– The Beak Preview: Louisville vs. South Florida
After 35 days on the road, our Cards return for Homecoming weekend to face the South Florida Bulls. Our Cards have been on a roll and have a chance to start 7-0 for only the third time in school history. South Florida is on another path. They have been one of the most disappointing teams in College football. After returning pretty much their entire team, including key players from injury last season, the Bulls have stumbled to a 2-4 record and a 0-2 start in the Big East.
Charlie Strong: “It’s good to always come back home to our place,” “I tell our players, now that we’re home; we have to defend our home stadium.”
If you look back to Big East Media days most had this game marked on their schedules as a must watch. They were picked 1 and 2 in the preseason Big East Polls. But it sure doesn’t look like that marquee match up now. Louisville comes into this game 6-0 on the season, ranked 16th in the AP Poll, and 14 in the USA Today Poll. The Cardinals were once again impressive this past Saturday, securing a 10-point victory on the road vs. Pittsburgh. Senorise Perry rushed for four touchdowns and Teddy QB threw for just over 300 yards and a TD and was his usual efficient self. Louisville had 460 yards of total offense and a turnover free performance. They did all of the things you have to get wins on the road. South Florida enters this game coming off a bye week. Before the bye week, South Florida fell at Temple for their fourth straight loss after a 2-0 start to the season. Quarterback BJ Daniels threw for 219 yards, a touchdown, and a pick but continues to get little help from any
other skill players.
South Florida is deep, fast, and mature. They have 45 guys on their roster that have earned at least one letter. But the big question mark for this team is finishing games and stopping the run. They will rely heavily on their QB BJ Daniels who is having a good season throwing for 1,504 yards and 10 TDs while ranking second on the team with 277 rushing yards and 4 scores. Our Cards have had issues this season with a scrambling quarterback so this could be interesting.
Skip Holtz on his QB: “He’s incredibly athletic and extremely talented. He’s got a lot of different skill sets as a quarterback. His biggest growth has been developing mentally, understanding the offense and playing within the system. He’s gotten past what to do and is getting into how to do it. That’s what you have to have to be a great player.”
Our Cards have a 6-5 record in October and have won three in a row in the 10th month under Coach Strong. The Cards have at least two rushing TD’s in each of the six games this season. Teddy QB has 19 throws that have gone for better than 20 yards in the last six games.
The Bulls are 5-4 in this all-time series, including a 24-21 overtime win in 2010 when the programs last met in Louisville. Last year our Cards got the victory over the Bulls 34-24 in Tampa. South Florida is 3-12 in their last 15 games against the spread and Louisville is 5-0 against the spread in the month of October.
Our Cards have looked very good at times this season and really impressed me with how they fought on the road to get wins. South Florida has not looked impressive this season but they will give our Cards a good game Saturday. I even expect them to get the lead early. But the Cards offense will be too much for the Bulls defense to handle. Cards will close out this game in the end and move to 7-0.
The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 31 South Florida 24