From +2 to -1.5 Underdogs no more!

[Guest BasketBull.]

Lots of people must be putting ca$h on the Bulls!  8-)

[bulls96go]

just win and take the points too

[USFan]

Just win baby!

[Matt]

i will  be enjoying myself sunday night!!

bbq, beer, and bulls!!

[smazza]

gambling is a funny thing

[Brad]

Bearcats go from faves to dogs in Sunday nighter  

By Tim Roberts

Sat, Oct 21, 2006  

Ever wonder how many hardcore college football fans are really out there? Sunday night’s Nielsen ratings might give you an answer.

While NBC would have you believe that Football Night in America is all about the NFL and the peacock entwined in a loving embrace, this Sunday night’s sole pigskin action is found on ESPN when the South Florida Bulls visit the Cincinnati Bearcats.

That leaves only a little baseball event called “the World Series” as the sports competition on the boob tube. But if you’re a real fan of the gridiron, you’ll have no problem ignoring Joe Buck’s siren song. USF visiting Cincy is a lot better game than it sounds to the casual college ball fan.

The books opened with Mark Dantonio’s Bearcats as 1-point favorites before a big shift on Friday turned them into 1 ½-point underdogs at home. The return of South Florida tailback Ricky Ponton from suspension played a healthy part in the line shift.

“Definitely the Bulls warrant being a road favorite based on their games so far this year,” says Covers Expert Ted Sevransky. “[Ponton] was a big factor for me last week when I took the Bulls over North Carolina.

“Any time an offense has more options it’s a good thing. Is the team going to move the ball more with him in the backfield? It’s likely. And will that mean more points on the board? Nothing’s guaranteed, but again it’s likely.”

Ponton ran for 101 yards and a pair of goal line touchdowns last week in his first action of the season. His presence relieves some of the running burden on quarterback Matt Grothe, who led the Bulls in rushing in four of their early-season games.

That allows the redshirt freshman to continue his transformation of the Bulls from its 2005 run-dominated team overly reliant on Andre Hall to a balanced offense.

Last year’s Bulls ranked second in the Big East in rushing and seventh in passing. This year’s squad is fifth and third, respectively. The Lakeland Ledger reports that through seven games last year, the Bulls had only one receiver with 10 or more catches. This year through seven games they have six.

It’s translated to a 5-2 SU and 4-2 ATS record for South Florida, putting them within a single win of bowl eligibility for the second year in a row.

The Bearcats need three wins in their last five games to make a similar claim, but they share USF’s 4-2 record against the number. The Bearcats have covered in four straight games, largely because of a decision to throw offensive balance out the window.

Cincinnati ran the ball in 47 percent of their plays from scrimmage in the first three games. In their last four, they’ve kept the ball on the ground 69 percent of the time and padded backers’ bankrolls in the meantime.

Granted, the Bearcats have either been leading or keeping it close against powerhouses in those games. Sevransky suggests, however, that the reliance on the ground game might have just as much to do with Dantonio losing confidence in quarterback Dustin Grutza as it does with his gaining confidence in the runners.

“Grutza certainly came highly-touted, and maybe he’ll get there at some point, but nothing he’s done has impressed me so far,” Sevransky says.

“Supposedly he can run and he can pass, but really we haven’t seen much of either.”

The total for Sunday’s game is set at 42 ½.

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