4. Cincinnati at Tulane
LINE Cincinnati -26
ATS PICK Cincinnati
Tulane’s Willie Fritz is a brilliant head coach.
He’s innovative, he’s able to pull rabbits out of hats, and he’s never afraid to try something quirky.
But he can’t get this season going, and to be fair, a disruption thanks to a massive hurricane had something to do with that.
Even so, it’s been a rough year for the defense that’s allowed 40 points or more in five of the six losses and 52 or more in three of the last five games.
Cincinnati struggled with the Navy knuckleball style, but before that it hung 56 on UCF and 52 on Temple. With the first College Football Playoff rankings coming out next week, there might be a little motivation to come up with something special and put up 50+ on the Green Wave.
UMass and Arkansas State are tied for the honor of having the nation’s worst scoring D, giving up 44 points per game. Tulane is just ahead of that allowing 42.3 per outing.
There’s one other important aspect to this – Tulane might not have a quarterback.
Starter Michael Pratt suffered a concussion against SMU and is questionable at very best, and top backup option Justin Ibieta has a shoulder problem.
That means Kai Horton, get in there you true freshman, you, in your first ever start.
And while we’re on the subject of good teams due to do something huge …