Cincinnati Bearcats Football Keys To The Game: Towson Tigers

The 2024 season is about to kickoff.

Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Scott Satterfield speaks with players after a scrimmage, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. / Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

CINCINNATI — The long offseason is over and football is nearly here at Nippert Stadium. FCS outfit Towson comes to town to open the 2024 season with Cincinnati trying to bury the 3-9 2023 campaign.

They can start to get back on track against a Tigers team that went 5-6 in 2024 with a 23rd consecutive home-opening win. Cincinnati enters the game as a 31.5-point betting favorite and is an 88.6% favorite to win on ESPN's Matchup Predictor.

Things shouldn't be close for very long in a game that could look like Cincinnati's 66-13 season-opening win over Easter Kentucky last year.

Offensive Key To The Game: Get Sorsby In a Rhythm

Cincinnati shouldn't have much trouble rushing all over Towson on Saturday. The Tigers have one daunting defender in defensive tackle Dion Crews-Harris, but not much else behind him.

They gave up 192.9 rushing yards per game last season on 4.8 yards per attempt. All the running backs should be able to eat in this one, even with Cincinnati's offensive line banged up (starting right tackle Philip Wilder is not expected to play). We know what kind of impact this returning O-Line can have on the ground, and we know what Corey Kiner can do with those lanes.

Brendan Sorsby is a mystery in this UC offense and strong passing marks at all three levels will be important to see. Still, it's Towson. They aren't bringing a daunting pass defense to the table either after allowing 19 passing touchdowns and 8.4 yards per attempt last season. 

A bad performance would be very alarming, while a great performance (Emory Jones threw for 345 yards and five TDs to open last season) can be taken with a grain of salt. We really start to find out how good Sorsby is next Saturday, but a good rhythm and strong command are important to see as building blocks.

Cincinnati should be able to get plenty of players experience in this game, while Sorsby gets things cooking with Xzavier Henderson, Jamoi Mayes, Joe Royer, and more in the starting passing unit.

Defensive Key To The Game: Where Does Run Defense Stand?

I'll be keying in on the nose tackle spot a lot on Saturday. Dontay Corleone (blood clots) did not practice fully on Tuesday and is a long, longshot to play on Saturday with Cincinnati's staff hoping to get him back at some point during the non-conference schedule.

Towson can run the ball (4.7 yards per carry on 32.7 carries per game), and if they have consistent success on Saturday, it's a rough sign for Pitt and Miami (OH) in the weeks after. UC had one of the worst 2023 run defenses of any power-conference team (5.35 yards per carry allowed, 128th nationally, 176.9 rush yards per game allowed, 111th). And that was with Dontay Corleone playing all 12 games last season (440 total snaps).

Cincinnati has Kamari Burns and Cam Roetherford ready to step up at nose tackle, but neither player is over 285 pounds. All while Harris Adams (308 pounds) is in the mix as well. That trio walling up the middle and allowing Cincinnati's newly-infused speed at linebacker to clean up short runs is imperative.

Add in a nasty run defender in safety Derrick Canteen (91.6 PFF run defense grade last season), plus, a strong tackler in STAR defender Mekhi Miller (70.8 2023 run defense grade, 89.4 tackling grade) and Cincinnati has the pieces to get much better against the ground game.

One Towson player to know on offense is tight end Carter Runyon. He's Towson's first-ever Division I All-American at tight end, led all 2023 CAA tight ends in receiving yards with 549, and led Towson in receptions (43) and receiving TDs (four). He is on the 2025 Senior Bowl Watchlist. Runyon could help open up the run game, but all in all, this is a tune-up contest Cincinnati has to maximize before the talent ramps up for the rest of the campaign.

The game kicks off at 2:30 p.m. ET and is airing on ESPN+.

Score Prediction: 56-17 Bearcats

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