The River City Rivalry: Pitt vs Cincinnati Preview!! What To Expect and Score Prediction!

[Music] welcome to another episode of talking college football with JJ kitchen of course I'm your host JJ kitchen it's another game week but it's the first one on the road and guess what there's nothing better than having the first one on the road a rivalry game and it's a River City rivalry for pit as they go against the Cincinnati Bearcats at nippard stadium that will kick off at noon this Saturday guys you always as you always know before we get into it the podcast is sponsored by Colonial beer located at 4986 Library Road in bethle park p 15102 guys again two great pitmen plenty of selection while you're there obviously there's numerous selections between light beers loggers obviously while you're in there get the pit icy light beer can obviously everybody loves their icy light go ahead and in there and get that but also too get the fake slide pilzner which helps support the players and helps Alliance 412 which is the preferred Collective of the University of Pittsburgh again guys go over and see Colonial Beer Small Business run by two great pit man anytime you help a small business and Pitman at the same time you're really hitting a double whammy right there and it certainly works out where you're helping out good people so go see my friends over Colonial beer located at 4986 Library Road in Bethal Park PA 15102 guys again gonna release this filming this on Thursday releasing this tomorrow on Friday you're going to see it Friday morning when this pops up a little bit of a Cincinnati preview got to watch the game by two or two almost two and a half times really went back just writing down different SP Styles and notes what did I see in the game against talson what do we really get from talson you know and I think when you look at Cincinnati's tape versus them you take with the grain of salt with a lot of stuff because obviously it's a little bit vanilla but there were some takeaways I took from that game that were pretty noticeable that you kind of have to look at it and say you know what this could be a really good strength for pit but also there might be a couple negatives that could hurt Pit but overall we'll go over a bunch of that obviously everybody knows what happened with pit obviously in game one versus Ken State you saw Eli Holstein really take off 30 for 40 333 yards three tutes and one interception Desmond Reed Daniel Carter really did really well obviously Derek Davis Jr Desmond Reed had 14 carries 145 yards which was great all right so and then you saw Kenny Johnson sensory lead Gavin Bartholomew that was really good obviously then the defense only gave up 31 yards rushing but I think there were at times especially two in the beginning of the third quarter Pat ardi talked about how when you look at pit when you come out of the third when they come out of the halftime going in the third quarter they came out a little flat especially at the defensive line you saw a little bit of gashing here and there obviously PJ O'Brien had a couple bad plays in that game and you really want to see for instance what they're able to do on a consistent basis you want to see that defensive line get more pressure but more importantly stop the run and if you remember anything last year with the Cincinnati Bearcats obviously in the first half they ran for plenty of yardage over over 150 yards rushing in the first half that was clearly noted it was not good I think it was actually close to 200 yards rushing but in the second half obviously pit you know bundled up they did their job obviously they lost 27 to 21 but a much closer game in the second half even with generational bad play a quarterback for pit but that leads me into this the discussion of what I really saw from the Cincinnati Bearcats and here's what I really saw number one Brendan sorby okay comes in at from the Train transer portal obviously different from last year you saw a bunch of guys different quarterback obviously their last quarterback went into uh the NFL draft didn't get drafted he's on a couple rosters right now as a transfer from Florida last year this year they have Brendan sorby all right Brendan sorby comes as a transfer from Indiana in game one he was 22 of 31 383 yards 12.4 12.4 average with two touchdowns no interceptions one of the things that was very noticeable when I was watching them is there's times where they were methodical and you were watching this offense really work its way down the football field now there were Times Obviously there was a little bit sporadic he did obviously only have nine incompletions but the one thing that was very noticeable to me is that the 21 points of the 38 points they scored because they won the game 38 to2 21 of those points came in the first quarter okay that was very noticeable obviously they had uh over 600 yards of total offense which was crazy you know they had 383 yards passing they had 275 yards rushing noticeable we'll go into the rushing here in a second but for the quarterback play there were a number of different plays where you saw out of the 21 points you know a couple touchdowns where it was just a breakdown on Talon's end uh they had nobody covering the guy so it was an easy throw to get it to to get a touchdown they had a couple plays where they were extending the field obviously they had a couple deep throws there was one that was contested but you saw a little bit extra Talent obviously at the wide favorite position you're going to have Xavier Henderson obviously he was there last year pick did a good job containing him for the majority of the game but when you look at ssby a guy who came in this year you know from Indiana he only had about, 1600 yards passing last year in 10 games played at Indiana uh you know obviously played 10 games uh missed the first couple games obviously wasn't exactly the starter last year to go into the season um I think he has talent I think when you watch him play he can certainly move around he has that strong arm but the one thing that was very noticeable against talson is that they had a little bit of pressure but most of the time there really wasn't a lot of pressure you're facing talson who's an FCS opponent when you're facing talson obviously you would expect the offensive line to play well at times they did allow a little bit of pressure they did allow a couple sacks obviously you know Cincinnati had five fumbles um the special teams play did not look good they have to certainly correct that that is certainly uh an an area that that Cincinnati needs to do better at uh I think pick could take a lot of Advantage there especially you know on the punt return team numerous fumbles there obviously fumbles between other players on the offensive side of the football that was beyond noticeable um but when you look at brenon sorby he made a number of good throws had a couple overthrows had a couple inaccurate passes but again only had nine completions but overall you know when you look at over 600 yards a total offense only 38 points it's a little bit questionable as you go down the football field and you're not able to finish and it certainly had a number of drives where it took two three four minutes to get down the football field when you watch this offense they're really a huddle style offense they'll they'll be able to create Tempo everybody who knows Scott safield from his time at Louisville pit fans certainly got to see a number that you'll see a little bit of tempo at times but most of the time they'll huddle up uh only at times will they really really hustle it up uh nothing like exactly what pit does in terms of speeding up their time and speeding up their their their motions of how they're able to do things um I can assure you you know they'll do number of different things that we saw last year but obviously each year when it comes to an offensive guy like Scott safield he do he'll do a number of different things uh especially in a rivalry game obviously not being an FCS opponent and understanding hey this is a tough game for Cincinnati just like it is pit but overall I think he he you know he created plays he was able to complete passes uh the majority of his passes when he dropped back to pass wasn't under dur wasn't Under Pressure that'll certainly be a difference this week I think when it comes to pit there's going to be a number of different atic issues where you know Pit's going to be able to down into a 4-3 a 4-3 front where you know talson was a 34 uh when it comes to creating pressure obviously um you know Cincinnati had a couple areas where they broke down on the offensive line there's a potential that that happens this week and you know for pit I expect I expect Francis bro to be back obviously we found out today Anthony Johnson is out it sounds like he has an injury that occurred this week uh in terms of practice so he will not play but obviously you'll have Francis brub back obviously you still have um Isaiah Neil Nick James you'll still have them there uh obviously I think when you look at the the overall defensive tackle room nikai Johnson will be there you know you still have plenty of depth at the defensive tackle position with Francis bro coming back as well it wouldn't be shocked to see just Whittington get a couple couple snaps here and there as well but overall I would think pit would actually get you know in terms of the pressure we would like to see a little bit more I think that's one of the things I personally want to see how of pit this week is when you're facing a quarterback like Brennan sorby when he's comfortable in the pocket he can certainly make those good throws but when you create pressure and you put him on a run a little bit things seem to change especially too when he was facing talson certainly didn't look like the same quarterback when he had a lot of pressure in his face it wasn't very often against talson but the times that he did show there was pressure certainly took a step back in terms of accuracy and what he was able to do on a consistent basis when it comes to the running game this is where I think we're going to find out what pit really has this year again they only give up 31 yards rushing in the previous game obviously a lot of that came back from Sachs I think ruffle overall with 66 total rushing yards if you took away the sacks um when it comes to Ken state in the rushing game one of the things when I saw pit uh from last week at Ken state it was the majority of the time whether it was Nick James out there n Johnson Anthony Johnson um Isaiah Neil obviously had him in there as well um I I think when you looked at those guys I think that the majority of the time if it there was a there was a gash in the Run game when you saw the all 22 especially even in the broadcast where he were able to watch things from behind the view and they showed it it's just not staying disciplined within your gaps and losing technique and guys were getting pushed around on a couple of drives it certainly wasn't a lot but when you're facing a team in Cincinnati who certainly likes to run the football you know obviously rushed for 275 yards Evan prior had four carries for 105 yards obviously um you know two of those runs you know he had his longest run was 64 yards so more than half of his yardage came on one run certainly had a breakaway there I think that can certainly change but I think that what you're going to see this year is that Pat Uzi understands hey this is a team that likes to run the football but in terms of what Pit's able to do we need to see you know not the first not the first you know the first drive out of the third quarter what we saw last week against Kent State we need to see the absolute ball Hawking of what we saw in the first quarter second quarter and the fourth quarter that's what we need to see this week because Evan four carries 105 yards Victor Dawson Two Carries 54 yards his longest carry is 47 yards so he had one good run so that's these are noticeable things when you see these guys run Evan prior had one run at 64 yards more than half his yardage came from one run same thing from Victor Dawson had a run of 47 yards he only had 54 yards total Cory ker seven carries 51 yards a 7.3 average he had the longest run 18 yards so he was a little bit consistent just like he was over a year ago he was the starter last year so he was noticeable so you'll really see those guys Manny kovi you know I think he'll get some touches he had five carries for 26 yards same with Chance Williams they certainly had a number of guys get in there I think when it comes to actual carries in the game though will probably be towards the Evan Pryor Evan Pryor and Cory Conor I really think are the two horses of that that offense when you watch them I think overall with tape Cory Conor and Evan Pryor certainly are not major stature guys especially Cory Conor a guy who's really like 5 seven 58 net area just like uh like a Desmond Reed but certainly explosive again a very tough Runner when he runs you saw that last year in numerous occasions where he was able to run people over um especially in the first half the second half was a different story but you want to see a complete game from pits defensive line in terms of the pressure they're they able to create but more importantly in a patent or dooy defense stop the run that's what it really comes down to in terms of the passing game the noticeable guys you're going to see here one why receiver their number one wide receiver Xavier Henderson came by way not last year but two years ago came as a transfer from the University of Florida he had seven receptions for 101 yards 14.4 yard uh per you know average from per catch had one touchdown pass longest pass that he caught was a 42 yard touchdown pass that he caught over the middle basically was in their basic your basic 11 personnel came right over the top started from the outside worked as a post and went really just straight up the middle of the field after that and caught right over top was able to score a touchdown noticeable play that they had there so obviously they got chunk plays because of major mistakes from talson it's not like they periodically made it their way down the field they had a couple breaking coverages and when they didn't have breaking coverages it took a little bit more time for Cincinnati to get down the course of the field so the number one wide receiver is gonna be Xavier Henderson who we watched last year pit was able to contain him you better watch him this year I think again you got to be able to make sure you have pressure on him I think probably you're going to have Ryland Gandy on him and then tamon Liam Rashad battle also working in those three guys we'll see who the fourth guy is as the season and the game goes on in case something happens also too Joe Royer this is a tight end I think he's a physical tight end he certainly has the attributes to be a really good guy it's going to be cool to see the match up between Joe Royer the tight end of Cincinnati and the tight end of pit obviously with Gavin Bartholomew those are going to be matchups that I watched during the game on both sides of the offensive play Joe Royer had five catches for the 89 yards had 17.8 average out of 89 yards he had a 38 yard catch really physical in terms of brute just pushing people over I mean he he loves contact he loves violence which is a good thing in terms of Cincinnati I think but when you look at pits pit style of defensive play it's gonna be a little bit different this week because these guys are a lot of you know really much more physical you know Kyle Lewis a guy expect him to really step up obviously he loves violence Brandon George loves violence uh you saw the first step multiple plays by Jimmy Scott and sincere Edwards on the defensive line you love to see the play that they had ivly thei Johnson had numerous good plays out of the out of the backfield into the backfield too same thing with Isaiah Neil Nick James Nick James had the most snaps last week out of any defensive tackle had a strong week of practice showed it in the football game as well I think you'll see more of him obviously Francis br will get his snaps here this week as well I think he's certainly a guy to watch so really in that four fiveman rotation you'll be able to notice a bunch of guys going to the defensive tackle staying healthy that entire time um I think overall too you have Sterling Burkhalter he had two catches for 70 yards his longest one was a touchdown catch for 61 yards the touchdown that he had obviously he basically what he was in he was in the slot area was able to come across really went across the face of his of of his defensive back right immediately as the defensive back he goes right around him it's almost like he was just a deer in the headlights he was watching The Back Field Sterling was really just sitting by himself there was no context tested catch there as well so you know a lot of these plays when I'm watching on film you know I think they certainly have speed but there were a lot of uncontested catches just from breakdowns and the fact that this was a you know a 38 to2 game where you know you know it certainly wasn't you know a barn burner for a lot of for a lot of this game it was a little bit closer especially to the way that they were able to play but overall when you look at this offense from top to bottom I think they certainly have a number of Playmakers Xavier Henderson Joe Royer Sterling ball calter um Sterling Burke halter um then you have obviously in the rushing attack you're going to have Evan Pryor and Cory Conor really the two Bell cows of that offense and then Brenan sorby he's able to make those throws but we're going to see him in a different style of offense this week where how much time as he get to sit back there he had a lot of time for the majority of the time last week against talson obviously an FCS opponent a guy a team they can really beat up on we're going to find out what kind of team this is last year if you remember Cincinnati scored 70 points and they're opening game came nowhere near 70 points only scored 27 points in the game last year seven points that was it in the uh in the in the second half I think you're going to see a little bit of that again I I think there's still things that they're working on they're still working on their offensive line there's a lot of stuff going on there there were some mised assignments but they were able to take advantage of it because talson is just an inferior opponent from the FCS you were able to see them take care of that now the one thing that was very noticeable this week Dante corleon has been out really all summer and all the fall Camp due to blood clots he's been really re-evaluated he's been going through a protocol where he's been coming back he was cleared this week Dante Corleone will be back in the lineup but here's the difference last year Cincinnati ran a 4-3 defense a lot like pit obviously they were in a 4-3 before you know but but when you look at pit pit runs a quarter style defense a much more attack style defense since didn't run that last year they ran your basic 4-3 with cup with help over the top this year what's been very notice is they hired a new defensive coordinator and they're running a 34 scheme sometimes even a 335 where you'll see that 335 where it's a three D D line dline set three linebackers and five defensive backs the last time we really saw that was in 2021 uh under you know really under Georgia Tech when uh before Brent key any of those guys came in uh you saw Jeff Collins obviously was he was the head coach at uh Georgia Tech at the time they ran that 3-3 335 style defense and if you remember that time obviously pit really tore it up because they had you know Kenny picket Jordan Addison Lucas crawl all that town across the board heck we scored 40 some points in the first half I guarantee you pit went back and watched that tape just how to break that style in terms of finding guys that were wide open finding guys that were open uh Cade Bell can certainly do that but obviously when you look at Cade Bell style of play on offense he's extremely creative in what he does and we saw a little bit of that I'd say about 30 to 35% of the Playbook is really what we saw against Kent State you'll be able to see a lot more this week here's what I can tell you I think the defense is a major work in progress I think pit has a potential to have a really big day through the air and on the ground uh when you look at Carlos Davis the quarterback of talson he was 21 of 37 for 244 yards and two touchdowns that's a little concerning from an F an FBS power 14 in Cincinnati to give up 244 yards passing that's a problem I think they're still working on a lot of different things Bartlett uh the former linebacker from West Virginia wasn't able to get any time there was it a guy who played sparingly through there especially as as a reserve guy goes to Cincinnati becomes a starter I watch them there's a lot of miscommunication going on especially on the back end when they're rolling out and they're able to have creative plays they're certainly able to get some chunk plays out of it they're still working on defense I think that the very clear weakness of this Cincinnati team between offense and defense is the def defense and obviously special teams has major issues between the punt return obviously the five fumbles between offense and special teams their defense and special teams need a lot of work you know I think the offense is a lot better but a lot like last year we'll see what they do against an actual power for opponent I think Pitts defense this year is actually better than it was last year uh especially two on the back end but even the defensive line even with a little bit of inconsistency that we saw in game one I expect them to figure that out here in game two and be really a lot more aggressive and be able to schematically uh really show a lot of different looks to a guy who's a you know a Brendan sorby who he's a red shirt sophomore I think he's going to need a little bit more time obviously to learn this offense as he goes forward we'll see what he does here get a power four opponent in terms of pits defense but Carlos Davis you know the quarterback from talson 244 yards and then here's what really blows my mind and is a major red flag if you're a Cincinnati Bearcat fan they had talson had 30 7 carries for 194 yards guys so 244 19 let say 200 400 four almost no 450 yards the total offense they gave up against talson an FCS football team who was a very bad football team last year that's a FL that's a red flag if you're if you're a Cincinnati fan Devin Matthews from Talon had 17 carries for 70 yards a 4.1 average longest play was 15 yards so it didn't come all on one play was periodically going through the game Tyrell green Jr eight carries 60 yards 7.5 average 18 yards just the longest run again periodically they were able to run the football but more importantly move the football move the chains Christopher uh Christ for Watkins five carries 59 yards 39 of that more than half of it came on one play longest run he had was 39 yards 11.8 average and then Carlos Davis had seven carries for five yards obviously less than a yard carry he didn't do too much but overall when you give up 194 yards rushing and especially two I think the majority of what it is honestly Dante Corleone didn't play this game uh when Dante corleon gets in there uh he'll certainly Play Over the over the center Lyon Cooper is certainly gonna have his day obviously Jake cradle uh majority of the Year Jake cradle was great but obviously had a little bit of a tough day when it came to Dante cor Leon and those guys I think the difference of what you'll see here I think Dante Corleone from what I've heard and things that I've talked to within people that I know around that area especially to with Cincinnati he has not practiced certainly live or anything like that but he's been on the side doing his own work and they've been helping him get to the process of where he's been rehabilitating get to getting ready to this point the thing is though that really will make this thing a little bit different Frank Zetti's offense last year PE pits huddling up they're taking their time when you look at a guy like Dante Corleone he's a tremendous player but he's not exactly in game shape I would highly doubt it's not like you're run you're actually practicing but more importantly the way pits offense is high Tempo it doesn't huddle it's moving they're going to need to be able to rotate guys out I think that's a major weakness for Cincinnati especially running a 335 man you're have three down linan you gotta be able to rotate those guys in I don't think they have a lot of talent and a lot of depth on the defensive line especially here 194 yards given up they're also still learning a brand new defense that's a red flag I think this is going to be a good time for them to use tape to see what exactly they need to correct because I really think Pitts offense is going to have a great day I really do I think there's a lot of red flags on the Cincinnati defense that you look at and say hey there needs to be a lot of Corrections of what needs to go on here you give up over 194 yards rushing to an FCS opponent you have 244 yards passing that's a red flag and I think there's a lot and we can be honest here there's a lot more Talent on Pit's offense you got you know Kenny Johnson Kate mfield uh Rafael poy Williams dejon Reynolds CJ Lee I mean you got guys out the with the wide receiver position speed speed especially on the outside even in the slot Gavin Bartholomew a guy who can certainly get open and create his own space and then I expect to see you know Desmond Reed and Derek Davis and Daniel Carter really do their job in terms of being supplement to each other to really create a style of offense to where they're going to put up points so that leads me really to this to this last expo here and that comes to a score prediction I think when you really put into effect the issues that Cincinnati has on on on special teams and defense I really do believe Pit's going to put up 35 at least 35 points I've got pit winning this game I think really for the first time um I I still you know I think the way pits offense is gonna go fast I want to see especially on the road it's a little bit different I could be wrong I think Pitt's going to win this game 35 to 20 uh I think it's going to be a good day for pits offense potentially even score more points than that um the biggest thing is though what is Dante cor Leon look like I think it's going to take him a couple games to get back to really full strength and and actual game speed obviously you know you can bet your bottom dollar you can bet your bottom dollar that um that Cincinnati's gonna try to replicate the speed of what pit does on offense it's not the same you know it took pit six months to get this offense down in that type of speed it's G to be a lot different here um I expect I expect pits to go you know 35 to 20 get a victory here I even think that when you look at pits defense we have some question marks about maybe the run defense and maybe getting pressure on the outside I think the more games this goes on the better this defensive Line's going to get but more importantly you see the biggest change from week one to week two I think that when you finally face another team you have a lot of tape to work on to say hey here's what's going on here's what needs to change I think Branson Taylor has a better day at the left tackle position uh for pit obviously he struggled a little bit in terms of the game especially too just sometimes in his blocking sets and his technique I think that changes Jeremy darvo is going to get that taken care of and I think I think Eli Holstein is just a different cat man he's he's a guy you know he's like a John Wick man he's he's a stone cold killer I think he really Embraces this everything that I know about Eli he loves the pressure he loves high pressure situations and he's a competitive guy you know you needed that game the first one to get out of the way 55 points that's great you saw a bunch of stuff but then again it was still vanilla for the most part they really didn't use everything and K Bell is a very much creative guy when it comes to creating a different style of offense for each individual team attacking teams weaknesses but more importantly using the strengths of the players that you currently have and I think Pit's got a lot of talent at the wide receiver position again canate mfield Kenny Johnson dejon Reynolds Rafael poppy Williams and CJ Lee you have five guys there Gavin barthal you I think you know on your right side you you know of the offensive line Ryan Bayer and BJ Williams had a great day so to Lyndon Cooper um the one question mark I do have at this point um you know we we saw Ryan jacobe get hurt we saw ran jacobe hurt uh the left guard position towards the end of that game is he back healthy if not I people say you know obviously Jason Coler is the backup behind Ryan jacobe I don't think we see Jason Coler there I think if if Ryan jacobe does not play I think we see Terence Moore play there a guy who can certainly play center guard and I think sometimes for people I talk to Terence Moore is even better at the guard position so I wouldn't be shocked we see Terence Moore there and then Bron Taylor on the outside guys obviously this has been the first recorded show I've done in a long time been so busy with work in the comments section leave your score prediction who do you think is going to win this football game I want to hear from you pit fans even from you from you Cincinnati fans as well but also too what are your what are you really really uh pumped up about with pit what are the pros and then what are the cons where do you think Pit's going to struggle where are their strengths and where their weaknesses I like to see your guys' thoughts and what you guys think guys as always it's incredible time thank you so much for supporting talking college football with JJ kitchen if you haven't done so hit the Subscribe button but and hit the like button and share it with your friends guys as always and forever hell to pit of course hell to the ACC I'll see you guys next time