CBS Sports Project Bearcats Football to Win Four Games in Debut Big 12 Season

Cincinnati has not gone 4-8 since 2017.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Jun 20, 2023 7:28 AM EDT

In this story:

CINCINNATI — CBS Sports writer Shehan Jeyarajah picked every single Big 12 teams 2023 record this week, and he has the Bearcats finishing with a bottom-three mark and going under the teams' current win total (5.5 wins).

"The Bearcats have a record of 53-11 over the past five seasons, including a pair of AAC championships and an appearance in the College Football Playoff," Jeyarajah wrote. "But with an exodus of playing and coaching talent, placing Cincinnati in the Big 12 is exceedingly difficult. The Bearcats open their Big 12 tenure with Oklahoma, along with three other recent Big 12 title game participants in the first five games. Cincinnati showed some flaws in the first post-CFP season, especially on offense. Those cracks could open wider with such a difficult schedule amid the transition to Scott Satterfield as coach."

Here is his breakdown of wins and losses:

Wins: Eastern Kentucky, Miami (Ohio), Iowa State, at Houston
Losses: at Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, at BYU, Iowa State, Baylor, at Oklahoma State, UCF, at West Virginia, at Kansas

UC is tied with BYU (4 wins) for the second-worst projected record on the list (West Virginia: 3 wins).

Jeyarajah mistakenly marked the Kansas affair a road game, as five home losses in one season would be a shock to Bearcats fans after winning 32-straight games at home. Tulane ended that five-year streak last November.

The schedule can't be set up much better for year-one success in the Big 12.

Cincinnati plays Oklahoma (9.5 win total), which is tied for the highest win total in the conference, but avoids the next four top-projected teams (Texas: 9.5, K-State: 8.5, Texas Tech: 7.5, TCU: 7.5). Baylor (7.5 wins) is a home affair.

The team's hardest conference road game on paper is at Oklahoma State, while Houston, BYU, and West Virginia (the rest of conference road games) have record projections below .500. Winning four games (including just two in conference) would be a disappointing debut season in the Big 12.

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