out for an upset in that contest.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t expect the Bearcats to contend for the Big East title this year. It should be a rebuilding year in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
2012 Schedule<\/h3>\n
Thurs., Sept. 6\tPittsburgh\tNippert Stadium\t8 p.m.\tESPN
\nSat., Sept. 15\tDelaware State\tNippert Stadium\tTBA\tTBA
\nSat., Sept. 22\tOpen
\nSat., Sept. 29\tvs. Virginia Tech\tLandover, Md.\tTBA\tTBA
\nSat., Oct. 6\tMiami (Ohio)\tNippert Stadium\tTBA\tTBA
\nSat. Oct. 13\tFordham\tNippert Stadium\tTBA\tTBA
\nSat., Oct. 20\tat Toledo\tToledo, Ohio\tTBA\tTBA
\nFri., Oct. 26\tat Louisville\tLouisville, Ky.\t8 p.m.\tESPN\/ESPN2
\nSat., Nov. 3\tSyracuse\tNippert Stadium\tTBA\tTBA
\nSat., Nov. 10\tat Temple\tPhiladelphia, Pa.\tTBA\tTBA
\nSat., Nov. 17\tRutgers\tNippert Stadium\tTBA\tTBA
\nFri., Nov. 23\tUSF\tNippert Stadium\tTBA\tABC\/ESPN\/ESPN2
\nSat., Dec. 1\tat Connecticut\tStorrs, Ct.\tTBA\tABC\/ESPN\/ESPN2<\/p>\nGRAB OUR BEST Expert CFB Picks for 2012 NCAA FOOTBALL Betting! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2012-13 Football Previews \u2013 (Big East) \u2013 Cincinnati Bearcats For the fourth time in the last five years the Cincinnati Bearcats finished with double digits in wins in 2011. The Bearcats went just 4-8 in Butch Jones\u2019 first year, but they went 10-3 and beat Vanderbilt in the Liberty Bowl at the end of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":24377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[44530,55470,49957,51388,51389,51236,15908,11449,1400,51390,51391,51392],"class_list":["post-52501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-football","tag-2012-bcs-lines","tag-2012-big-east-football-previews","tag-bcs-sportsbook-odds","tag-bearcats-bcs-futures","tag-bearcats-predictions","tag-big-east-football-predictions","tag-big-east-odds","tag-big-east-picks","tag-cincinnati-bearcats","tag-cincinnati-football-predictions","tag-cincinnati-gambling-odds","tag-cincinnati-schedule"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52501"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52547,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52501\/revisions\/52547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}