Cincinnati Football: 3 bold predictions for big matchup at Indiana

No. 8 Cincinnati football will travel to Memorial Stadium to take on a motivated Indiana Hoosiers team that could have College Football Playoff implications.

Cincinnati will need to put all of the outside distractions to the side in order to defeat Indiana.

The team cannot focus on their imminent move to the Big 12, which was just announced on Sept. 10 in a press release by the school. The team cannot be looking ahead to the bye week. The team certainly cannot have their next opponent, No. 12 Notre Dame on the brain, either.

Cincinnati will need to ignore the rumors that the USC Trojans are interested in wooing head coach Luke Fickell to their school.

The Bearcats will need to be totally focused on Indiana if they are to earn their first victory over a Power Five team since their win over Boston College on Jan. 2, 2020.

With that, let’s get into three bold predictions for what should be an epic AAC vs. AAC matchup.

3. We’ll know if Cincinnati is top-10 worthy after this game

Cincinnati has played an easy schedule entering this Week 3 clash with Indiana, scoring easy wins over Miami (Ohio) and Murray State. The Bearcats have totally annihilated the competition by outscoring opposing teams 91-21 in this young season.

The Bearcats will be well prepared despite not having faced a team from one of the Power Five conferences since playing Georgia on Jan. 1, 2021, in the Chik-fil-A Peach Bowl — a game Cincinnati lost 24-21.

Indiana utilizes home-field advantage to the fullest extent, having just two home losses since 2019. A sold-out crowd (more than 52,000) will welcome Cincinnati into Memorial Stadium on Sept. 18.