The Cincinnati Bearcats are full of confidence after a 12 win season saw them capture the Big East crown. Their reward was a Sugar Bowl invitation where an angry bunch of Gators were the opponent. Cincy was blasted by 27 points, ending the season on a sour note. Change is in store for the Bearcats, however, as head coach Brian Kelly accepted the Notre Dame position. Butch Jones takes over for Kelly and inherits a talented group of players. Cincinnati is listed at +500 to win the conference. View the full conference breakdown in our 2010 Big East football predictions article.
Much can be said about how good the Cincinnati offense was last season. They outscored opponents by an average of 15 points/game and their lowest output in a game was 24 points (twice). Even with the departure of QB Tony Pike and WR Mardy Gilyard, the 2010 version of offense will score points in bunches. QB Zach Collaros is the top dog now that Pike is in the NFL. He made it difficult on the coaching staff to take him out after taking over for an injured Pike against South Florida. Collaros threw for over 1400 yards and 10 touchdowns adding an additional 344 yards on the ground with four more scores. Expect Cincinnati to run the ball more often this season with All Big East caliber RB Isaish Pead in the backfield. The explosive back averaged nearly 7 yards/carry and scored 9 touchdowns. Cincy is absolutely loaded at the wide receiver position once again. Armon Binns is the main playmaker, catching 61 passes for 888 yards and 11 touchdowns earning 2nd team All Big East hono rs. Joining him will be DJ Woods, who snagged 51 balls as a sophomore. The dependable Woods is an effective player in the slot. One of the more interesting storylines on this team is WR Vidal Hazelton. He originally signed with USC out of high school but left after starting 7 games as a true freshman. Hazelton is built much like Binns and will provide another big target in the passing game. TE Ben Guidugli is one of the best tight ends in the country and provides yet another option for Collaros.
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The defense will switch to a 4-3 alignment under co defensive coordinators Tim Banks and John Jancek. Five starters return from a unit that allowed just over 23 points/game and 374 yards/game. With such a quick strike offense, these guys were on the field facing offenses that were playing from behind most of the game. LB JK Schaffer was second on the team in tackles last year with 100. He will be asked to lead on defense with a young pool of players around him. Sophomore LB Walter Steward could break through after tallying 59 tackles and 4.5 sacks as a redshirt freshman. The defensive front has some depth despite losing two starters. SS Drew Frey and CB Dominique Battle return as starters in the secondary. Frey collected 64 tackles in his first season as a starter, while Battle was right behind him with 60 stops. They lost 1st team Big East safety Aaron Webster. Special teams will suffer with the departure of Gilyard returning kicks and punts. Jacob Rogers handles both pun ting and kicking duties for the Bearcats.
The schedule sets up fairly nicely early in the season for Cincy. A Thursday night game on September 16th will be a test at NC State. Their game against Oklahoma the following week should be a shootout. Big East play opens with Louisville on the road. Their first two conference games occur on a Friday night. Tough road match-ups at West Virginia and Connecticut could determine where they end up in the pecking order. I don't think the offense will miss a beat, but the defense is comparable to last season and was shredded by good offenses at the end of the year. The Bearcats will a take minor step back and win 8 games.
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