Cincinnati vs Louisville prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. Wasabi Fenway Bowl, Saturday, December 17, 2022
Cincinnati vs Louisville Wasabi Fenway Bowl Prediction Game Preview
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Cincinnati vs Louisville How To Watch
Date: Saturday, December 17, 2022
Game Time: 11:00 am ET
Venue: Fenway Park, Boston, MA
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Cincinnati (9-3), Louisville (7-5)
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Cincinnati vs Louisville Wasabi Fenway Bowl 5 Things To Know
Wasabi Fenway Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
– At least they’re playing the thing. Welcome to the true inaugural Fenway Bowl – the 2020 version was canceled due to the pandemic, and 2021 didn’t go because Virginia had its own COVID issues. There’s going to be a football game played – the weather doesn’t appear to be an issue – and it’s going to be in Fenway Park. Beyond that, this gets extremely weird starting with …
– Scott Satterfield is switching sides. The Louisville head coach is taking over the Cincinnati program after this is all done, and Purdue’s Jeff Brohm is stepping in to take over the Cardinals. For this, it’ll be Deion Branch as the interim UofL head man, and special teams coach Kerry Coombs will take over for the Bearcats.
– Cincinnati was 2-2 in bowl games under Luke Fickell – he left for Wisconsin – including last year’s College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Alabama. The program is 10-11 overall in bowls, lost its last two, and is 2-5 in its last seven since beating Duke in the 2012 Belk. But …
– Louisville isn’t a whole lot better at this bowl thing. It’s 11-12-1 all-time and just 1-3 in its last four – it dropped the SERVPRO First Responder to Air Force last season.
– The two former Big East brothers haven’t played since 2013 – a 31-24 Louisville win. Cincinnati lost to Tulane to close out the regular season, but all three defeats were by a touchdown or less. Louisville dropped two of its last three, but turned the year around with a big second half run with five wins in six games before closing with a loss to Kentucky.
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Why Cincinnati Will Win The Wasabi Fenway Bowl
Malik Cunningham is opting out. The do-it-all Louisville star quarterback was banged up late in the year and Brock Domann took over most of the duties, but the offense didn’t click quite as well without the main man – playing Clemson and Kentucky had something to do with that over the last three weeks.
The Cardinal O is also missing RB Tiyon Evans along with leading receiver WR Tyler Hudson. That’s a problem against a Bearcat defense that led the AAC in total and scoring D, brings a strong pass rush, and should be good enough against the Cardinal passing game even with QB JQ Hardaway in the transfer portal.
Against Louisville it usually comes down to takeaways. It forced three or more six times going 4-2 when it did, but Cincinnati doesn’t turn the ball over enough to matter. However …
Why Louisville Will Win The Wasabi Fenway Bowl
The Cincinnati offense has stalled a bit too much late in the year.
It wasn’t close to being the explosive version of last season, but for the most part it was effective. The defense did most of the work, the offense did what was needed to get by, win close game, repeat.
However, the passing game wasn’t close to being accurate enough in the key loss to Tulane or the close win over East Carolina, and the running game wasn’t quite enough most of the time to pick up the slack.
On the other side, run against Cincinnati, beat Cincinnati.
The Bearcat defense was able to hold up fine against the better passing teams, but was 1-3 against the offenses that hit 200 or more rushing yards. Louisville lost to Florida State in a fun fight, but that’s the only blip when rushing for over 165 yards going 6-1 including the victory over NC State and the win over a brick wall of a James Madison D.
Wasabi Fenway Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History