Friday night College Football and we will see the Toledo Rockets take on the Cincinnati Bearcats at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. The game has a start time of 7:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN U. Current Vegas odds have the Bearcats listed as 10 point favorites, while the total is set at 58.
Analysis: The Toledo Rockets come in at 1-1 on the year, with their lone win being vs FCS foe New Hampshire in game 1, while last week they lost 49-24 at home vs Missouri in a game that many thought they would win. Toledo not only lost the game, but they lost starting QB Philip Ely to and ACL tear. Logan Woodside should be the starter now but he does have limited experience, having thrown just 51 passes between last year and the start of this year. The Rockets may have to lean more on RB Kareen Hunt, who has run for 284 yards on 35 carries (8.1 ypc) and has 5 TDs rushing already, after having 6 all of last year. The Rockets come in ranked 19th in the nation in total offense (537 ypg) and 38th in scoring offense (39 ppg), while on the other side of the ball they are 99th in total defense (438.5 ypg), 115th in passing defense (331.5 ypg) and 106th in points allowed (34.5 ppg).
This will be the first game for the Bearcats. The Cincinnati Bearcats parlayed a soft schedule into a nice 9-4 season, but they did struggle at the end of the year when the schedule got tougher. The Bearcats did not face a team with a winning record until their 10th game of the season and they ended the year on a sour note, losing to Louisville in the season final and then getting blasted by the Tar Heels in the Belk Bowl. The offense should be improved this year, especially if Notre Dame Transfer Gunner Keil is as good as advertised. He has a solid ground game to feed the ball to and plenty of weapons to throw to, while the OL is rated the best in the AAC. The defense for the Bearcats will be tough again, but probably won’t rank 9th in the nation like last year’s group did.
Pick: I will be going with the Bearcats, who drew 2 Bye weeks to start the year, while Toledo was playing and losing their starting QB for this game. That is a huge advantage for the Bearcats. Cincinnati still hasn’t settled on a QB, but most likely it will be Notre Dame Transfer Gunner Kiel, who has a big arm and plenty of weapons to throw to. He should have good success vs a weak Toledo pass defense that allowed Missouri 325 yards passing and New Hampshire 338 yards passing. The Toledo will be a bit more pedestrian with Logan Woodside back there and he will be facing the best defense in the AAC. The Bearcats have all the edges in this one, including the homefield edge, plus we note the Tommy Tubberville is 16-2 SU in his career in home openers and has outscored his opponents by 27 ppg in those games. I say Bearcats by at least 2 TDs here.
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