** 2020 Opponent Previews : Cincinnati (Cancelled) **

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Saunders

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CollegeFootballNews: Cincinnati Schedule Breakdown & Predictions

Best Case Scenario

10-2: The Bearcats come out roaring, getting through their first three games without breathing hard before pulling off a tough stunner at Nebraska to crank up the national attention. This won’t be a perfect season with road games at UCF, SMU and Temple along with home dates against Memphis and Houston, but they do enough to get through the East to play for the American Athletic Conference title.

Worst Case Scenario

6-6: A loss at Nebraska isn’t a big deal, but it’s a part of four road games in five dates. A weary Bearcat team drops the date at SMU, splits the home games against Memphis and Houston, and loses out on the East title at UCF. A loss a Temple cements a relatively disappointing season.

https://collegefootballnews.com/2020/02/cincinnati-football-schedule-2020-prediction-breakdown-analysis
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ESPN Bill Connelly Preview

It feels apt, then, that Cincinnati has become the Group of 5 team most acting like a P5 team on the recruiting trail: Luke Fickell has reeled in top-50 classes twice in three years now. He didn't wait for these recruits to drive success, either: In 2018-19, he went a combined 22-5 -- 0-4 vs. teams that finished with 12-plus wins and 22-1 against everybody else. And Fickell turned down Michigan State in February to remain at Nippert Stadium for a bit longer.

2020 projection: 8-4 (5-3), 34th

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29143071/college-football-offseason-preview-american-athletic-conference-part-ii
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CBSSports: No. 21 Cincinnati looks to finally break through for an AAC title

Luke Fickell's Cincinnati Bearcats are so, so close to being the best Group of Five program in college football. Consider what the Bearcats have accomplished in the last two years: a 22-5 record with an AAC East title in 2019. Only twice in that span have they really been outclassed -- once by Ohio State last year (throw that one out) and vs. UCF in 2018. Otherwise, Cincinnati has been one of the more consistent winners outside the power conferences. 

After finishing at No. 21 in our CBS Sports 130 to end last year, the Bearcats pick up where they left off by being our preseason No. 21 team. With an experienced and talented group coming back, can Fickell's team finally get over the hump and claim an AAC title? For that matter, could they make one of college football's New Year's Six games?

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/preseason-top-25-no-21-cincinnati-looks-to-finally-break-through-for-an-aac-title/
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The Athletic: Cincinnati is positioning itself as the Group of 5’s best team

After a second consecutive 11-win season in 2019 in which UC won the American Athletic Conference East Division, came just shy of winning the league title against Memphis and earning a trip to the Cotton Bowl and finished No. 21 in the final College Football Playoff rankings, the Bearcats return a deep, talented, veteran roster, and add to it the highest-rated recruiting class in program history. (And a 2021 class that has the chance to be better still.) A conference title and New Year’s Six bowl have been the goals the past couple of years. Those are the expectations this season.

It won’t be easy. On paper, the schedule shouldn’t be quite as challenging — no trip to Ohio State will do that — though even that remains somewhat a mystery with everything upended by the global pandemic. The Bearcats, thanks to the continuity achieved by Fickell staying put, are seemingly better positioned than most to handle the current circumstances. But the program (at least this iteration) is still relatively new to success, simultaneously embracing it and chasing it.

https://theathletic.com/1772559/2020/05/16/cincinnati-bearcats-football-schedule-roster-depth-chart-state-of-the-program/
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Athlon: #21 Cincinnati Preview & Prediction

Luke Fickell has guided Cincinnati to back-to-back 11-win seasons. The next step for the Bearcats is pretty simple: Win the American Athletic Conference and earn a trip to a New Year’s Six bowl. The strength of Fickell’s 2020 squad is once again on the defensive side of the ball. Cincinnati returns 10 starters from a group that held offenses to just 20.6 points a game last fall. Offensively, Fickell needs more out of a group that averaged only 5.5 yards a snap in 2019. Quarterback Desmond Ridder is back, but more playmakers must emerge at receiver, and standout running back Michael Warren II must be replaced. An early trip to Nebraska provides a good barometer for Fickell’s team. However, the showdown at UCF on Nov. 21 may decide home-field advantage for the conference title game.   

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/cincinnati-football-bearcats-prediction-preview-2020
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More to come...

 
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That's a sneaky brutal league schedule for them playing @ UCF @ Temple and then drawing @ SMU, Memphis, and UH. 

Looking forward to seeing where we stand up in this one. Current line projections for the game I've seen anywhere from NU -3 to NU -6.

 
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seaofred92 said:
That's a sneaky brutal league schedule for them playing @ UCF @ Temple and then drawing @ SMU, Memphis, and UH. 

Looking forward to seeing where we stand up in this one. Current line projections for the game I've seen anywhere from NU -3 to NU -6.
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Assuming both teams get off to good starts I see this spread approaching and passing 7 points.  So Getting NU right now under 6 and even at 3 would be solid - a 1 TD victory for NU would be very obtainable.  Now if the season doesn't get off to a good start we all have seen what can happen.

 
GBRFAN said:
Assuming both teams get off to good starts I see this spread approaching and passing 7 points.  So Getting NU right now under 6 and even at 3 would be solid - a 1 TD victory for NU would be very obtainable.  Now if the season doesn't get off to a good start we all have seen what can happen.
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I think 7.5 is the ceiling here. Cincinnati will be in the top 25 when this game happens, NU will most likely not. No way you can make NU over a 7.5 point favorite in this one and feel good about it. 

Edit- I’d bet it ultimately sits around NU -4.5 come game time if both are undefeated. If NU drops one it’ll be a -2 or -1.

 
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This is sort of cool: 

https://fbschedules.com/the-10-longest-awaited-reunions-in-college-football-in-2020/

CINCINNATI at NEBRASKA – Saturday, Sept. 6

Last played: 1906

U.S. President: Theodore Roosevelt

The longest-awaited reunion in the FBS in 2020 is 114 years in the making. Nebraska shutout the Bearcats 41-0 in Lincoln, closing out a 6-4 campaign in what was its final year as an independent before joining the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association the next season. For Cincinnati, the loss was a part of a 0-7-2 campaign.

The two are slated to meet again in 2025, this time in Cincinnati.
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Might not have to worry about them.  I have heard talk of only having a conference only schedule to shorten the season.  Possibly 10 games.  Would not be shocked if that is a direction that conferences go.  

 
I could see that but I don’t think the G5 conferences will support it at all (not that their opinion holds much weight in all likelihood) because there’s slot of money their schools are set to lose if they don’t go and play the big boys of college football 

 
Gorillahawk said:
I could see that but I don’t think the G5 conferences will support it at all (not that their opinion holds much weight in all likelihood) because there’s slot of money their schools are set to lose if they don’t go and play the big boys of college football 
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Definitely agree with you here.  Those G5 schools really need those OOC games for the money.  They will fight tooth and nail to keep them because I don't see a scenario where the P5 schools are willing to pay them a cancellation fee unless it's an insulting low dollar amount.

 
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