Previewing Cincinnati - The Bearcat Defense

Just by looking at the stats (yes, I know games aren't won on paper) it appears that Landry Jones potentially has the opportunity for his best road game of his young career against this Cincinnati defense. The Bearcats are last in the Big East in passing defense, allowing for opposing quarterbacks to complete almost 66% of their passes for an average 247 yards per game. They've allowed 8 passing touchdowns to just one interception and will most certainly be under the gun Saturday night at Paul Brown Stadium facing Ryan Broyles and company. As for DeMarco Murray, it may be a bit of a different story.

The linebackers are the heart of the Bearcat defense and are strong against the run. Cincinnati only allows opponents an average rush of 3.1 yards per game and gives up an average of 100 rushing yards per game. J.K. Schaffer leads the way for the entire defense with 32 total tackles but all the linebackers are solid tacklers and posses speed to get to the ball.

Along the defensive line the Bearcats are young on the ends but Dan Giordano leads the team in sacks. They're solid along the tackles with Derek Wolfe having the talent to both stuff the run up the middle and get pressure on the quarterback. I don't see this as being a game where the Sooners can find success by consistently running up the middle but attacking the edges may provide some big plays. Another thing that should be open is the swing pass where the Sooners bring a player in motion and hit him on the edge where he's one-on-one with a corner. Any chance to get the ball in space with Oklahoma's skill players should result in solid yards gained. 

The key is going to be how Cincinnati's secondary reacts to the ball and lines up in coverage. Corner Reuben Johnson is possibly their best coverage guy but I don't see him moving over into the slot to cover Broyles. That's why I like the swing pass against this defense because it just seems like a natural mismatch on the second level.

I realize that Wilson likes to use the run to set up the pass but I see this game developing a lot along the same lines that the Florida State game did. I believe that Cincinnati is going to sell out to stop the run and force Landry Jones to beat them. This is something that Jones has proven he's capable of doing at home but is very iffy on the road still. If Wilson gets creative like he did against the Seminoles then Jones should be looking at another conference player of the week type performance.