How and what to watch for Houston vs. No. 6 Cincinnati

The No. 6 Cincinnati Bearcats will look to continue with their dominant performances when they host the Houston Cougars on Saturday afternoon.

Cincinnati enters this game with a perfect 5-0 record overall, and the Bearcats are tied with Tulsa at 3-0 atop the AAC. Cincinnati is coming off a pair of very impressive wins, beating SMU 42-13 on the road, followed by a 49-10 home win over Memphis last week. In that game, Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder completed 21 of 26 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns and an interception. He also added two touchdowns on the ground.

Houston was hit hard by the pandemic postponing games, but the Cougars have been able to play in each of the last four weekends and enter with a 2-2 overall record including 2-1 in the AAC for fourth place in the conference. Houston was handled by UCF 44-21 in its last time out. Clayton Tune completed 21 of 41 passes for 263 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions. Nathaniel Dell caught six passes for 88 yards and a touchdown.

Cincinnati won the previous matchup between these two teams 38-23 on the road in 2019.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

You can watch Houston vs. Cincinnati on Saturday, November 7 at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC, or you can stream it via WatchESPN with a cable or streaming service login.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Houston (+13.5) vs. Cincinnati
Point Total: 52.5
Money line: Houston (+410), Cincinnati (-625)

• Cincinnati is 7-2-1 against the spread in its last 10 games against Houston.
• Cincinnati is 6-2 against the spread in its last eight games.
• Houston is 6-12 straight up in its last 18 games.
• The point total went over in four of Houston’s last five games.

Betting splits

Houston: (5% of handle, 11% percent of bets)
Cincinnati: (95% of handle, 89% percent of bets)

The Best Bet

Betting the under has seemed like the obvious play for Cincinnati, but the Bearcats have been scoring too much to make that happen, so we’ll just take them to cover in this game. Cincinnati beat every team on its schedule so far by 14 points or more so far this season and are crushing quality opponents in the AAC. The Bearcats’ defense is for real, and Houston will struggle to find much success offensively.

Pick: Cincinnati -13.5

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