Tony Pike News

Sporting News' Dave Curtis analyzes what Sunday's buzz means to college football.

The Cincinnati Bearcats get West Virginia at home this week and hope to exploit some key injuries to the Mountaineers.

Sporting News' Dave Curtis analyzes what Sunday's buzz means to college football.

Submitted by Garry Smits on Thu, 11/12/2009 - 10:41. There are four Saturdays remaining in the college football regular season, and with the passing of each one, the focus to select teams under consideration for the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl Jan.

Just so everyone is clear on this, the Cincinnati football team that plays host to West Virginia tonight is not invincible.

UConn has no shot of beating No. 4 Cincinnati tonight. None. The Bearcats are on a mission toward something great.

Tony Pike got back on the field for the first time in a month and threw a touchdown on his first pass for fifth-ranked Cincinnati.

OCTOBER 24: Isaiah Pead #23 of the Cincinnati Bearcats runs for a touchdown during the Big East Conference game against the Louisville Cardinals at Nippert Stadium on October 24, 2009 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Bearcat fever is hitting a day early as the UC football team puts its undefeated record on the line tonight against West Virginia at Nippert Stadium.

Quarterback Zach Collaros will start for fifth-ranked Cincinnati against West Virginia on Friday night, with Tony Pike also expected to play for the first time since he hurt his non-throwing arm in October.

There is nothing unusual about University of Cincinnati graduate LaVandez Jones and friends gathering to watch Friday night's UC-West Virginia football game at a bar, except for the bar's location.

The good news is, it looks like West Virginia running back Noel Devine is a go for the Mountaineers when they visit No.

West Virginia has seen some pretty good offenses the past few years and, in truth, the Mountaineers never had to leave their own zip code to witness one of the nation's best.

This is a good week to be an upstart. Not much has changed since the beginning of the season in terms of the national title hunt - Alabama , Florida and Texas haven't budged from the top of the polls since the beginning of the season.

As the Crimson Tide overtook LSU this weekend, it became very clear that the national championship game will go through Atlanta.

There is so much money flying around college football that sometimes we lose sight of what we're watching.

A football weekend around Cincinnati is truly a three day affair. The Bengals on Sunday, the Bearcats on Saturday, but it's the players that start their careers on Friday night that make the weekend possible.

While the top of the Bowl Championship Standings looked very familiar Sunday, there was plenty of shuffling behind the No.

Never thought the day would come when these words would occupy the same sentence: 'Cincinnati' and 'quarterback controversy.' But that's what seems to be brewing for Brian Kelly and his team, which remains undefeated after a scare from Connecticut Saturday night at Nippert Stadium.

The field of remaining unbeaten teams was trimmed on Saturday when Iowa fell to Northwestern. Nonetheless, since the Bowl Championship Series was created in 1998, there have never been as many undefeated teams (six) entering the 11th week of the season as there are this year. For two of those squads -- No. 4 Texas Christian and No. 5 Cincinnati -- their status among the elite teams in the nation will be tested this weekend.

TCU already has defeated two Atlantic Coast Conference teams (Virginia and No. 24 Clemson), as well as then-No. 16 Brigham Young, but the Horned Frogs' toughest matchup of the season will take place Saturday when they host No. 16 Utah.