Sugar Bowl Mark's Free Pick College Football Florida Gators-Cincinnati Bearcats: 1/1/10

Written by Mark | 01 January 2010

Sugar Bowl-College Football 1/01/10

Cincinnati Bearcats (12-0) (Big East)-Florida Gators (12-1) (SEC)

By Mark • Friday January 1st, 2009 8:30 PM EST
Line-Florida-11.5

It’s common knowledge that Cincinnati plays their biggest game of the year without Brian Kelly who left to become the head man at Notre Dame. OC Jeff Quinn will be calling the shots in his place and the affect this whole story has taken on the players is anybody’s guess. The Bearcats bring plenty of firepower with them with the passing of Tony Pike and the running of Isaiah Pead who have led Cincy to a lofty #6 offensive unit that has ripped defense’s for 464 yards and nearly 40 points. Pike has a trio of dangerous receivers led by Mardy Gilyard who caught 80 pass’s for 1,148 yards and 11 scores. Offense ruled the day for the Bearcats this season although their defense has generally played well also. I say generally because they have looked ordinary over the last three games, allowing almost 36 points which included a two point win over Connecticut and a one pointer over Pitt. They will need to play their best game of the season against a motivated Florida and any lapses on either side of the ball and there won’t be a miracle finish like we saw against Pitt.

Florida has a few issues of their own to deal with as HC Urban Meyer resigned because of health concerns, decided to take a leave of absence instead and then was rushed to the hospital with chest pains just days ago. His availability to coach is something I wouldn’t bet on. Meyer’s story is grabbing the headlines as Tim Tebow prepares to play his last collegiate game, bringing a close to one of the better careers college football has seen. Even though the Gators were rambling to 442 yards and 35 points, this didn’t seem like the unstoppable unit we’ve grown accustomed to seeing or perhaps we’re just used to Tebow playing superman every week. In any case, it was the Florida defense that was taking center stage and winning games. With the 4^th ranked unit that allowed just 254 yards and less than 12 points they gave up more than 20 points just once and that was to Alabama in the SEC Championship 32-13.

Florida is 15-6 against the spread in their past 21 games as a favorite and 15-6 against the number in their last 21 overall. Cincy is 10-1-1 against the spread in their past 12 games as an underdog and 1-6 in the last 7 Bowl games.

There are plenty of headlines for both teams and emotions are sure to run high. It’s foolish to think the Bearcats don’t have the ability to make this a close game and the big spread makes me wonder which team is the higher ranked squad.

The Bearcats want to win this to perhaps show Kelly and the world they can do this while Florida wants to send Tebow out with style, not to mention Urban Meyer. This could be a close one or rout and though we’re looking at a double digit spread, it’s well within the capability of a motivated Gators squad…