Cincinnati Bearcats vs Utah Utes Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 11/01/25

The primetime game in the Big 12 features the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Utah Utes. College GameDay is heading to this game, and the crowd will be extra rowdy after partying all day. This is a crucial game in the Big 12, as Cincinnati is 5-0 in conference play but with several tough games to go (BYU, at TCU), and Utah is 3-2 and cannot afford a loss if they have any hope of climbing back into the race. The status of Utah QB Devon Dampier is very unclear, as Utah continues to ignore the conference’s new rules on injury transparency, so keep an eye on that on Saturday. Regardless, I think this Cincinnati team is definitely not a fluke, and even in what is probably the toughest road venue in the conference, I like catching 10 points with the Bearcats. Give me Cincinnati +10.

This game is strength on strength, as the Bearcat offense faces the best defense they will see all season. Cincinnati is a balanced attack that wants to run the football a ton, but if you stack the box on them, they love to go vertical. It is a tough attack to stop, but Utah is a top 10 defense. On the other side, Utah is definitely run-first, and almost all their passing attack is within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage or outside the hashes, and I think Cincinnati can focus enough attention in those places to slow them down. This game really comes down to whether the Bearcats can move the ball against an elite defense in a hostile road environment. I do not think they will win this game, but I do think this game is a one possession battle most of the night. I’ll take the points.

Cincinnati vs Utah Prediction: Cincinnati +10 (-110) available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.

This game should be a fast-paced, up-and-down contest, and I do not expect to see a lot of punting. As I wrote in the spread column, this game is strength vs strength, as the Utah defense is a top 10 unit and the Cincinnati offense is one of the better attacks in the country. Cincinnati has also jumped on opponents early, dominating the first quarter all season long. This is a balanced attack that is hard to stop. On the other side, we may not know about the availability of Devon Dampier until kickoff time, but given that the Utah attack is so run-centric, it might not matter a ton who is playing QB. Utah should still be successful.

It seems to me that this game goes one of two ways. It is possible that Utah overwhelms the visiting Bearcats and puts them in their place, much the way they did Colorado last week, and we could end up with a lopsided 38-20 kind of game. Or, as I suspect will happen, both offenses will be successful, and we end up with a 31-28 type of game. What I do not expect is a defensive stalemate here. I think there are a lot more paths to the over than to the under, and I will take that action.

Cincinnati vs Utah Prediction: Over 56 (-110) available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.