Its not West Virginia but Oklahoma gets another crack at the Big East in this match-up. The Bearcats haven’t played a Big 12 opponent in the regular season since playing Kansas State in 1997. Cincinnati is 7-7-1 against the Big 12 conference but they have lost their last five games on the road against non-conference BCS teams. UC only returns 12 starters from last year’s squad and among those gone are their leading rusher, their leading passer and their leading tackler. What they do have returning is a talented trio of receivers that tallied 2,267 yards and 24 touchdowns led by sophomore Marcus Barnett’s 13 TD’s.

Defensively they return three of their four stat leaders for senior campaigns. The Bearcats allowed 114 yards on the ground and 254 through the air last season. They were +16 in turnovers and registered a total of 42 sacks including a season high 11 at Syracuse.

Cincinnati started last season 6-0 and were ranked in the Top 25 for the first time since 1976. They would finish the season 10-3 including a win over Southern Mississippi in the PapaJohns.com Bowl. They ranked 2nd in the Big East in scoring and 3rd in scoring defense.