The defense will switch to a 4-3 alignment under co defensive coordinators Tim Banks and John Jancek. Five starters return from a unit that allowed just over 23 points/game and 374 yards/game. With such a quick strike offense, these guys were on the field facing offenses that were playing from behind most of the game. LB JK Schaffer was second on the team in tackles last year with 100. He will be asked to lead on defense with a young pool of players around him. Sophomore LB Walter Steward could break through after tallying 59 tackles and 4.5 sacks as a redshirt freshman. The defensive front has some depth despite losing two starters. SS Drew Frey and CB Dominique Battle return as starters in the secondary. Frey collected 64 tackles in his first season as a starter, while Battle was right behind him with 60 stops. They lost 1st team Big East safety Aaron Webster. Special teams will suffer with the departure of Gilyard returning kicks and punts. Jacob Rogers handles both punting and kicking duties for the Bearcats.
The schedule sets up fairly nicely early in the season for Cincy. A Thursday night game on September 16th will be a test at NC State. Their game against Oklahoma the following week should be a shootout. Big East play opens with Louisville on the road. Their first two conference games occur on a Friday night. Tough road match-ups at West Virginia and Connecticut could determine where they end up in the pecking order. I don't think the offense will miss a beat, but the defense is comparable to last season and was shredded by good offenses at the end of the year. The Bearcats will a take minor step back and win 8 games.