Thoughts on Thursday: Pittsburgh Panthers vs. Cincinnati Bearcats Prediction
By Rich Lynch
The Pittsburgh Panthers play the Cincinnati Bearcats Thursday at Nippert Stadium on the UC campus. Nippert Stadium is located in downtown Cincinnati, a unique setting similar to Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium and Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania.
The setting may be the most aesthetically pleasing aspect to this contest.
Pittsburgh lost head coach Todd Graham and his high octane offense to Arizona State last December. Replacing Graham is Paul Chryst, offensive coordinator of the ground-and-pound focused University of Wisconsin. Pittsburgh is in transition-mode, which is evidenced by its decisive, 31-17 loss to Youngstown State last week — a loss sustained despite the Panthers returning their starting quarterback Tino Sinseri, running back Ray Graham and wide receiver Mike Shanahan from last season’s team.
On the other hand, Cincinnati lost dual threat quarterback Zach Collaros and running back Isaiah Pead. Pead was a 1000-yard rusher, now playing for the St. Louis Rams in the NFL. UC replaced their quarterback and running back with probably the best name combination in college football: quarterback Munchie Legaux and running back George Winn will definitely draw some crowd chant reaction along the lines of “Legaux my Eggo.”
Last season, Pitt lost to UC at home, 26-23. If Pitt loses tomorrow night, it faces the chance of starting 0-3 with AP No. 15/ ranked Virginia Tech next week. Chryst’s Panthers recognize their predicament and play WELL on offense and defense in comparison to last week — however, they will lose on the road in the last game played in the River City Rivalry for the foreseeable future with Pitt headed to the ACC.
Final Score: Cincinnati 26, Pittsburgh 17.
Note: Cincinnati plays the Delaware STATE Hornets next week. Look up their logo . . . it’s cool.