LARRY NESS
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My 25* Big East GOY is on West Va at 8:00 ET. Brian Kelly was named Big East coach-of-the-year in each of his first two seasons at Cincinnati, leading the Bearcats to 22 wins the last two seasons (best two-year run in school history) and two bowls. The school's trip to last year's Orange Bowl was its first-ever BCS bowl, or prior to the BCS, first major bowl. The Bearcats were not expected to compete for the Big East title in 2009, even though the Big East did not place a single school in any of the major preseason polls (lone BCS conference not to do so). However, Cincinnati made an early statement by CRUSHING Big East preseason favorite Rutgers (Sep 7) to open the year, winning 47-15 at Rutgers. The Bearcats had just one returning defensive starter but this year's team is allowing just 16.4 PPG (T-15th in the nation) and 329.8 YPG (T-32nd). Cincy had allowed 19.6, 18.8 and 20.1 PPG the last three seasons with a D which was highly praised. This year's unit has out-preformed the previous ones, despite last week's awful effort (more on that later). The offense has been outstanding, ranking 3rd in the nation with 482.6 YPG and ranking fifth by scoring 40.0 PPG. QB Tony Pike got hurt in the team's sixth game of the season (at USF), having completed 64.3 percent of his passes with 15 TDs and just three INTs. He was getting mentioned as a dark-horse Heisman candidate but his replacement, freshman Zach Collaros, has brought another dimension to the position. Collaros ran for 132 yards with two TDs (one for 75 yards), in finishing off the team's 34-17 win at South Florida. He's since started the last three games and while he's still shown an ability to run (149 yards / 4.5 YPC), he's completed 80.5 percent of his passes (66-of-82) for 1,028 yards and eight TDs without an interception! Cincy WR Gilyard (65 catches / 8 TDs) ranks among the nation's best but don't forget Binns, who is averaging 16.2 YPC with seven TDs on 39 catches. The running game is averaging 157.9 YPG (5.2 YPC) with both Pead (51 2 YR / 6.2 YPC) and Ramsey (419 YR / 6.3 YPC) making significant contributions. Collaros helped Cincinnati rack up a school-record 711 total yards in Saturday's 47-45 win over Connecticut, throw for 480 yards and a TD plus running for 75 yards and two scores. However, what happened to Cincy's D? U Conn scored 45 points on a Cincinnati defense which entered the game allowing just 12.9 PPG plus ran for 201 yards with four TDs. Let's not be to quick to sell West Va short. The Mountaineers are 7-2 and ranked 23rd by the coaches' and 25th in the BCS. Jarrett Brown is a big and mobile QB plus RB Devine (1,010 YR / 6.0 YPC / 10 TDs) is as explosive a RB as there is in CFB. Both players have sore ankles but missing this game is "not an option!" The West Va D matches up favorably vs Cincy's, allowing 331.1 YPG and 20.9 PPG. West Va is 3-1 in the Big East (Cincy and Pitt are 5-0) but with Pitt up next in Morgantown (the day after Thanksgiving), West Va still controls its own fate. The Bearcats have won 11 in a row at home and they won 26-23 at West Virginia last year. However, the Cincy offense was held to just 260 yards in that game, its lowest total over the last two seasons. The pressure is mounting on this team, as it still has an outside chance at making the BCS title game. A Cincy team has never reached 10-0, as the 1951 team which also opened 9-0, lost its 10th game. Is that ancient history? Sure it is but remember, the last school to win at Nippert Stadium was West Va, 28-23 in November of 2007 when West Va was ranked 5th and Cincy 21st. What really has me liking West Va in this game is what's happening with the QB position at Cincy. After Collaros's fabulous performance vs U Conn, HC Kelly said he was no longer committed to Pike as his starter. "He's made it hard," Kelly said. "OK, I've changed my mind based on the way he's played the last three games. I think I have to reconsider my decision." The coach switched his stance this past Monday, saying Pike still had the job as soon as he's fully healthy. Then, a day later, Kelly named Collaros the starter for Friday's game but added that Pike will get some snaps vs West Va and would be the likely starter on November 27 against Illinois. What's going on here? "This is new territory for me," Kelly said. "I can't say that in 19 years of being a head coach that I've had this kind of a dilemma, if you will. Again, the nice part about it is that our football team has absolutely no concerns over who's leading them, if it's Zach or Tony. That's a great thing to have. Where controversies come in is when your room is split. There is no split. They know they can win and win at a high level with both these guys. That's a very unique circumstance." He hasn't convinced me, as I believe this could be a distracting situation. West Va watched the U Conn game film and MUST be confident. The Bearcats have been a bowl team in each of the last three years with the Mountaineers beating them 42-24 in 2006, 28-23 at Cincy in 2008 and then lost 26-23 last year in OT but as mentioned, held Cincy to 260 yards. I want all those points here! Big East GOY 25* West Va.
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My 25* Big East GOY is on West Va at 8:00 ET. Brian Kelly was named Big East coach-of-the-year in each of his first two seasons at Cincinnati, leading the Bearcats to 22 wins the last two seasons (best two-year run in school history) and two bowls. The school's trip to last year's Orange Bowl was its first-ever BCS bowl, or prior to the BCS, first major bowl. The Bearcats were not expected to compete for the Big East title in 2009, even though the Big East did not place a single school in any of the major preseason polls (lone BCS conference not to do so). However, Cincinnati made an early statement by CRUSHING Big East preseason favorite Rutgers (Sep 7) to open the year, winning 47-15 at Rutgers. The Bearcats had just one returning defensive starter but this year's team is allowing just 16.4 PPG (T-15th in the nation) and 329.8 YPG (T-32nd). Cincy had allowed 19.6, 18.8 and 20.1 PPG the last three seasons with a D which was highly praised. This year's unit has out-preformed the previous ones, despite last week's awful effort (more on that later). The offense has been outstanding, ranking 3rd in the nation with 482.6 YPG and ranking fifth by scoring 40.0 PPG. QB Tony Pike got hurt in the team's sixth game of the season (at USF), having completed 64.3 percent of his passes with 15 TDs and just three INTs. He was getting mentioned as a dark-horse Heisman candidate but his replacement, freshman Zach Collaros, has brought another dimension to the position. Collaros ran for 132 yards with two TDs (one for 75 yards), in finishing off the team's 34-17 win at South Florida. He's since started the last three games and while he's still shown an ability to run (149 yards / 4.5 YPC), he's completed 80.5 percent of his passes (66-of-82) for 1,028 yards and eight TDs without an interception! Cincy WR Gilyard (65 catches / 8 TDs) ranks among the nation's best but don't forget Binns, who is averaging 16.2 YPC with seven TDs on 39 catches. The running game is averaging 157.9 YPG (5.2 YPC) with both Pead (51 2 YR / 6.2 YPC) and Ramsey (419 YR / 6.3 YPC) making significant contributions. Collaros helped Cincinnati rack up a school-record 711 total yards in Saturday's 47-45 win over Connecticut, throw for 480 yards and a TD plus running for 75 yards and two scores. However, what happened to Cincy's D? U Conn scored 45 points on a Cincinnati defense which entered the game allowing just 12.9 PPG plus ran for 201 yards with four TDs. Let's not be to quick to sell West Va short. The Mountaineers are 7-2 and ranked 23rd by the coaches' and 25th in the BCS. Jarrett Brown is a big and mobile QB plus RB Devine (1,010 YR / 6.0 YPC / 10 TDs) is as explosive a RB as there is in CFB. Both players have sore ankles but missing this game is "not an option!" The West Va D matches up favorably vs Cincy's, allowing 331.1 YPG and 20.9 PPG. West Va is 3-1 in the Big East (Cincy and Pitt are 5-0) but with Pitt up next in Morgantown (the day after Thanksgiving), West Va still controls its own fate. The Bearcats have won 11 in a row at home and they won 26-23 at West Virginia last year. However, the Cincy offense was held to just 260 yards in that game, its lowest total over the last two seasons. The pressure is mounting on this team, as it still has an outside chance at making the BCS title game. A Cincy team has never reached 10-0, as the 1951 team which also opened 9-0, lost its 10th game. Is that ancient history? Sure it is but remember, the last school to win at Nippert Stadium was West Va, 28-23 in November of 2007 when West Va was ranked 5th and Cincy 21st. What really has me liking West Va in this game is what's happening with the QB position at Cincy. After Collaros's fabulous performance vs U Conn, HC Kelly said he was no longer committed to Pike as his starter. "He's made it hard," Kelly said. "OK, I've changed my mind based on the way he's played the last three games. I think I have to reconsider my decision." The coach switched his stance this past Monday, saying Pike still had the job as soon as he's fully healthy. Then, a day later, Kelly named Collaros the starter for Friday's game but added that Pike will get some snaps vs West Va and would be the likely starter on November 27 against Illinois. What's going on here? "This is new territory for me," Kelly said. "I can't say that in 19 years of being a head coach that I've had this kind of a dilemma, if you will. Again, the nice part about it is that our football team has absolutely no concerns over who's leading them, if it's Zach or Tony. That's a great thing to have. Where controversies come in is when your room is split. There is no split. They know they can win and win at a high level with both these guys. That's a very unique circumstance." He hasn't convinced me, as I believe this could be a distracting situation. West Va watched the U Conn game film and MUST be confident. The Bearcats have been a bowl team in each of the last three years with the Mountaineers beating them 42-24 in 2006, 28-23 at Cincy in 2008 and then lost 26-23 last year in OT but as mentioned, held Cincy to 260 yards. I want all those points here! Big East GOY 25* West Va.
notice how stu says last yr loss 20 -17
and ness has 26-23 ????
Stu's Friday CFB 100-Dime Winner W.Virginia/Cincy!
West Virginia @ Cincinnati 8:00 PM EST
Play On: West Virginia +9.5 (100-Dime)
The Mountaineers not only have revenge for last season's 20-17 home loss to Cincinnati but they have the opportununity to knock off the undefeated Bearcats and spoil their BCS dreams. The Bearcats showed some defensive flaws last week in their 47-45 home win over Connecticut. The Huskies were able to rack up 462 yards of offense in that game including 201 on the ground. The West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown is our ace in the hole in this contest. Brown has completed over 65% of his passes for 10 touchdowns and ran for another 3332 yards. I look for the Mountaineers to take this game right down to the wire and wouldn't be shocked if they pulled the outright upset. Play on West Virginia plus the points as a 100-Dime selection.
and ness has 26-23 ????
Stu's Friday CFB 100-Dime Winner W.Virginia/Cincy!
West Virginia @ Cincinnati 8:00 PM EST
Play On: West Virginia +9.5 (100-Dime)
The Mountaineers not only have revenge for last season's 20-17 home loss to Cincinnati but they have the opportununity to knock off the undefeated Bearcats and spoil their BCS dreams. The Bearcats showed some defensive flaws last week in their 47-45 home win over Connecticut. The Huskies were able to rack up 462 yards of offense in that game including 201 on the ground. The West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown is our ace in the hole in this contest. Brown has completed over 65% of his passes for 10 touchdowns and ran for another 3332 yards. I look for the Mountaineers to take this game right down to the wire and wouldn't be shocked if they pulled the outright upset. Play on West Virginia plus the points as a 100-Dime selection.
Freddy Wills
Well that is back to back easy winners on our POD and we now stand at 13-4 on the year with a 31-0 win for Rutgers as pick. I knew I loved this game and while I thought it would be a 10+ game I didn't know it would be as easy as it was. Either way I am coming back on Friday with another POD and I'm loving this game too. Not quite as much as Thursday, but another POD and a 4-unit play at that! Remember to check out my plays on Saturday I already have one play released and I'm 31-11-2 ATS in my last 8 Saturdays in college Football!!
Cincy -9.5
Well that is back to back easy winners on our POD and we now stand at 13-4 on the year with a 31-0 win for Rutgers as pick. I knew I loved this game and while I thought it would be a 10+ game I didn't know it would be as easy as it was. Either way I am coming back on Friday with another POD and I'm loving this game too. Not quite as much as Thursday, but another POD and a 4-unit play at that! Remember to check out my plays on Saturday I already have one play released and I'm 31-11-2 ATS in my last 8 Saturdays in college Football!!
Cincy -9.5
