No. 24-ranked Utah will introduce No. 17 Cincinnati quarterback Brenden Sorsby to “Third and Scalley” in Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night, and it won’t be pretty.
On the other hand, Sorsby just might eat up Utah’s secondary with darts and QB runs.
Ask Deion Sanders what it feels like to meet a motivated, worked-up Kyle Whittingham-coached team.
Utah put a fork in Colorado last week in Salt Lake City.
This is a huge game for both the Utes (6-2, 3-2) and the Bearcats (7-1, 5-1).
Win, and Big 12 two-loss Utah keeps hopes alive for Arlington and the league championship. Lose, and Cincinnati becomes another victim of this league’s cannibalistic culture.
This game will be featured and appropriately hyped up by the folks on ESPN’s “College GameDay” program, a nice bone thrown the way of the Big 12, which has become the most competitive league in college football.
This is a game that will be won in the trenches. It will be hog fare.
Utah, Texas Tech, Iowa State and BYU have proven to be the most physical teams in the league. Saturday, Cincinnati will find out if they have the pork and muscle to match these others. Even though the Bearcats already beat Iowa State, this is an extended test.
That it will be staged at an altitude and a site to which Cincinnati has never ventured will be a factor.
That Sorsby will face Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley’s defense, riled up by a loud and hostile home crowd, will be a factor.
So will Utah’s offensive line.
All season long, this Ute unit has been the beneficiary of high praise and expectations, regularly referred to as one of the best, if not the best, in the country.
This marks the first-ever meeting between the programs and carries massive Big 12 implications: Cincinnati sits tied atop the conference standings with BYU, while Utah aims to climb into the title race after a bounce-back 53-7 rout of Colorado.
The presence of “College GameDay” adds buzz, but Utah’s home dominance (4-0 at Rice-Eccles, averaging 42.5 points) looms large. Utah is an 8.5 to 9.5 point favorite.
So far, Utah has faced a significantly tougher schedule than Cincinnati.
Utah’s opponents are a combined 34-23, including Texas Tech (7-1) and BYU (8-0). Cincinnati’s opponents are 28-35, and the most wins by an opponent is 6-2 Nebraska (a loss), and 5-3 Iowa State (a win), Kansas (4-4), UCF (4-3) and Baylor (4-4).
The Bearcats have enjoyed six home games with only two road trips to Kansas and Oklahoma State — all in the Central time zone.
Utah will once again face an upper-echelon Big 12 team without a star player. The Utes defeated Arizona State without star QB Sam Leavitt. This week, they’ll face a Bearcat team who will not have its leading rusher, Evan Pryor, a 7.2-yard-per-carry running back.
Cincinnati’s best defensive player, nose tackle Dontay Corleone, has been battling an injury this season, and while his name did not appear on the latest injury update, if he isn’t 100%, this will play big into Utah’s hands. The Utes lead the Big 12 in rushing offense.
Sorsby is a big-time passer who can run. He will get yards against the Utes, but in Rice-Eccles, with Scalley’s defense hungry, agitated and energized by the setting, this first trip to Utah by the Bearcats will prove to be too much and too tough.
This week’s predictions
- Ohio State 28, Penn State 17
- Vanderbilt 27, Texas 21
- Miami 28, SMU 21
- Houston 33, West Virginia 14
- Baylor 24, UCF 21
- Iowa State 31, Arizona State 21
- Indiana 42, Maryland 21
- Georgia 28, Florida 17
- Notre Dame 31, Boston College 21
- Texas Tech 24, Kansas State 17
- Pittsburgh 28, Stanford 21
- Virginia 24, California 14
- Kansas 28, Oklahoma State 10
- Arizona 24, Colorado 17
- Tennessee 34, Oklahoma 31
- USC 27, Nebraska 21
- Utah 33, Cincinnati 28
Last week: 9-4; overall 113-32 (.779)