In a battle of interim coaches, the Cincinnati Bearcats will take on the Louisville Cardinals in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl at Fenway Park in Boston. It’s time to continue our college football odds series with a Cincinnati-Louisville prediction and pick.
Cincinnati has gone 9-3 this season but lost long-time head coach Luke Fickell to Wisconsin. In the American Athletic Conference, Cincinnati went 6-2. Interim head coach Kerry Coombs will coach in place of Fickell, despite the team already making a full-time hire.
That full-time hire for Cincinnati is former Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield, who led the Cardinals to a 7-5 record. The Cardinals went 4-4 in the ACC, highlighted by an upset of North Carolina State. With Satterfield gone, interim coach Deion Branch will handle the coaching duties. If this was your way of finding out Deion Branch was coaching at Louisville, join the club.
Here are the Cincinnati-Louisville college football odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
Wasabi Fenway Bowl Odds: Cincinnati-Louisville Odds
Cincinnati Bearcats: +1.5 (-110)
Louisville Cardinals: -1.5 (-110)
Over: 39.5 (-114)
Under: 39.5 (-106)
Why Cincinnati Could Cover The Spread
Ben Bryant has continued the strong quarterback play at Cincinnati, completing 61.2 percent of his passes for 2,731 yards with 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Now, Bryant will miss this game with a foot injury, giving Evan Prater a chance to start. Prater has played sparingly, throwing for 340 yards and adding a rushing touchdown. The running game is led by Charles McClelland, who has rushed for 834 yards and seven touchdowns. Corey Kiner and Ryan Montgomery have also added five rushing touchdowns. Cincinnati has rushed for 1,642 yards and 19 touchdowns as a team, but will likely rely more on their ground game with Prater making his first career start. Louisville has allowed 141.1 rushing yards per game. Tyler Scott leads the team with 899 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. Cincinnati has averaged 31.1 points and 392.8 yards of offense per game.
Cincinnati's defense has been strong, holding opponents to 20.3 points and 328.5 yards of offense per game. Ivan Pace, Jr. has been a menace, leading the team with 19.5 tackles for loss and nine sacks. The Bearcats have sacked opponents 34 times, while Louisville has allowed 25 sacks.
Why Louisville Could Cover The Spread
Malik Cunningham opted out of this one, as did running back Tiyon Evans. Brock Domann and Braden Smith combined to throw four touchdowns and five interceptions in limited work without Cunningham this season. Louisville will likely lean more on their running game, which has also been solid. Jawhar Jordan leads the team with 700 rushing yards, adding two touchdowns. Cunningham and Evans led the team with 12 and six rushing touchdowns, respectively. The Cardinals have rushed for 2,326 yards and 23 touchdowns as a team. Cincinnati has allowed 142.1 rushing yards per game to opponents.
Leading receiver Tyler Hudson has also opted out of this one. Second-leading receiver Marshon Ford has totaled 421 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Louisville has averaged 27.2 points and 405.5 yards of offense per game.
Louisville's defense has been good, allowing 20.2 points and 347.6 yards of offense per game. Yasir Abdullah leads the team with eight sacks, while the Cardinals have totaled 43 as a team. Louisville will need to combine their pass rush with a play-making secondary that totaled 15 interceptions to terrorize an inexperienced quarterback.
Final Cincinnati-Louisville Prediction & Pick
Between the opt-outs and injuries, don't expect a ton of points. Cincinnati's backup quarterbacks may be better than Louisville's options. Both defenses are strong enough on their own to keep the total under.
Final Cincinnati-Louisville Prediction & Pick: Cincinnati +1.5 (-110), under 39.5 (-106)
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