College Football ATS Picks - Cincinnati at Michigan Game Preview

Two teams that could not have had a more disparate start to the season will square off in one of the early games on Saturday afternoon. The Michigan Wolverines are riding high after largely controlling the run of play against Florida in their season opener. Their defense totally shut down the Gators offense and made them work for every yard. Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Bearcats were expected to cruise to a victory against an Austin Peay team with a 27 game losing streak, the nation’s longest. However, things proved to be far more difficult than expected and the Governors hung close the entire game.

Watch this regular season Week 2 matchup live on Saturday, September 9, 2017, at 12 p.m. ET

at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This game will be broadcast on ABC.

College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Cincinnati +34
Michigan -34

Odds Analysis

The Wolverines saw the number on them rise as Florida players got suspended throughout the week leading up to this game. Michigan ended up closing as a 4.5-point favorite and covered the number against Florida with ease. The 33-17 win was a lot more lopsided than the score indicates too as 14 of those UF points were back-to-back pick sixes that gave the Gators a chance at least.

Cincinnati was a monstrous 43-point favorite against Austin Peay, but was stuck in neutral the whole time. The Governors were able to slowly move the ball down the field through their run game, while Cincinnati’s passing game found little room to work against Austin Peay. Austin Peay was only down six at one point in the fourth quarter and Cincinnati didn’t come close to covering the number.

Key Stat

All the Gators could muster in their first game of the season was 192 total yards of offense. Michigan refused to allow Florida to run the football all game long and wreaked havoc on both Feleipe Franks and Malik Zaire. Neither Franks nor Zaire had an awful day through the air, but they were hounded by pressure from a relentless, attacking scheme. The Wolverines defense had six sacks and 11 tackles for loss on the afternoon as a result.

The way that they controlled the running game was exceptional. Florida wanted to run to set up the pass and help out its quarterbacks. However, the running game could only muster 11 yards on 27 attempts and was a non-factor for most the game.

Matchup to Watch

What numbers can Michigan’s quarterbacks put up against this Bearcats defense? Last week, the Wolverines faced an awesome secondary and Wilton Speight paid for it. He completed just 44 percent of his passes and threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns and looked rattled at one point. John O’Korn saw significant amounts of action too, but only threw one pass in the game.

Austin Peay failed to find success against Cincinnati’s pass defense, but that was a given. The secondary is the Bearcats best defensive unit and they limited the Governors to just 89 yards of offense through the air last week.

Free ATS Pick

Michigan is one of the most inexperienced teams in the country, but Florida was unable to make them pay. The Wolverines have a lot of young talent, yet it is still raw and there is no real depth behind them. Credit to DC Don Brown of Michigan for calling an excellent game against Florida last week, but this team should not be rated this highly.

This is a significant amount of points. The way these two teams played in their first game bumped this line up by a healthy margin and Michigan doesn’t play a style of football that leads to running up the score typically. Michigan will win, but Cincy will be able to stay within the number.

College Football Odds: Wolverines 38, Bearcats 10

BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!