Whether it’s Pike or Collaros or Anderson at QB, No. 5 Cincinnati will throw the ball a lot

No. 5 Cincinnati will throw no matter who’s QB

CINCINNATI — Whether it’s Tony Pike or Zach Collaros or Chazz Anderson taking the snaps, fifth-ranked Cincinnati isn’t going to change its offense all that much.

Once the ball is snapped, it’s going to get thrown around.

The Bearcats (6-0, 2-0 Big East) won’t deviate from their spread, no-huddle offense if Pike, their senior quarterback, can’t play Saturday against Louisville (2-4, 0-2) because of an arm injury. His backups may run more, but they’re expected to keep the offense going at its breakneck pace.

And that means letting it fly.

“You can’t go too far out of your comfort zone,” coach Brian Kelly said. “We’re a spread, no-huddle, up-tempo offense. That will continue regardless of who’s in there. We’re not going to come out in two tight ends and one flanker and two backs, I can guarantee you of that.”

The Bearcats were thrown into a familiar predicament during a 34-17 win at South Florida last week. Pike, who broke his non-throwing forearm last year and needed a plate and six screws inserted so he could continue playing, hurt the arm late in the first half. He had surgery on Tuesday to fix the plate, which was knocked out of place.

Although Kelly held out hope Pike could be back running the nation’s fourth-highest scoring offense (40.7 points) with a cast on the left arm, the odds were against it. Kelly said he wouldn’t play Pike if it put him at risk.

“That’s the key here,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to be able to have him protect (the arm). He can’t be out there with just one arm throwing it. He’s got to be able to move a little bit, too.”

Moving around is what Collaros does best.

Collaros and Anderson were freshmen last season when they bailed the Bearcats out of an unusual predicament. Starting quarterback Dustin Grutza broke his leg, and Pike broke his arm two games later. Collaros finished that game, and Anderson started the next two before Pike returned and played with a cast on the left forearm.

Cincinnati used five quarterbacks overall, but still won the Big East title — a tribute to Kelly’s adaptability and creativity. He let his two sophomore quarterbacks split snaps evenly in practice this week before deciding which would play if Pike can’t go. Collaros would seem to have the advantage after running for 132 yards and two touchdowns against South Florida after Pike got hurt.

On another team, an injury to the MVP quarterback would be discouraging. The Bearcats have been through it so many times that it didn’t seem to bother them.

“There’s been a lot of ups and downs the last two years,” receiver Armon Binns said. “We’ve seen a lot of guys behind center. But we’ve got confidence in all our guys, so we’re not worried about it. They all take a lot of reps and the receivers get to practice with all the different quarterbacks. That’s why everyone seems to step in.”

Louisville hasn’t been able to stop anybody. The Cardinals are second-last in the Big East, allowing 27.8 points per game, and are giving up 159 yards on the ground, by far the worst in the league. If Collaros plays, it won’t necessarily work to Louisville’s advantage.

“It will be interesting to see which quarterback we face, but we’ll prepare for all three,” coach Steve Kragthorpe said. “You don’t see a lot of changes offensively. The only change is the quarterback running a little more with designed runs. Tony can scramble and he does a good job keeping plays alive and throwing on the run, but he’s not a designed quarterback/runner like Zach is.”

The Cardinals have plenty of problems on their own. Besides that dreadful defense, their offense also is last in the league at 21.8 points per game. It has picked up recently behind junior quarterback Adam Froman, who made his third start last week at UConn and went 24 for 31 for a career-high 295 yards, completing 16 consecutive throws.

Although Louisville piled up 457 yards, it had four turnovers that set up a 38-25 loss.

The Cardinals have won eight of the last 10 in the series, including five in a row in Cincinnati. They haven’t lost there since 1997, but will have to play far better than they have to keep the streak going.

“Go have fun,” Froman said. “Not many times in your life do you get the opportunity to play a Top 5 team. As a little kid, you either imagine you’re a top team or that you’re a team beating a top team. We’re living the dream.”

AP Sports Writer Will Graves in Louisville, Ky., contributed to this report.