Cincinnati vs Marshall: How to Watch, Keys to the Game, Predictions

On Saturday, Cincinnati Bearcats (2-1) visit Huntington, West Virginia to face Marshall Thundering Herd (2-1).

How to Watch

This game is exclusively on Facebook only. You must go to “Live Conference USA” page on Facebook and the game will play there at 5:00. Conference USA has a streaming deal with Facebook and this is part of a C-USA/AAC double header, with Marshall/Cincy and Houston/North Texas to follow. Both games are at the C-USA school.

You can view the app on your phone, tablet, or television if you use apple TV, X-Box One or have a smart televsion.

About Marshall

This is the 13th meeting all-time between the two schools. Their history includes a couple of bowl games, a recent blowout, success from Cincinnati coaches as players, and four safeties scored in the last five games. There is plenty of history between them

Our Clayton Trutor looks at Marshall, who he labels as a hard-nosed, tough football team.

We spoke to Cyrus Smith, covers C-USA and Marshall, for SBNation’s Underdog Dynasty about this game.

Uniform Update

Bearcats are going white jerseys, black pants, red helmets. It will be their first time wearing red helmets in 2019 and the first time since wearing them in the Military Bowl victory to end last season.

Keys to the Game

Coach Luke Fickell described the key to this game himself earlier this week in his Monday press conference. Bearcats need to “clean it up”. Against Miami in their last game, Cincinnati committed 16 penalties and 11 were accepted. In total, Cincinnati has 31 accepted penalties through three games, which is unacceptable. Bearcats must avoid self-inflicted wounds, especially when they get to 3rd and short situations on offense or negated 3rd down stops on defense.

In terms of cleaning it up, they also must eliminate turnovers. There have been too many redzone mistakes and turnovers through three games. QB Desmond Ridder has already thrown 3 interceptions after throwing just 5 all of 2018.

Speaking of Ridder, I would love to see him continue to take shots down field. The running game is the foundation of this offense. But a little bit against UCLA and more so against Miami, the offense had a lot of success throwing the ball down the field. Open up the playbook and let Ridder throw it deep. That’s, of course, assuming he has enough time behind an offensive line that has struggled this year.

Predictions

Mike Schneid: This game has “trap” written all over it. Tough environment to win, feisty C-USA team trying to make a statement and UC’s biggest game of the year is a week away. I think they come out firing, not the same flat offense we’ve seen the last couple games. Two quick touchdowns quiets the crowd and the defense establishes themselves with toughness and turnovers.

Cincinnati 31 Marshall 14

Phil Neuffer: Marshall isn’t going to be an easy team to beat. The Thundering Herd run the ball well and have done a good job in pass protection. They hung with Boise State in Boise and although they aren’t a top notch defensive team, they could give UC some trouble, especially at home. However, Cincinnati may have the answer to Marshall’s ground game. Aside from the Ohio State game, the Bearcats have been excellent at defending the run. Add in the fact that they’ve had extra time to prepare for this game and its reasonable to expect that the Bearcats will figure out a way to stop the Herd and pull away down the stretch.

Cincinnati 27 Marshall 21

Clayton Trutor: Unless Chad Pennington is suiting up for the Thunder Herd, Marshall is out of luck this Saturday. Watch Cincinnati do to Marshall what Ohio State did to them.

Cincinnati 48 Marshall 0

Around College Football - Week 5

Cincinnati vs Marshall isn’t the only AAC vs CUSA game on Facebook. Houston plays at North Texas Saturday night. Houston is “tanking”. UCF, coming off their first regular season loss since 2016, is a 44 point favorite against long-time rival UConn, in the final installment of the Civil ConFLiCT.

In other AAC news, week 5 includes the Geoff Collins Bowl and ECU’s last realistic shot at a win in 2019.

What you need to know about week 5 in the AAC, including game previews and the latest news and updates around the conference.