Ohio State, Who Is 11-1 ATS In Last 12 Versus AAC, Favored by 16 in Week 2 Matchup With Cincinnati

• The Cincinnati Bearcats beat UCLA 24-14 last week in a sloppy effort.
• The Ohio State Buckeyes stomped Florida Atlantic 45-21 in their opener.
• The Buckeyes have won 12 of their last 13 games versus the AAC straight up.

The #5 Ohio State Buckeyes have owned the American Athletic Conference, winning 12 of the last 13 meetings with schools from the conference while going 11-1-1 against the spread. That trend is likely to continue on Saturday when they host the Cincinnati Bearcats, who are a 15-point road underdog in the matchup.

Cincinnati vs Ohio State Odds

*Odds taken 09/05/19 

Bearcats Struggle In Week 1

Cincinnati did get a win in their first game of the season but it was as shaky as it gets. The Bearcats had nearly double the yards (417-218) and first downs (23-12) but were only able to win by ten, in the 24-14 victory.

UCLA is a team that’s mostly inept, as we saw in the opener, with virtually no ground game and a shaky passing attack. Cincinnati could have put the game away early, but they struggled to finish drives and avoid mistakes.

The Bearcats missed a 32-yard field goal that would have put them ahead 10-0, then fumbled on the UCLA 37 when they were driving and later threw an interception when they were on the UCLA five-yard line.

As if that wasn’t enough, they appeared to have fumbled, which UCLA returned for a touchdown, late in the game that would have cut the lead to 24-21. However, replay said that it wasn’t a fumble, although the play was very close. This type of sloppy effort won’t work against the Buckeyes – especially on the road.

Ohio State Has Talent Edge On AAC Teams

One of the reasons why Ohio State has dominated this conference is they simply recruit better players. Cincinnati doesn’t have players like Justin Fields or Chase Young. AAC teams are usually recruiting the two and three-star players that are either too small or undiscovered by teams in the Power 5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlfYv7HJTnw

The same goes for coaching. Cincinnati has Luke Fickell at head coach, who was the Buckeyes interim head coach following the dismissal of Jim Tressel. His squad finished 11-2 last season but they mostly beat up on a soft schedule. They lost at Temple and were crushed 38-13 at Central Florida. They’re likely to be quite overmatched here too.

What’s The Best Bet?

I’m not sure what’s causing the Cincinnati hype here but I’m not buying it. They should have won 40-10 last week but because of sloppy mistakes, UCLA nearly made a game of it. The Ohio State vs Cincinnati odds opened up at Ohio State -17 but it’s moved off the key number and is down to -15.5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W10-CEj_0U

Ohio State is coming off a resounding win over Florida Atlantic. While those types of wins don’t tell us a lot, it did show us that Justin Fields and the offense probably won’t falter too much under Ryan Day – if at all.

I expect Cincinnati to clean up their sloppy mistakes and play a bit better here, but it won’t matter much. The Buckeyes should enter the half with at least a touchdown lead and eventually wear down the Bearcats in the second half and pull away for a comfortable three-touchdown win. Bet the Buckeyes.