No. 8 Cincinnati Bearcats at No. 21 South Florida Bulls
Posted by Jay Horne on October 13, 2009 · Leave a Comment
NCAA Football Betting Preview
No. 8 Cincinnati Bearcats (5-0) at No. 21 South Florida (5-0)
Thursday October 15th, 7:30PM Eastern
Betus.com betting line – Cincinnati -3, 50 O/U
The Big East has it’s version of an midseason championship game this Thursday night on the big stage in front of the nation on ESPN. The highly praised match-up of unbeaten teams is expected to be a thriller when the No. 8 Cincinnati Bearcats travel down to Tampa Bay and take on the No. 21 South Florida Bulls. The Bearcats head one of the most lethal passing offenses in America led by Tony Pike whose early season accomplishments have gotten him on the outskirts of Heisman ballots. If the Bearcats can run the table, Pike may receive a lot more Heisman attention.
However, the Bearcats meet up with a South Florida team that has really shocked most of the media this season. The Bulls lost their leader in QB Matt Grothe for the season from an injury suffered in just the 3rd game of the season. However, freshman B.J Daniels has stepped in and delivered. The Bulls have played very well this season and been excellent moneymakers at 4-1 ATS. The Bulls have captured wins over the likes of Florida State and also a win over Syracuse last week 34-20. The question now is will Daniels and the offense have enough fire power to keep up with the dangerous Bearcats offense.
One way South Florida can help control the Bearcats offense is from the play of their defense. The Bulls have a stout defense that ranks 10th in America holding opponents to just 263 yards per game. The defense has played exceptionally well against the pass as well which will be big this Thursday night. South Florida has allowed just 158 yards per game through the air despite taking on any big name quarterbacks outside of Florida State’s Christian Ponder who posted 269 yards against the Bulls defense.
On offense, Daniels is just as much a running threat as he is with his arm. Daniels leads the team in rushing after just 3 starts carrying the ball 48 times for 291 yards. The young talent has also thrown for 602 yards, 6 scores, and 2 picks. Carlton Mitchell is an excellent receiver and could be poised for a big game if this game is to turn into a shootout. However, the Bulls chances of winning this game will be greatly increase if the game stays rather low scoring. South Florida defense will give them a shot, but the offense will have to make some plays and keep the Bearcats offense off the field.
Cincinnati sports one of the best offenses in the country. The Bearcats are averaging 469 yards per game (11th in FBS) and also 329 yards passing per contest (6th in FBS). Pike has been beyond good throwing for 1,649 yards with 13 scores and 3 picks while maintaining a strong 67% completion percentage. Pike’s favorite target is WR Marshwan Gilyard. Gilyard is a name you may really hear a lot climb up the NFL Draft boards by season end. The talented senior posts some extreme quickness and a knack for getting behind safeties. Gilyard already has 7 touchdowns on the season with 517 receiving yards and it is safe to say the Bulls secondary will have to have a close reach on him at all times.
Of course the Bearcats duo of running backs between Jacob Ramsey and Isaiah Pead give the team some balance. Both tailbacks are averaging 6 yards per carry and have 3 scores a piece with a very small amount of touches due to their tendency to keep the ball in the air. However just when the defense starts dropping back, these two guys can pop a big gain on any given carry. The Bearcats offense needs to get off to a good start and put pressure on South Florida to score quickly. The Bulls defense has yet to yield a lot of points and if the Bearcats can make a few scores early, it will force Daniels to throw the ball much more which will put the advantage to the Bearcats. In fact, that particular scenario is likely going to play out this Thursday night.
Pick – Bearcats -3
Home Depot Pursues Professional Builders, Contractors, Remodelers.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News February 28, 2003 By Tony Wilbert, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Feb. 28–Home Depot, still searching for a way to expand beyond do-it-yourself home improvement, might have found an answer inside its own big orange boxes.
The professional builders, contractors and remodelers who frequent Home Depot and its competitors spend about $500 billion a year on building products, lighting fixtures, appliances and other materials. The Atlanta-based retailer’s share of that market: about $17.5 billion.
That leaves a huge window of opportunity.
But Home Depot has had a more difficult time than expected gaining traction in the pro market, mainly because it doesn’t yet have the necessary relationships with commercial customers. That may explain why builders and general contractors make just 9 percent of their purchases at warehouse home centers such as Home Depot, according to ProSales magazine. They buy more than half of their supplies at lumber and building material dealers.
Perception may be one reason. “It’s a retail store,” Atlanta home builder Curtis Peart said of Home Depot.
To battle that perception among professionals, Home Depot has spent the past 18 months ramping up efforts to appeal to them more. The effort comes none too soon.
Wall Street is waiting for, and almost demanding that, the nation’s No. 2 retailer find a secondary business to increase sales and give Home Depot stock a jump-start. Wal-Mart, the top retailer, did it by expanding into the grocery business.
As Home Depot has matured, it has been unable to maintain the growth that made it a household name. The weak economy and competition from Lowe’s Cos. have slowed annual revenue growth to about 9 percent. site home depot promotion code
Home Depot executives don’t expect to announce a major new initiative to boost business this year, but they acknowledge that sales to builders and contractors could be an answer. At the moment, about 30 percent of the retailer’s sales comes from commercial customers.
With that in mind, the company has increased the number of Home Depot locations with “pro desks” to 1,133 and plans to add them to another 180 this year. It has opened Home Depot Supply stores that sell building materials primarily to builders and contractors.
Home Depot is building 800-square-foot trade centers for pros in some of its Expo Design Centers. It has 31 pro areas in its 53 Expo stores, division President Bob Wittman said.
Home Depot also launched its Landscape Supply chain that has separate entrances and areas for commercial customers.
“We’ve got this business that we’ve got a strong running start at through our stores,” said Jim Stoddart, president of Home Depot Supply, the division charged with expanding the company’s professional business beyond the retail stores. “So now our question is, `How can we keep growing and enhancing our position?”‘ The answer likely comes down to how successful Home Depot is in establishing relationships. In a recent survey by ProSales, 85 percent of the respondents said it’s important to have a relationship with a dealer. here home depot promotion code
The key to forming relationships with commercial customers is hiring people contractors can trust. Hiring qualified people to deal with commercial customers is critical but not easy, said Joe Dixon, Home Depot’s vice president of pro business and tool rental.
“It’s always difficult finding the right people and making sure you have the right people on the team,” he said. “We have had success finding these people. A lot of our associates are people who have had their own businesses or had been electrical contractors or had their own residential contracting companies.” Home builder Peart, a principal at Capstone Partners, apparently hasn’t dealt with those employees while shopping at Home Depot.
“They don’t have any workers who know what I’m talking about,” said Peart, whose company buys less than 1 percent of its products at Home Depot. “There’s nobody on my level who works in the store.” Product availability also is a challenge.
“You’re not going to be able to go to the local Home Depot store and get everything you need,” said Jean Dimeo, editor in chief of Building Products, a trade publication. “It’s good if you need something right away.” The professional market does have the potential to be a long-term growth engine for Home Depot, said Gregg Clark, a vice president at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. To capitalize on the market, though, Home Depot needs to make several changes, he said.
Home Depot must continue to offer a broad and correct product assortment, upgrade its level of service for pros, and consider lower prices to match or beat the deep discounts contractors get at large suppliers, Clark said. Lowering prices, however, would be a “risky proposition,” he said.
Home Depot also must make sure it doesn’t forget the do-it-yourself customer, Clark said. “They may be trying to be too many things to too many people.” As Home Depot continues to expand its commercial business, local building products dealers are ready. Bill Hofius, a senior vice president at Ply Mart of Norcross, said Home Depot will not be able to steamroll the commercial competition the way it did as it grew its do-it-yourself empire.
“I don’t see these guys rolling over and playing dead,” Hofius said. “I don’t see anybody going down without a fight.” HD, CAP, WMT,
