Cincinnati football looks for signature win over UCF in Week 12

Cincinnati football looks to make a statement in their late season push for the College Football Playoff. Will the Bearcats hold off UCF?

This game will pit two teams that have been the most dominant in their conference in recent years. UCF has been the standard bearer for not just the American Athletic Conference, but for the entire Group of Five.

The Golden Knights have been unmatched in their success on the field in the past few seasons, but now Cincinnati football is looking to take that title from them and do it decisively. The Bearcats are finally starting to get the respect that they deserve, but to be seriously considered for a spot in the playoff at the end of the season, they need to show up and dominate against the best teams on their schedule and they will have that chance when they travel to Orlando on Saturday to take on UCF.

This game will pit one of the nations best defense vs one of the nations best offenses. Cincinnati has been terrific on defense this season, only allowing one team to reach the 20-point threshold and that was Austin Peay in the season opener. They have played high-powered offenses such as SMU and Memphis this season and held them to 13 and 10 points, respectively. Now they welcome in a UCF offense led by one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Dillon Gabriel and a speedy receiving corps.

UCF’s skill group against the Bearcats secondary will be a great matchup to watch all game long.

This is a game where the roles have been reversed. In recent years, everyone in the AAC has been chasing UCF and the success that they have had as a program and Cincinnati has been a scrappy underdog that could pull the upset if you did not come ready to play.

Now, Cincinnati is the team from the AAC that is clamoring to be considered a playoff contender and UCF is in the underdog role and looking to knock off the Bearcats and try to make a run to get back to the AAC title game at the end of the season. This is a high stakes game that might be the most entertaining game of the weekend.

Here is how you can watch Cincinnati vs. UCF on Saturday:

Date: Saturday, Nov. 21
Time: 3:30 p.m ET
Venue: The Bounce House
Location: Orlando, Fla.
TV: ESPN
Livestream: WatchESPN or FuboTV

Keys to Victory

For the Cincinnati offense, it will be about maintaining the growth that they have seen from quarterback Desmond Ridder and the passing attack. The Golden Knights do not sport a good defense and if the Bearcats can maintain balance and not turn the ball over, there should be plenty of points to be scored in Orlando on Saturday.

For the Bearcats defense, forcing turnovers and getting pressure on Dillon Gabriel will be the key to stopping the Golden Knights on offense. Tulsa’s defense did a good job of putting pressure on Gabriel and that was one of the keys for Tulsa to pull the upset. Cincinnati can get after the passer and if they do that with great success, look for Gabriel to make mistakes.

For the UCF offense, they have to be able to stay ahead of the chains and get good gains on first and second down. Cincinnati loves to put its opponents in third-and-long because of how their secondary matches up with the opposing team. UCF has the speed on the outside to beat what is otherwise a terrific secondary and those receivers are going to have to win those matchups if UCF wants to move the ball consistently.

For the UCF defense, forcing Ridder into third and long and putting the Bearcats in obvious passing situations is still the best way to beat this offense. Ridder has made huge strides this season and that has been what’s made Cincinnati such a good team, but if you are going to beat this team, making Ridder do it in high pressure situations is going to be the way.

Betting Odds

All odds are provided via The Action Network

Spread: Cincinnati -3
Over/Under: 63.5

Prediction

In the biggest game of the year for the Bearcats, I think that they will respond emphatically. Most of the analysts are on UCF and their offense to keep it close, but I think there are advantages that Cincinnati holds on UCF that they will exploit in big ways on Saturday.

UCF’s defense is terrible and Desmond Ridder and the Bearcats should have no problem scoring on them. UCF does a poor job of protecting the quarterback and Cincinnati’s defense will man up on the outside and come after Dillon Gabriel. I think Cincinnati is on a mission to prove that they are worthy of a spot in the college football playoff and UCF will be just another team in its way.

Final Score: Cincinnati 45, UCF 24