College Football Predictions: Cincinnati vs. N.C. State Preview

Written by Jake Thompson
Thursday, 22 September 2011 14:48

Predictions are ready in our preview of today’s college football game between Cincinnati and N.C. State.

ESPN will carry the 8:00 PM ET game between the N.C. State Wolfpack (2-1) and the Cincinnati Bearcats (2-1), and we’ll go over both squads before eventually making predictions on the final score.  5Dimes Sportsbook has the odds favoring the home-team Bearcats at -7.5 with a total of 60.  Close to 70% of tracked bettors are taking Cincinnati here and the point spread has drifted up a tick since opening at -7.

The Wolfpack won the 2010 N.C. State vs. Cincinnati meeting 30-19 at home, but now must go on the road to take on the Bearcats.  Although N.C. State has 43-21 and 35-13 wins over Liberty and South Alabama, respectively, this season, they stumbled in a 27-34 loss to Wake Forest in their only road start.

Cincinnati started their year off with a 72-10 blowout against Austin Peay before coming up on the short end of a 23-45 final score in a road loss against Tennessee.  The Bearcats rebounded with a 59-14 home win against Akron in their last game but both of these teams have question marks surrounding their ability to win against legitimate squads.

N.C. State’s Mike Glennon (745 yards, 64.1%, 8 TD, 1 INT) and Cincinnati’s Zach Collaros (521 yards, 62.3%, 7 TD, 0 INT) have been tremendous quarterbacks for these teams, and both are capable of lighting up the scoreboard.  Although the Wolfpack have the edge with 256.0 passing yards per game, Cincinnati’s rushing attack that produces 239.0 yards on average easily bests the 122.0 that N.C. State has amassed this year.

It’s tough to call a definitive winner defensively with N.C. State allowing 22.7 points per game and Cincinnati giving up just 23.0.  The Wolfpack have been better statistically against the run, while the Bearcats have given up fewer passing yards.  With Tennessee being a much tougher offense to defend than Wake Forest, I’ll give the slight edge to Cincinnati on this side of the ball.

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All in all, I believe that Cincinnati has the more complete offense, the slightly stronger defense, and of course home field advantage.  Look for the Bearcats to score a ton of points while covering this point spread, and I believe that N.C. State will have to avoid mistakes to even stay within a 20-point deficit.  Cincinnati is looking for revenge after losing last year and everything is aligned in their favor.

N.C. State vs. Cincinnati Score Predictions:

N.C. State 20

Cincinnati 41