ACC Goes Bowling: Duke vs. Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl
The bowl season began yesterday with a few battles flying well below the radar. Moving beyond that mixed metaphor, however, it is time to begin analyzing the various bowl matchups featuring present and future members of the ACC. Today’s featured matchup is the Belk Bowl, which will feature Duke and Cincinnati. The game will be played at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 27.
How they got here (courtesy of http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/Sked2012.htm) :
|
Duke (ACC) |
||||||||
| 9/1 | Sat | vs. | Florida International | W | 46 | 26 | ||
| 9/8 | Sat | @ | Stanford | L | 13 | 50 | ||
| 9/15 | Sat | vs. | North Carolina Central | W | 54 | 17 | ||
| 9/22 | Sat | vs. | Memphis | W | 38 | 14 | ||
| 9/29 | Sat | @ | *Wake Forest | W | 34 | 27 | ||
| 10/6 | Sat | vs. | *Virginia | W | 42 | 17 | ||
| 10/13 | Sat | @ | *Virginia Tech | L | 20 | 41 | ||
| 10/20 | Sat | vs. | *North Carolina | W | 33 | 30 | ||
| 10/27 | Sat | @ | *Florida State | L | 7 | 48 | ||
| 11/3 | Sat | vs. | *Clemson | L | 20 | 56 | ||
| 11/17 | Sat | @ | *Georgia Tech | L | 24 | 42 | ||
| 11/24 | Sat | vs. | *Miami (Florida) | L | 45 | 52 | ||
| 12/27 | Thu | vs. | Cincinnati | @ Charlotte, NC | Belk Bowl | |||
|
6-6 |
376 | 420 | ||||||
|
Cincinnati (Big East) |
||||||||
| 9/6 | Thu | vs. | *Pittsburgh | W | 34 | 10 | ||
| 9/15 | Sat | vs. | Delaware State | W | 23 | 7 | ||
| 9/29 | Sat | vs. | Virginia Tech | W | 27 | 24 | @ Landover, MD | |
| 10/6 | Sat | vs. | Miami (Ohio) | W | 52 | 14 | ||
| 10/13 | Sat | vs. | Fordham | W | 49 | 17 | ||
| 10/20 | Sat | @ | Toledo | L | 23 | 29 | ||
| 10/26 | Fri | @ | *Louisville | L | 31 | 34 | ||
| 11/3 | Sat | vs. | *Syracuse | W | 35 | 24 | ||
| 11/10 | Sat | @ | *Temple | W | 34 | 10 | ||
| 11/17 | Sat | vs. | *Rutgers | L | 3 | 10 | ||
| 11/23 | Fri | vs. | *South Florida | W | 27 | 10 | ||
| 12/1 | Sat | @ | *Connecticut | W | 34 | 17 | ||
| 12/27 | Thu | vs. | Duke | @ Charlotte, NC | Belk Bowl | |||
|
9-3 |
372 | 206 | ||||||
Key Stats:
PASSING YARDS
Cincinnati: 231.0 pg, 63rd Overall
Duke: 277.6 pg, 32nd Overall
RUSHING YARDS
Cincinnati: 199.8 pg, 32nd Overall
Duke: 119.0 pg, 107th Overall
POINTS FOR
Cincinnati: 31.0 pg, 48th Overall
Duke: 31.3 pg, 45th Overall
POINTS AGAINST
Cincinnati: 17.2 pg, 12th Overall
Duke: 35.0, 104th Overall
Analysis:
While the Confidential always likes to be a “homer” if possible. So perhaps the analysis here is slanted by that.
Duke has played a much tougher schedule, but they lost many of the games against good opponents. Often, by a lot. Duke beat one bowl team, North Carolina. Cincinnati beat three, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech.
But one factor favoring Duke in this game is that Cincy has lost its coach, Butch Jones. We have seen Cincinnati (and many other teams) come out flat when playing a bowl game under such circumstances. On the other hand, West Virginia rode Bill Stewart to a Fiesta Bowl victory and the removal of his interim head coach tag. So even that one negative aspect is more of a question mark than certainty.
Another factor favoring Duke is the proximity to the location. Duke fans should be relishing this opportunity to see the Blue Devils in this game. They will have home field advantage. Too much emotion on Duke’s side for this one.
Prediction: Duke 28, Cincinnati 27.
The Confidential 