Cincinnati-Louisville Fenway Bowl Betting Preview

It’s not every day when the most compelling name involved with a bowl game won’t even be in attendance but that will be the case when Louisville faces Cincinnati in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl Saturday in Boston. Might as well call this game the Scott Satterfield Bowl. A day after this matchup was announced, news broke that Satterfield was leaving after four years as the head coach at Louisville to take over as the head coach at … Cincinnati. The teams agreed it would be best that Satterfield not be present for this game.

That created a unique situation for Louisville, which is now coached by the school’s director of player development and former NFL receiver and Patriots Super Bowl hero Deion Branch. It’s one thing that Branch doesn’t have a great deal of coaching experience, but it also hurts that several assistant coaches have either left to follow Satterfield or have taken new jobs elsewhere.

Satterfield was hired at Cincinnati after Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell left to take the same job at Wisconsin. In six years, Fickell built the Bearcats into a perennial power, leading them to the College Football Playoff in 2021 after an undefeated regular season. After losing several key players to the NFL this year, Cincinnati took a slight step back 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 Cincinnati staff this season.

Cincinnati vs. Louisville Wasabi Fenway Bowl Odds

Cincinnati Straight-Up Record: 9-3
Cincinnati Against the Spread Record: 3-8-1

Louisville Straight-Up Record: 7-5
Louisville Against the Spread Record: 7-5

Betting Insights

Louisville has come on strong, winning five of its last seven games after a 2-3 start. The Cardinals beat two ranked foes (Wake Forest and N.C. State) and have five wins over teams with seven or more victories (tied for most among FBS schools).

Louisville is without starting quarterback Malik Henderson, who left to turn pro. But if the Cardinals are to win here they will do it with defense. Louisville ranked 19^th in the nation in points allowed (20.2 per game), second in sacks and third in takeaways. First-team all-ACC linebacker Yasir 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 squad with nine sacks, and the Bearcats led the AAC with 34 sacks.

You get the idea this will be a low-scoring defensive struggle. With that in mind, it’s worth noting that 66.6% of Louisville’s games hit the under this season. For Cincinnati, 50% of their games went under.