The River City Rivalry comes to Nippert Stadium Saturday night when the No. 19 Cincinnati Bearcats (8-2, 4-1) take on the No. 20 Pittsburgh Panthers (7-2, 3-1). This has been a one-sided rivalry with Pittsburgh taking all seven contests. If the Bearcats were to win it would be the first time ever that they will have in their possession the Victory Bell (from the rivalry game with Miami (OH)), the Keg of Nails (rivalry with Louisville) and the 46-inch tall, 96 pound River City Rivalry Trophy.

Both teams are coming off wins over Louisville. Pittsburgh beat the Cardinals 41-7 two weeks ago. They had a bye last week. Cincinnati beat Louisville last week, 28-20. It was their first win over the Cards in six years. The winner of the game this weekend takes control of the BIG EAST and very well could end up winning the conference which would guarantee them a BCS bowl game.

The Bearcats have had back-to-back emotional games against West Virginia and Louisville. Both games were on the road and both went the Bearcats way and could very well help them in their game against PITT.

Cincinnati has made it to where they are at this point in the season thanks in large part to having the best passing attack in the BIG EAST. They average 253.9 yards passing per game. There was a question as to whether Tony Pike would play this week after leaving the Louisville game early due to injury, but it appears he is OK and will start this weekend. The Bearcats have used five total quarterbacks this season due to injuries. Pike has the majority of the starts and is second in the BIG EAST in passing efficiency (137.5). It helps that he has great receivers to throw to in Mardy Gilyard and Dominick Goodman.

While the Bearcats have a strong passing game, the Panthers have one of the best rushing attacks in the BIG EAST. They're led their sophomore running back, LeSean McCoy who has 1,043 yards on 210 carries. That's an average of 5.0 yards per attempt. He also has 16 touchdowns this season. The Bearcats have done well against the run for most of the season. They will have to keep McCoy in check and force junior quarterback Bill Stull to beat them. Stull has only thrown for 1,778 yards and five scores this season. He doesn't have a multi touchdown game this year. If the Bearcats can force the game onto his shoulders either by shutting down McCoy or by getting out ahead by a good margin on the scoreboard, their first win in this rivalry may finally come to pass.

The game kicks off at 7:15 pm and will air on ESPN2. Its the fourth game in a row to be broadcast on one of the ESPN networks. Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly delcared this game as the Ring of Red game. The Bearcats will sport their all red uniforms for the first time since 2003. Coach Kelly is asking for fans to participate by wearing red to the game as well. So remember to come early, be loud, wear RED!

College Football river city rivalry, cincinnati bearcats, pittsburgh panthers, big east, bcs, tony pike, mardy gilyard, dominick goodman, lesean mccoy, bill stull, brian kelly