Cincinnati took care of business inside a cold Nippert Stadium last Saturday easily overpowering UConn to improve to 8-1 on the season and continuing the march towards a huge showdown at Memphis to end the season. This week Cincinnati will travel down south to face the South Florida Bulls, the Bulls are 4-5 on the year and come into the game off of a 10 point loss to Temple. This will be a huge step up in competition from the UConn team the Bearcats faced last week, but should still be a game the Bearcats handle easily (the spread currently sits at 14 in favor of the Cats).
USF has had moments where they have looked really good, like the 45-20 thumping of ECU two weeks ago, but they have also had moments where they looked not so great, like the 49-0 loss to Wisconsin and more recently the 35-3 loss to Navy. It all depends on what kind of defensive effort USF gets each week, and how well Jordan McCloud plays.
McCloud is the redshirt freshman that has taken over full-time QB play for the Bulls. He has had ups and downs in the passing game only eclipsing 200 yards twice this season, but one of those games was last week against Temple when he threw for 225 yards and a touchdown. On average McCloud is only passing for 111.2 yards a game, just eclipsing 1,000 yards on the season last week. He has thrown for 11 touchdowns, but has also thrown six interceptions. McCloud does pose some threat on the ground as he currently has four rushing touchdowns on the year and has 237 yards on the year.
Helping McCloud in the backfield is senior running back Jordan Cronkrite. Cronkrite is averaging 5.2 yards a carry this season and has ran for 609 yards and four touchdowns. Cronkrite started the season slow but in theee of his last five games he has gone for 120 or more yards and has seen double digit carries in all of those games except for last weeks Temple game. As a team South Florida rushes for 167.2 yards a game, just slightly under the average they pass for (178.7).
South Florida doesn’t have a game breaking wide receiver. Team leader Mitchell Wilcox is the only player to go over the 300 yard mark for the season (309 for the season), he along with teammate Bryce Miller both have four touchdown catches on the season however.
Defense has been a struggle for the Bulls, giving up 27.1 points a game, holding Temple to 17 on the road last week is an encouraging sight for the defense though. Linebacker Patrick Macon leads the team with 67 total tackles, he has also forced two fumbles. This unit has forced 10 fumbles on the season as well as picked off 10 passes so Desmond Ridder and the offense will need to be aware and limit the mistakes on the road.
Assuming the Bearcats defense keeps providing like they have this season and Ridder and Michael Warren II both take care of business then Cincinnati should leave South Florida with a 9-1 record heading into Senior Day against Temple.
