Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Tennessee Vols Betting Analysis and Prediction
9/10/11
Two teams with a very similar recent history hook up on Saturday as the Tennessee Vols host the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Vols opened up as a -6 point favorite and the line has risen slightly to -6.5. The total on the Game is currently 53.
Both of these programs are coming off down years. The Bearcats were 4-8 a year ago while Tennessee went 6-7. Both of these programs have also experieNCed great success over the last several years. The Vols program has always been top notch. Over the last decade they have piled up plenty of 9, 10 and 11 win seasons. The Bearcats success is more recent, starting in 2006 and winning, 8, 10, 11 and 12 Games under former coach Brian Kelly.
Last year was similar for both in that both of these programs were unable to compete against the class in their respective conferences. Cincinnati did manage to “almost” upset Oklahoma in a wild 31-29 shootout but it was all downhill from there, losing to South Florida, Syracuse, West Virginia, Connecticut and Pitt with most of those Games not even close.
Likewise for the Vols. The Vols played a much tougher Schedule with 5 top 20 teams on the card, 4 of which were top 10 such as Alabama, Oregon and Florida. None of the Games were close as the Vols were blown off the field. Their wins, mostly close Games, came against the lower class of the SEC, teams like Vandy and Kentucky.
Both teams are in off lopsided opening day wins over lower division programs. Tennessee whipped Montana 42-16 while Cincinnati lit up the Scoreboard for 72 points beating Austin Peay 72-10. But don’t read too much into those results, particularly the Cinci score. If anything, scoring 72 last week will only hurt them this week as they are sure to it much more difficult to execute this week.
With both programs, we prefer to take the wait and see approach to see how far they have both come. The Vols figure to have the better talent, recruiting top players from all over the country year after year. Both programs put up similar numbers last year as they both averaged scoring in the high 20’s and also GAve up points averaging in the high 20’s, but as we pointed out above, the Tennessee Schedule was much more difficult.
At less than a TD will go ahead and make a small recommendation on the Vols -6.5 as they get an extra push from 100,000+ home fans dressed in orange.
Tennessee -6.5