Cincinnati Bearcats @ Connecticut Huskies Football Preview

The Big East title will be determined this weekend, but in two parts. The first installment will occur on Thursday night when West Virginia travels to South Florida. The second installment will come on Saturday when Connecticut travels to Nippert Stadium to play Cincinnati. The Bearcats can clinch a share of the Big East title with a win and will win the conference outright if West Virginia loses. It would be the final step in a remarkable turnaround for a Bearcats team that stumbled to a 4-8 season in year one under head coach Butch Jones. It would also be impressive for Cincinnati win two of its final three games after losing Zach Collaros to injury. Connecticut can’t win the Big East, but the Huskies can still become bowl eligible and get the precious additional practices a bowl berth brings. After struggling early, the Huskies have played solid defensive football down the stretch and can end their season with an exclamation with a win.

The Cincinnati offense for much of the season relied on the arms and legs of quarterback Zach Collaros. When he was lost to a broken ankle against West Virginia, the offense was forced to make changes and after struggling against Rutgers two weeks ago, seems to have found it’s nice again. Rather than trying to force backup Munchie Legaux into Collaros’ role, the coaches inserted Jordan Luallen to be a running threat and it paid off against Syracuse. More importantly, the coaching staff got creative in using tailback Isaiah Pead. Against Syracuse, Pead was used as both a tailback and as a weapon in the passing game and it paid off as he scored two second half touchdowns, one of them coming on a screen pass. To beat the Huskies, Cincinnati will need to use Pead in a variety of ways to keep the defense honest.

While Connecticut has struggled to move the ball for most of the year, it has at least had the luxury of relying on a stout defense to keep the team in games. To get bowl eligible, Connecticut will need that defense to once again step up. The Huskies could have the conference’s best defensive line led by Kendall Reyes. If that unit can bottle up Pead in the run game, then the Huskies own pedestrian offense can hope for a chance to win the game late. When they do have the ball, Connecticut relies on the able legs of Lyle McCombs, who went over 1,000 yards in a blowout of Rutgers last week. If the Huskies control the clock and can ride McCombs, they could very well end Cincinnati’s BCS hopes.

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By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer