Houston at Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Bearcats have been able to put up significant offensive numbers for most of the season, but the defense had been letting them down. While they have not exactly played strong offensive teams over the second half of the season, they have held five of their last six opponents to 17 points or less. The problem here is the fact that those five teams all rank in the bottom 20 of 128 teams in the FBS in scoring offense, and four of the five reside in the bottom eight. The only game they played vs. a compenet offense in their last six saw East Carolina go for 46 points against them. Houston is not an offensively challenged team as they have averaged just shy of 30 points per game on the season, and the Cougars rank #13 in the country in fewest yards allowed per game. Cincinnati's defense looks like it has improved, but the above numbers say it has not. The Cougars are a live dog here, so play on Houston.