by It’s not often that the most compelling name involved in a game of bowls won’t even be there, but it will be when Louisville faces Cincinnati at the Wasabi Fenway Bowl on Saturday in Boston. Might as well call this game the Scott Satterfield Bowl. A day after that game was announced, news broke that Satterfield was leaving after four years as head coach at Louisville to take over as head coach at…Cincinnati. The teams agreed that it would be best if Satterfield did not feature for this game.
This created a unique situation for Louisville, who is now coached by the school’s director of player development and former NFL wide receiver and patriots Super Bowl hero Deion Branch. It’s one thing that Branch doesn’t have much coaching experience, but it also hurts that several assistant coaches left to follow Satterfield or took new jobs elsewhere.
Satterfield was hired at Cincinnati after Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell left to take the same role at Wisconsin. In six years, Fickell made the Bearcats a perennial powerhouse, leading them to the college football playoffs in 2021 after an undefeated regular season. After losing several key players to the NFL this year, Cincinnati took a slight setback but still finished 9-3. The Bearcats will be coached in this game by Kerry Coombs, the former Ohio State defensive coordinator who joined Fickell’s staff at Cincinnati this season.
Cincinnati vs. Louisville Wasabi Fenway Bowl Odds
• Spread: Cincinnati +2 (-118) | Louisville -2 (-110)
• Moneyline: CIN (+100) | LU (-125)
• Total: 39.5 – More (-118) | Under (-110)
• Game Information: December 17, 2022 | 11 a.m. ET | ESPN
• Location: Fenway Park | Boston, Mass.
Cincinnati direct record: 9-3
Cincinnati versus the spread record: 3-8-1
Louisville direct record: 7-5
Louisville against the record gap: 7-5
Overview of bets
Louisville has won five of its last seven games after a 2-3 start. The Cardinals beat two ranked foes (WakeForest and NC status) and have five wins over teams with seven or more wins (tied for most among FBS schools).
Louisville is without starting quarterback Malik Henderson, who left to turn pro. But if the Cardinals want to win here, they’ll do it with defense. Louisville ranked 19e in the nation in points allowed (20.2 per game), second in sacks and third in takeouts. ACC first-team linebacker Yasser Abdullah finished second in the ACC with eight sacks and seventh with 13.5 tackles for loss.
Cincinnati is also without its starting quarterback as Ben Bryant was lost for the season with an injury. The Bearcats also rely on a top-20 defense. Linebacker Ivan Pace led the team with nine sacks and the Bearcats led the AAC with 34 sacks.
You get the idea that this will be a low score defensive struggle. With that in mind, it’s worth noting that 66.6% of Louisville’s games have gone under this season. For Cincinnati, 50% of their games have sunk.
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