CFN Bowl Predictions - Has Cincy in Championship Game

[usf97]

Yeah they predict USF will go to St.Pete Bowl.....that seems to be what the media consensus of us is. 7-5

But having Cincy in the BCS championship game means they think they will run the table. No Big East team with a loss would be in the big game IMO.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/901289.html

[Jamie]

Yeah they predict USF will go to St.Pete Bowl.....that seems to be what the media consensus of us is. 7-5

But having Cincy in the BCS championship game means they think they will run the table. No Big East team with a loss would be in the big game IMO.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/901289.html

I would LOVE to hear the four solid weeks of ******** and moaning from ESPN about how Cincinnati snuck in there instead of (insert one or more of the following: USC, Notre Dame, Texas, Ohio State, USC, Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC).

[Bull Matrix]

I honestly dont think Cincy is going to beat USF on 10/15 this season. The BIG EAST has too many good teams that beat up on each other, so I dont see anyone running the table this season.

[Guest]

5 Thoughts - Sept. 20

1. Enough safe and sane, it's time for dumb and dangerous.

By Pete Fiutak

You're not going to buy this, but we're going to sell it anyway.

Cincinnati will end up playing Florida for the national championship. Yes, in football.

In 2007, right about this time (actually, it was on September 29th), we made the call that West Virginia was going to play for the national title. It seemed crazy at the time considering the Mountaineers had just lost to South Florida, but when looking at how the first few weeks of the season had been wacky, and with the remaining schedules ahead for all the top contenders, it seemed like a long shot that wasn't so long. As it turned out, we were this close to being right. The Mountaineers would've played in the BCS Championship game against Ohio State (and a two loss LSU, who would end up winning the whole thing, would've been left out), but Rich Rodriguez's club gagged at home to a mediocre Pitt team in the regular season finale. Now, fast forward to 2009 and take a look at what's happening, and you'll see why it's not so insane to think that Brian Kelly's loaded team could end up in Pasadena.

First, you have to be sold on the Bearcats. You might not have seen them play yet this year, and you've probably dismissed them on name recognition alone, but Kelly has put together a tough, battle-tested team that doesn't make mistakes and has been better than it gets credit for. His team has won 24 games over the last two years plus the first three games of this season, highlighted by a run to the Orange Bowl last season after winning the Big East title. His 11-3 squad ended up losing to Virginia Tech, while the two other losses came at Oklahoma (no shame there) and against Connecticut in a strange 40-16 blowout that went from being a tight battle to a laugher in a heartbeat thanks to a slew of UC fumbles. But this year's team, at least as it appears so far, is too tight, too experienced, and too good to let that happen again.

And then there's the schedule. After beating Oregon State last week in Corvallis, snapping OSU's 26-game home streak against non-conference teams that went back to 1996, the toughest remaining road game for the team that's currently fourth in the nation in scoring, sixth in offense, second in tackles for loss, and eighth in sacks is an ironic date at Pitt to end the regular season. The Panthers are good enough to end the national title dreams of the Big East for the second time in three years, but before that, UC has to play at South Florida without its star QB, Matt Grothe, and it has to go to Miami University and Syracuse. That's it. Louisville, Connecticut, West Virginia and Illinois all have to come to Cincinnati, and those are all extremely winnable games if the Bearcats can maintain the high level they're currently at.

But for the Big East to achieve its dream, several other major dominoes have to fall. USC and Ohio State losing were big. Penn State doesn't appear to be good enough on the offensive line and in the running game to not get tagged by Ohio State, at Illinois, at Michigan, or at Michigan State. Oklahoma could certainly beat Texas. The Longhorns, who haven't exactly looked like the world-beaters of last year, also have to play at Missouri, at Oklahoma State, and (don't laugh) at Texas A&M to go along with a home date against Kansas. California is California, it'll brain-cramp somewhere along the way in spectacular fashion, if it doesn't get knocked out of the national title picture by USC, the stars in the ACC will start picking each other off soon, and the SEC won't get two teams into the BCS Championship.

Does anything there sound too far-fetched? Of course, this could all end in a hiccup if Fresno State and Ryan Mathews don't make a slew of mistakes and pull off the road upset this weekend, but it's mid-September and the season has already taken several nutty turns. It's time to think longview at what might happen if everything breaks the right way. When you can't decide on the favorites, go for the longshot. 

http://cfn.scout.com/2/901294.html

[widerberg]

Ugh. Apparently the St. Pete Bowl's gone back on its original statement regarding us playing UCF. It's nowhere on the website anymore and CFN has us playing them. I can't imagine that anyone outside the I-4 corridor would even be aware the game was being played if this is how things play out. Whoever we play in the game, I'm sure we'll beat, at least until the bowl upgrades CUSA. Then again, USF v. UCF would probably put more people in the seats and look better on TV. But, feh.

Go Bulls! Run the table and keep this from happening!

[Joe]

Cincy is effin good, that was a tough win over a solid Oregon State team. I think they'll lose 1 or 2 this fall, but they're clearly the leader as far as Favorite to win the Big East

[KB]

Let's hope Cincy pulls a USF from the last 2 years.  Start strong, climb in the polls and then take a crap when conference play gets going. 

[DELdaBull]

KB,

We only want Cincy to lose to us and hopefully we run the table. I am a simple man though. I just want a 10-2 regular season.

[usf97]

Ugh. Apparently the St. Pete Bowl's gone back on its original statement regarding us playing UCF. It's nowhere on the website anymore and CFN has us playing them. I can't imagine that anyone outside the I-4 corridor would even be aware the game was being played if this is how things play out. Whoever we play in the game, I'm sure we'll beat, at least until the bowl upgrades CUSA. Then again, USF v. UCF would probably put more people in the seats and look better on TV. But, feh.

Go Bulls! Run the table and keep this from happening!

I was thinking that when you mentioned the St Pete Bowl would never take us both at the same time. I'm like why, so they can sell all those tickets and hotel rooms to all the Memphis fans that came last year? What did they have, 2 or 3 thousand it seemed like. You figure, a USF v UCF matchup would probably sell out and they might have to bring in bleachers on the one side. I can't imagine any of those CUSA schools outside of ECU would travel well.

[Cow Pie]

I have a question for y'all... if da Bulls stink this season (i.e. 7-5 or 8-4) where would you rather end up in December?

(1). Car Care Bowl vs. UNC

(2). Pizza Bowl vs. ECU

(3). St. Pete Bowl vs. UCiF