Thursday Night Football – Cincinnati at South Florida

Big college football game this Thursday night as the 3 point favorite Cincinnati Bearcats visit the South Florida Bulls in a battle of undefeated division rivals at 7:30 PM ET at Raymond James Stadium.

College Football Odds:

Cincinnati Bearcats -3
South Florida Bulls +3

The real matchup for this game will be Bearcats QB Tony Pike against the South Florida defense.

Tony Pike is one of the Heisman Trophy candidates as he lead the 7th passing offense in the country with 1492 throw so far and 13 TD against 3 interceptions.  Cincinnati also ranks 11th in total yards and 3rd in points scored.

Now they will face the Bulls who are the 5th total defense, 6th in passing defense in the Bowl Subdivision allowing just 9.4 points per game and recording 7 interceptions so far in the season.  If you plan on betting on this game keep in mind that South Florida hasn’t faced an offense like the Bearcats’ so far.

"We’ve got some very good players on offense and can score points," Bearcats coach Brian Kelly said. "We’ve got to get off the field (defensively) on third down. I guess one way would be to slow down the scoring drives, but I’d rather just score quickly."

On the other side South Florida’s offense is not as strong the Cincinnati’s.  QB B.J. Daniels has thrown for just 602 yards and 6 TD and with 2 picks but the upside is that the Bulls can alternate Daniels with his backup Matt Grothe, who has thrown for 5 TD this season.

Switching back to Cincinnati, their defense is solid enough to stop South Florida.  Bearcats total defense ranks 10th with their secondary being the week spot.  Expect South Florida WR Carlton Mitchell to be Daniels’ go to guy as he has 377 receiving yards and 3 TD so far in the season.

Cincinnati lead the series 4-2 and this will be the first meeting in which both teams are ranked.

My pick: Pike and the Bearcats will cover the spread.