College Football Betting Line: (25) West Virginia at (5) Cincinnati

The undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats host the 9 point underdog West Virginia Mountaineers this Friday at 8:00 PM ET at Nippert Stadium in a Big East conference clash.

College Football Betting Odds:

Cincinnati has been playing without senior QB Tony Pike for the past three games and won’t have him either for this game because of an injury in his non throwing arm. However backup QB Zach Collaros filled in admirably throwing 8 TDs in those games with no picks.

"Zach will start this Friday night against West Virginia," Coach Brian Kelly said. "Tony Pike is expected to play, and we are really focusing on the Illinois game for Tony's first start back from the injury."

The Bearcats have the 3rd total offense in the country and 6th in passing yards (combined stats for both QBs). Expect Collaros to look for either WRs Mardy Gilyard or Armon Binns in both short and long yards situations as they face an aggressive pass defense.

The Mountaineers love to blitz to force turnovers (12 INT, 2ND in the conference) but that aggressiveness causes that they leave holes for some big plays in the secondary; this could be a definitive factor against an amazing passing machine like the Bearcats one.

West Virginia needs RB Noel Devine to rebound from his two last performances when he was held to less than 60 yards each; he need to find the way to get his rhythm back.

The Cincinnati D will not be the biggest challenge for Mountaineer QB Jarrett Devine this season; he should be able to get some yards and even a few scores out of this game. However keep in mind Devine injured his ankle and Brown suffered a similar injury last Saturday.

"They both should be ready," Virginia’s Coach Bill Stewart said. "Jarrett should be ready quicker than Noel; I don't know if Noel will play or not. He should if treatments go well."

Keep in mind the Bearcats need to keep winning in order to defend their conference title, as they remain tied with Pittsburgh atop the Big East.

"There are probably a lot of people that aren't going to give us a chance," Stewart said. "We'll probably be 20-30 point underdogs.

But the Mountaineers have some positive to rely on since they were the last team to win at Nippert Stadium, 28-23 on 2007.

My pick: The Bearcats won’t cover the spread.