It’s back to action for the Cardinals football team after a bye week. It will be Friday night lights this week as the Cards travel to UCONN for an end of the week battle on ESPN2 at 8:30pm. Louisville leads this series with UCONN 5 to 4 but the Huskies have won the last 4 out of six including that three overtime stunner last year at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium 23-20. This will be the last meeting on the gridiron between these teams for the foreseeable future. The Cards enter this game ranked No. 20 in the Associated Press poll and No. 17 in the USA Today coaches’ poll. The Cardinals have a 7-1 record and are 3-1 in the American while the Huskies are 0-7 overall and 0-3 in the American.

Coach Strong previews UCONN:

(Video courtesy Courier Journal) Not available on mobile devices

The Huskies entered the 2013 season looking to put two consecutive 5-7 seasons behind them and make a return to post-season play. But that isn’t going to happen and once again they are a struggling football team. And the program faces a total rebuild after coach Paul Pasqualoni and associate head coach George DeLeone were fired and offensive coordinator T.J. Weist took over as interim coach. The Huskies are last in the AAC in rushing offense (76.3) and second-to-last in total offense (293.3) and scoring offense (16.4). Weist has already made some big changes to his offense by simplifying some of their blocking schemes in an effort to kick start a running game that ranks dead last in the FBS, averaging just less than 46 yards. And he took the red shirt off highly touted freshman quarterback Tim Boyle. Boyle has run the Huskies no huddle offense for the last three games and has 506 yards with 5 interceptions. Leading the Huskies rushing attack is Lyle McCombs. A former freshman All-American McCombs has rushed for 466 yards and 4 touchdowns this season. Anchoring the receiving group is junior Geremy Davis who has 544 yards on the season and the other top target Shakim Phillips has 314 yards with 3 touchdowns on the season.
Louisville’s #2 ranked defense is looking to keep things rolling and after practice on Tuesday Preston Brown said the Louisville Defense pays lots of attention to the coveted Michigan State defense. “We’re shooting for that number 1 spot.” I don’t think they’ll have any hiccups in that quest this week.

The UCONN defense was one of the best in the country last season but moves into a rebuild mode of sorts. Although they may have the most talented line-backing corps in the AAC this season with consensus all big east first team Yawin Smallwood and his 79 tackles leading the way. He was named as a semi-finalist for the 2013 Butkus Award. The Huskies have given up just 78 points in the past 17 games in the first quarter, including the six games this season and 35 of those points coming in the last four games. Their group this year isn’t as good as the group last year but they are tough and have shown signs of a very good defense.
The Louisville offensive group had a week to get some of their nagging injuries healed up and Teddy and company will be hungry to get their shot to shine in the prime time again Friday night. They won’t push this UCONN group around I don’t think, but they shouldn’t have much of a problem with them either. I look for big numbers.

Yawin Smallwood Previews The Louisville Game:

The last time the Huskies were on national TV, they gave Michigan a scare on ABC before losing 24-21 at Rentschler in the third game of the season. UConn led 21-7 at the half. This Huskies group has nothing to lose and their interim coach is playing that card. He has tried to light a fire under this team and is hoping to use the nationally ranked Cards and national TV as their springboard into the off season. Coach T.J. Weist on using Louisville to motivate the team: “I think there is a lot of hype for it and a lot of players are fired up. It’s a nationally covered game and a Friday night game. I tell them the same things; if we can make more plays than them, we’re going to win the game. That’s got to be our focus. You have to use that hype, that momentum and intensity on the football field to make good decisions, to be physical, and to make plays. That’s what it comes down to.” They won’t go to a bowl game so the game Friday is a big one for them. If they can force turnovers they may have a shot. I don’t think it will happen but I do think they’ll use the electric atmosphere of this game to keep it interesting for a while. In the end Cards have too much talent on both ends of the ball and will prevail.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 45 UCONN 10

Teddy Bridgewater said after the Cardinals heartbreaking loss to UCF last Friday “This is college football. Anything can happen. We’ll keep our heads up.” “You can’t live in a loss. One loss doesn’t ruin the whole season.” He is right and the Cards will have to shake off that loss quick as they prepare to meet the University of South Florida Bulls on Saturday at high noon on ESPN2. This rivalry has added some sparks in recent years and now it looks like both could possibly be battling it out for the conference title this season. Both of these schools also have the best young coaches in college football with Charlie Strong and Willie Taggart. Coach Taggart has brought a blue collar type football mentality to South Florida and with the talent on that roster they will be a tough win on their home field. They will also be looking at this game as their chance to make history. They are 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 2003 and have an opportunity to do something no other USF team has done since the program started playing football, get to 3-0 in league play. The USF and Louisville series is tied at 5-5 with Louisville winning the last two games including a 27-25 victory last year in Papa Johns Stadium.

Charlie Strong Previews USF

The Bulls have had to break in new quarterbacks and many unknown skill players for them to share the ball with as they have tried to move forward from the worst season in the program’s 16 year history. The quarterback situation at USF has been one of the hotter topics surrounding the Bulls this season. The Bulls return two veteran quarterbacks this year with senior Bobby Eveld and sophomore Matt Floyd, while adding Penn State transfer Steven Bench. Matt Floyd lost USF’s starting quarterback job during the season opener, and Bobby Eveld was replaced by Bench in the first quarter against FAU. Bench went out with a leg injury against Cincy.
Taggart has now made Senior quarterback Bobby Eveld his main priority again and has said that he will continue to be his guy going forward. Eveld is a 6-5 gunslinger who takes care of the ball and has 433 yards with two touchdowns on the season. Running back Marcus Shaw had been the focus of this unproven offense out of the gate but also went out in the Cincy game with a leg injury. He has 552 yards this season with two touchdowns. If he can’t go against the Cards on Saturday it will be Michael Pierre who gets the call. He has just 116 yards on the season with no touchdowns. Andre Davis is the top returning wideout for the Bulls and he has 270 yards with one touchdown. The entire offensive line saw action at times last year and are a experienced group so they should provide reliable protection up front for the skill players. Louisville’s defense struggled last Friday and had their worst outing of the season. They should be able to get things going again Saturday against this USF offense as it is a very inconsistent and thin group.

“We understand there is a challenge with the University of Louisville coming in here. They’re a really talented football team in every aspect,” Taggart said Tuesday.

The USF defense has made a huge leap over the past couple of weeks and it can be contributed to Coach Taggart simplifying the defensive game plan. It has allowed the group to play loose and to make plays. The Bulls’ defense has scored a touchdown off a turnover in three straight games, while ranking 17th in the FBS in fumble recoveries (7) and 37th in the nation in total turnovers (13). Turnovers really hurt the Cardinals offense last Friday night and they will have to protect the ball against this USF group. They play really fast and fly all over the field. Teddy and company will be hungry to get back in the win column Saturday and I look for this to be a very good battle between these units.

“UCF played amazing defense,” USF defensive tackle Todd Chandler said. “They didn’t quit when Louisville punched them in the mouth. They didn’t blink an eye. They just kept coming back fighting and I know that’s what South Florida is going to do. We’re not going to blink.”

A few weeks ago this looked like a game on the schedule that wouldn’t create any major problems for the Cardinals. But after the loss Friday night and the fact that USF has won their first two conference games has made this one very interesting. Will the Cardinals be able to move past the loss and not have it linger? And can USF use their momentum to pull off the upset? I do think the Cards will get it rolling again and I don’t think this USF group can generate enough offense to keep up. It won’t be as easy as I would have predicted weeks ago.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 31 USF 10

When Cardinal fans were looking over the schedule at the beginning of the season there were a few games that stood out from the rest. One of those games will take place under the Friday Night lights of Papa Johns Stadium this week when the University of Central Florida Knights come to town for an AAC showdown. Just like last week this game will have the prime-time spot at 8PM on ESPN, and will give our Cardinals a chance to shine in front of a national audience. Louisville leads the series against UCF 1-0, and won the only game that has been played between these teams 42 to 21 back in 1985. This Friday will also be the 100th game played at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. Since the 1998 opening, the Cardinals are 74-25 in the oven.

Coach Strong Previews UCF

(Video Courtesy @TheCrunchZone

There are a lot of gifted athletes in the state of Florida and several of them are playing at Central Florida. This is a really solid football team. After a ten win season in 2012 including a Bowl victory the Knights have started off this season 4-1 with an impressive road win at Penn State. There only loss coming at the hands of then 12th ranked South Carolina by three points.

The UCF offense is a good one and features one of the AAC’s top quarterbacks in Blake Bortles. The 6 foot 4 junior has thrown for 1334 yards and nine touchdowns this season. He is second behind Teddy in passing efficiency at 144.5 and is sixth in passing yards a game 218.5. Bortles will throw to five of his top six receivers from last year, including top three targets Breshad Perriman, J.J. Worton and Rannell Hall. Perriman leads the group with 397 yards and one touchdown. Hall is second with 373 yards and three touchdowns. These two have combined for five 100-yard receiving games this season. Worton has 177 yards and 3 touchdowns. Josh Reese, Jeff Godfrey also have over a 100 yards on the season. To say this team is a threat through the air is an understatement. They have a fast, veteran, athletic group in the receiving corps.
The Knights were tasked with replacing 1,000 yard rusher Latavius Murray this season and Storm Johnson has answered the call with 455 yards and accounting for 7 of the teams 19 touchdowns.
Blocking up front for these guys, the Knights return three of their starting lineman from a year ago. Since giving up four to Akron in the season opener, the offensive line has held FIU (one), Penn State (zero), South Carolina (two) and Memphis (one) to only four sacks in the last four outings.
The Louisville defense put on a clinic Thursday night and will need another solid outing in this one to contain this good offensive group. The 2nd ranked Cardinal defense is surrendering 7.3 points (leads FBS) and 229.5 yards per outing and have racked up 23 sacks in 2013 with 8 in the last game. The Cards defensive ends Marcus Smith and Lorenzo Mauldin both rank among the nation’s best. Mauldin has a team best seven sacks and thats tied for fifth best in the nation. Smith’s six sacks place him in a tie for eighth in the country. Getting to Bortles Friday will be key and these two will be up for the challenge. It should be fun watching these units go after each other.

The Knights were one of the top defenses in the country in multiple statistical categories last year and are again this season. This unit is anchored by linebacker Terrance Plummer, safety Clayton Geathers, and defensive back Jacoby Glenn. Plummer led the Knights in tackles in the first four games, has 40 tackles on the season including a leading 5 for loss. Geathers has collected 228 tackles during his career, including 42 in 2013 and Glenn is tied for 22nd in the nation by averaging 1.4 passes defended a game (six break-ups, one interception). That also is good for second in The American.
Up front, the Knights return a strong unit and they had five sacks in the win at Memphis. They have been a handful for opposing offensive lines. This UCF defensive group has five picks and seven fumble recoveries this year, and stands plus-7 in turnover margin. That margin ranks tied for sixth in the FBS. They rank 11th in the country and second in the league in fumbles recovered.
In the win over Rutgers the Cards 16th ranked offense had a 300-yard passer, 100-yard receiver, and a 100-yard rusher. Teddy and company are averaging 41.0 points and 505.3 yards per game, and rank first in college football in third-down conversion percentage (63.6). I don’t see them having too many problems solving the riddle of this UCF defense, but it won’t be easy.

This could end up being the best game of the season and things could get very interesting on Friday night. UCF looks at this season as their one opportunity to grab that elusive automatic BCS bid and they know that road leads through Louisville. They have had extra time to prepare for the Cardinals during their bye week and will come into this game ready to go. I look for this to be an instant classic and a battle all the way. I give the Cards the advantage with a rowdy home crowd, a Heisman Quarterback, and the nations 2nd best defense. Our Cards will be 7-0 after this week.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 33 UCF 24

It will be Thursday night lights this week for the Louisville football team as they face possibly their toughest opponent of the season, and just maybe the toughest team on the schedule period. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are coming to town and I don’t need to remind Cardinal fans about all the big games with these guys over the past few years. I still get a sick feeling in my stomach just thinking about that field goal kick in 2006. They have written many stories about that game. And fast forward to that heroic performance by Teddy QB in the game last year. I wrote a story about that game. This rivalry has changed people’s lives on and off the field. It always seems to come down to big plays and big moments. This will be the last year Rutgers will be on the schedule as we both will go our separate ways after this season. It will be bitter sweet. It may also be déjà vu as they will have this one circled on their schedule and would love nothing more than to knock the Cardinal’s out of BCS title contention once again. This will be the ninth consecutive season these teams have done battle. Rutgers leads this series 7 to 5 but it is the Cardinals who have won the last three including a heart pounding victory last year in New Jersey 20-17.

Coach Strong talks Rutgers:

(Video courtesy @TheCrunchZone)

Leading the Rutgers offense against our Cardinals Thursday night is Junior Quarterback Gary Nova. Nova recently became the sixth Rutgers quarterback to throw for 5,000 career yards in their win over Arkansas. He also took over third all-time with 46 passing touchdowns. Nova now has four games with at least 300 yards passing in his career and he is they key to this teams success. They only go as far as he takes them. Louisville’s defensive front will have to get pressure on him and not let him get in a rhythm with his very athletic and gifted receivers.
The Scarlet Knights hired former K-State coach Ron Prince to run the offense and have had a more of an aerial attack this season. They always seem to have big, athletic and gifted receivers. This year is no different as Nova’s top targets fit that bill. 6-6 Tyler Kroft, 6-6 Brandon Coleman and 6-1 Leonte Carroo have combined for over 750 yards this season. This trio is also responsible for 11 of the teams 23 touchdowns this season. The Louisville secondary will be tested all night long in what will be their toughest challenge of the season.
Rutgers ground game took a hit a couple of weeks ago when leading rusher Junior running back Paul James went down with a lower leg injury. He missed their last game and is expected to miss the game Thursday. They will count on their second-leading rusher Savon Huggins to carry the load. The former four star recruit finished second on the team last year and has 186 yards with one touchdown this season. Freshman running back Justin Goodwin could also see several carries as he had a huge outing against SMU with 149 yards and two touchdowns.
Making room for these skill guys the O-line remains mostly intact and is anchored by all-big east left guard Antwan Lowery. This will be the battle of the year so far for the Louisville defense.

Rutgers defense was very solid last year, holding opponents to 15 points or less in 75% of their games. They are ranked 51st so far this season giving up 27 points a game, and their run defense is very solid ranked 3rd in the nation only giving up 70 yards a game. They lost their locker room leader Khaseem Greene, but defensive tackle Darius Hamilton who is the highest ranked recruit in Rutgers history has been there to fill any voids. They also have safety Lorenzo Waters who is one of the best secondary players in the conference and has 25 tackles this season. This defensive group for Rutgers will be the biggest challenge of the season for our running backs and with DeVante Parker questionable for Thursday night with a shoulder injury it won’t be a cake walk in the passing game either.

Louisville is in desperate need for a signature win to remain in the top 10 and in contention for a major Bowl game. Thursday will be the first chance for that. Rutgers is a very formidable foe and they are going to come into Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium with nothing but beating the Cardinals on their minds. This will be a battle between the top contenders for the AAC crown and I’m glad we got number 5 on our side line because he is going to be the difference in this one. The Cards will be 6-0 after this week but it’s not going to be easy.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 41 Rutgers 34

After a bye-week our Cardinals are ready to get back into action and will travel to Philadelphia PA to play the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field. Unfortunately it will be another noon kick-off and the game can be seen on ESPN3. The Cardinals and the Owls have played six times in their history with the Owls winning the first three and our Cardinals taking the last three including a 45 to 17 victory last November in Louisville. This will be the first AAC game for Louisville and the second for Temple. They lost 22 to 13 to Houston a few weeks ago and are 0-4 to start the season.

Coach Strong Temple Press Conference:

The Owls have a young group with some starters who return from last season and are transitioning into a new style of play with new head coach Matt Rhule. Rhule was previously the assistant offensive line coach for the New York Giants. Prior to that, he spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Temple, serving as the offensive coordinator under former Owls head coach Al Golden from 2008 to 2010.

Leading Rhule’s pro-style offense is junior quarterback Connor Reilly. Reilly is a strong armed, efficient passer and fits well in this system. He has thrown for 746 yards with two touchdowns through their first four games. He played a really good game in their opener against Notre Dame but has been inconsistent this season while nursing a sore knee. Reilly has a couple of targets that have emerged in Ryan Alderman who leads the team in receiving with 221 yards, one touchdown and Jalen Fitzpatrick who has 119 yards. Leading the Owls rushing attack is Kenneth Harper with 222 yards and 6 touchdowns. Zaire Williams is the second leading rusher with 219 yards, but left their game against Idaho with a leg injury. Reilly is the third leading rusher on this team with over a 100 yards and one touchdown. The Cards defense has had trouble with mobile QB,s in the past and they’ll get their shot at one again this weekend. The Owls will have several young guys up front trying to make room for their skill players. Lorenzo Mauldin and company haven’t been too friendly to the other offensive fronts they have faced this season, so that spells trouble for the Owls. This Temple offense has struggled to score points this season and facing one of the best defenses in the country is not going to help them any.

Things don’t really get much better on the defensive side of the ball for this football team. They have struggled to get any kind of pass rush and a team that struggled mightily in stopping the run last season is giving up over 190 yards a game so far this season. The Owls return nobody of note in the secondary this season and that has resulted in them giving up over 300 yards a game through the air. They do have one guy that stands out on the defensive side of the ball in Sophomore linebacker Tyler Matakevich who totaled a school-record 24 tackles in there last game. But it will take more than one guy to stop the high powered Cards offense. I look for a Teddy and company to put up some more big numbers this weekend in PA.

The Owls have dropped 10 of their past 14 and they are a struggling football program right now. They even made it on ESPN’s “Bottom Ten” list this past week. They are struggling to find out what kind of football team they are and I don’t think they’ll figure it out this week against our Cards. The guys in Vegas have the Cards by 30+ and I’d say that’s about right as it should be a blowout in Philly.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 48 Temple 6

Our Cardinals are rolling right along during the early part of this college football season and will take a 3-0 record into week four. The Cards really haven’t been challenged yet and I don’t think that will change on Saturday when the Florida International Panthers come to town for a noon kickoff. The game won’t be televised but you can watch it on ESPN 3. The Cardinals and Panthers have battled on the gridiron two times in the past and the series is tied at 1-1. FIU came to Louisville on September 9th 2011 and beat the Cardinals 24 to 17. Last year it was the Cardinals who claimed victory down in Miami beating the Panthers 28-21.

The best way to sum up this FIU program is by using the word “raw”. They are in complete rebuild mode with a new coach, new players and a new league. Their new coach is Ron Turner, the ex-Illinois coach who spent the last eight seasons in the NFL before returning to the college game. And they moved from the Sun Belt to Conference USA. The Panthers are 0-3 to start their season and are hungry for that first win of the year.

FIU has some decent players at their skill positions. Leading Ron Turner’s pro style West Coast offense will be junior quarterback Jake Medlock. He has passed for 300 yards and one touchdown this season. Medlock did sustain a concussion last weekend against Bethune-Cookman. Should Medlock not be able to play, sophomore E.J. Hilliard would start in his place. Hilliard has completed 10 of 13 passes this season in relief duty, totaling 75 yards. Coach Turner said Medlock was day-to-day, and he refused to rule him out for Saturday’s game.
The primary targets have been sophomore WR T.J. Lowder, sophomore WR Fred Porter, and freshman TE Jonnu Smith. These three have combined for 300 yards and two TDs this season. At 6-2 and 6-3 Porter and Smith are a prototypically sized starting receiver corps for this system. The receiving group is the deepest group on this team.
One of the expected foundations in a rebuilding season for FIU’s football team was Kedrick Rhodes. He was destined to be that schools all-time leading rusher. All that before he was dismissed from the team for firing a gun on campus. Taking over the running back workload are sophomore Lamarq Caldwell, and freshman Alfonso Randolph. These guys have combined for 62 carries for over 180 yards so far this season. As I mentioned above this FIU team has several great young raw athletes in the skill positions. Unfortunately for this offense they also have a raw offensive front; the Panthers are breaking in five new starters along the line. This group is going to struggle against a tough Cardinal defense to have enough room and time to operate. Charles Gaines, Preston Brown and Lorenzo Mauldin should be more than up for this challenge and I look for the Louisville defense to impose their will Saturday.

FIU’s defense lost its star end, two leading figures at tackle, the entire starting linebacker corps and three starters in the secondary. This defense will rely heavily on the group up front. They have a big and versatile defensive front led by senior tackles Isame Faciane and Greg Hickman. They also have two very good DE’s in Giovani Francois and Paul Crawford. They will help in keeping a Cardinal running game from going wild, but our Cardinals will face an inexperienced secondary this weekend in Papa Johns Stadium and will likely look to take advantage early and often. I don’t see a way FIU holds Teddy and company under 400 yards through the air.

The Cardinals are a 40 plus favorite in this game and the bottom line here is FIU’s youth and inexperience. They have been exploited in every game they’ve played this season and that won’t change Saturday. If you are a rebuilding football team the last thing you want to see on the schedule this year is that Cardinal head. It’s going to be a long day for Florida International. And should be a great opportunity for Louisville to work on some things before the schedule gets tougher.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 55 FIU 6

The bitter banter has heated up this summer between UK and Louisville fans. Perhaps the “Year of the Cardinal” has made it hotter than ever. We have had twitter wars, Facebook wars, and even had a movie made, but now its time for the gridiron version of “The Battle of the Bluegrass” to take center stage. Both programs will be on display for the nation to watch 12:00pm Saturday on ESPN. The build up for this game has been as big as ever. UK leads the all-time series 14-11, but Louisville has won the last two. Louisville has lead the series since 1994 with a record of 11-8. Our Cards are the heavy favorites in this one and victory will be sweet. I can’t wait to yell Yahtzee every time we get in the end-zone that day. Its Louisville versus Kentucky and possibly the most important game on our schedule from the fan perspective. With a 32-14 win last year the Cardinals will be looking for their 3rd in a row over the Cats. The last time UofL won three in a row in this series was in 2003 through 2005. Since the inception of the Governor’s Cup in 1994, each team has recorded a maximum of a four-game winning streak with Louisville winning from 2003-06 and Kentucky taking the Cup home from 2007-10. The Cards go into this game listed as a double-digit favorite by many of the Las Vegas sports books.

(Video Courtesy @TheCrunchZone)

Kentucky and new head coach Mark Stoops will have one of the best recruiting classes in the nation coming to Lexington next year but that won’t help them much Saturday. This Saturday the Louisville defense will face Kentucky’s air raid offense, but see a significant commitment to the run game as well. Their quarterback controversy seems to be settled for now as it looks like Maxwell Smith will be the man under center for the Wildcats. Smith has seen the most action throughout his career at Kentucky and it is clear that he is a leader for that group when he’s on the field. He has thrown for over 2000 yards in his career with 16 touchdowns and last year was able to move the ball down the field against Louisville. They just had trouble sustaining those drives and converting on third downs. I think he will be a solid threat on Saturday and will challenge the Cardinal defense with short passes in the flats and middle of the field. He will be looking to complete a good percentage of his passes, and will rely on tailbacks Jonathan George and Raymond Sanders to provide support in the running game. These guys will also catch passes. On Saturday Stoops will also use tight ends as receivers in different formation sets, and he is blessed with a group of four senior tight ends eager to get on the field. Leading the way in this group will be Anthony Kendrick. The Louisville defense is much quicker and more talented than this Kentucky offensive group but their creativity will keep our guys on their toes. The Louisville defense will have to play disciplined football. I look for defensive lineman Roy Philon, defensive end Lorenzo Mauldin, and Safety Calvin Pryor to be standout performers. Philon is a Lexington native who is returning home for vengeance, Mauldin is looking for vengeance every weekend and Pryor will be the fastest guy on the field.

(Video Courtesy HeraldLeaderVideos)

Looking to slow down Teddy and company are the Wildcats top three leading tacklers from the 2012 season, senior LB Avery Williamson who racked up 135 tackles last year, which was second in the SEC; junior DE Alvin Dupree who managed 91 tackles last year, and junior Miles Simpson who recorded 70 tackles at weak side linebacker. I think Stoops will pick his poison when it comes to Louisville’s high octane offense. He will load the box with 8 or nine guys to stop the run and hope that Teddy and his receiving group have an off day. The Kentucky defense up front will be mostly returning starters, and they will be helping out the young secondary as much as possible. They lost a starting safety and corner to graduation. To be frank their DB’s are flat out horrible and it should be a big day for Teddy, Parker,Copeland,Clark, and Christian. Michael Dyer also moved up on the depth chart this week and I think he’s very capable of a breakout game due to his pass catching ability out of the backfield.

The Cardinal’s will have to be much better in their kickoff and punt coverage this weekend. This is one area where this team has struggled. Kentucky’s return guys will be the fastest and most talented group the Cards have faced in this early season. A few break away touchdowns here could swing the momentum enough in a game like this to result in a major upset. This I my main concern for this game.

Other than my concern for special teams I don’t think the “Battle for the Bluegrass” will be much of a battle but it could be pretty competitive, especially early on. Emotions will be running high like they always are in this game. These emotions can make up for deficiencies early in sports competitions but ultimately the better team will usually prevail. I don’t think that there is any question who the better team is here. The Cards ability and their execution is on a different level. I do think that our arch rivals are on the road to that in the future but their program is at the first stage of being rebuilt and the score board will reflect that on Saturday afternoon.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 38 Kentucky 17

The Beak’s Prediction for the
Howard Schnellenberger Award:

My prediction for the award this year is WR DeVante Parker who will finish with 160 yards receiving with 3 TD’s. I believe he will win this award for his ability to take over this game. He should be able to have his way in a very poor UK secondary.

The 2010 game was the inaugural year for the award. The award is given to the Most Valuable Player of the game. It is named for Howard Schnellenberger, who played under Bear Bryant for Kentucky and coached at Louisville.
Previous winners:

-(9-04-2010) Derrick Locke, RB@ Kentucky had 23 Carries, 104 Yards, for 2 TD’s
-(9-17-2011) Dexter Heyman, LB@ Louisville had 12 Tackles & 1 Forced Fumbles
-(9-02-2012) Teddy Bridgewater Louisville QB 19/21, 232 Yards

Weather Forecast For Kickoff:

The first game of the season has set the bar high for the Louisville Football program both from a fan standpoint and a team standpoint. The first home game against Ohio had a very “Big Time” atmosphere and I’m hoping that can be maintained throughout the entire football season. With game one in the books it’s now time to look to the Cardinal’s next opponent the EKU Colonels.

The EKU program is one of the most tradition rich in the state of Kentucky and although they are still working to get back to the level they were when the legendary Roy Kidd walked the sideline they still play some very competitive football in Richmond. The Colonels have had the highest winning percentage in the OVC over the past ten years at .772 and have won 21 titles in that league. They have also won two FCS National Championships. They are currently ranked #21 in the FCS. The Colonels and Cardinals have played each other 26 times from 1927-2010 and Louisville leads the series with a record of 17-8-1. The last time EKU beat Louisville was during the 1985 season and they won that game in Louisville 45 to 21. These two teams last played each other in 2010 with Louisville prevailing in that contest, 23 to 13. Dean Hood is the head man at EKU and has been the Colonels coach since 2008. He was the Defensive Coordinator at Wake Forest prior to coming to EKU and went up against Bobby Petrino’s Louisville offense in the 2007 Orange Bowl.

There are lots of new faces that will fill the Eastern Kentucky depth chart heading into the game on Saturday as 11 starters from the 2012 squad were seniors including three key positions on offense quarterback, running back and wide receiver. Hood is a coach that believes in the run and EKU’s rushing average has improved for four straight years. The Colonels averaged 205.7 yards per game on the ground in 2012, their highest since 2002. Redshirt freshman JJ Jude and redshirt freshman Jared Sanders will get the bulk of the carries. They combined for 103 yards last week. Junior Jared McClain is the man under center for EKU and he had a solid debut last week throwing for 155 yards and two touchdowns. His top targets are senior TE Nathan Watts, senior WR Ike Ariguzo, and sophomore WR Joel Brown. Eight players had at least one reception as this group combined for 194 yards and two touchdowns last week. Again this week the size, speed and agility of the Louisville defense will have no problem taking care of this EKU offensive group. Just not in the same league. They will be having nightmares after seeing Lorenzo Mauldin all day.

The front seven in EKU’s 4-3 defense has the look to be one of the best in Dean Hood’s six years as head coach. Five of the seven are returning starters and three earned All-OVC honors a year ago. Eastern’s defense led the conference in points allowed (21.7 ppg) and rushing defense (108.2 ypg) one year ago. This group limited Robert Morris to 2 of 12 on third-down conversions last week. But we’ll see if the veteran group can pose any sort of a challenge to one of the deepest offensive college football teams in the country. Teddy and company didn’t have any trouble at all with the Ohio defensive group, but to be fair they did replace their entire defensive front. The Colonels group will be more experienced so they might pose more of a challenge.

EKU Coach Dean Hood: “We appreciate the opportunity to play Louisville,” “It’s not too many times you can say you are going to play a top-10 FBS team. We are going to show up and play the game.”

This is not the same program that was filling Roy Kidd stadium when “The Beak” was on campus in the early 90’s and its definitely not the same Louisville program the Colonels beat back in 1985. This will be the best Louisville team that EKU has seen in the series and the scoreboard will reflect that. The Cardinals are favored by 40 in this one but it could end up much worse. Gonna be a long day for my Alma Mater.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 67 EKU 3

On Sunday all of the speculation will stop and the rubber will meet the road as a new football season begins. It will be the most anticipated start to a season in recent history as the Ohio University Bobcats come to town. The Cardinals don’t have much history with this team and the two have only met four times on the gridiron. The record in this series that ran from 1956-1959 is tied at 2-2 with Ohio winning the last game in that series 22 to 15. Here we are 54 years later and the Cards and Bobcats will face each other for the 5th time in their history and the game will be one of just two Sunday games of opening weekend, as kickoff is scheduled for 3:30pm Eastern time, on ESPN.

Coach Strong: “So it’s not so much that we have to worry about the opponent, but let’s worry about ourselves and let’s take it game by game, which we will, but let’s make sure that as a player, that we’re getting better and we’re giving every effort and everything we have to give to make this program a good program.”

The Bobcats have become a popular pick to upset our Cards on opening weekend but usually by folks who are casual in their sports knowledge. Don’t get me wrong, I think that they have a very good program. They will come to Louisville believing they can win. Ohio coach Frank Solich is very good and in his eight seasons has raised the level of play in Athens. They started out 7-0 last year and went to Penn State and got a big win to start their season. They will also be riding the high of winning the Independence Bowl. They return their three main threats on offense in big play Quarterback Tyler Tettleton who had over 3000 yards last season, running back Beau Blankenship who carried the ball 312 times for over 1600 yards, and wide receiver Donte Foster who had 59 receptions for over 650 yards. These guys helped their team average 32 points a game last season. The offense is solid but they will have some issues up front on their offensive line where they lost three starters. This will be a good opening test for the Louisville defense but the athleticism of our guys will take over here and rule the day. The speed of our safety’s will lock down their receivers and our defensive line will get to Tettleton all day against their newly formed offensive line. They will run the ball a lot and our linebackers will be up to the challenge.

The biggest problem for the Bobcats on Sunday will be keeping our high powered offense out of the end zone. They allowed 390 yards and 25 points a game last year and lost six starters off of that defense including their entire defensive line. They have no real experience returning up front. They will basically be counting on two guys to lead their new make shift defense. Line backer Keith Moore who had 98 tackles last season and safety Josh Kristoff who had 60 tackles last season will have their hands full. My guess here is that Teddy QB, Devante Parker, Damian Copeland and company will play toss and catch all day on the Bobcats secondary while our five headed monster running back group lead by Senorise Perry will pour it on that newly formed defensive front.

I guess its fun for some folks to think that a team like Ohio could come in and knock off the #9 team in the country. But it’s just not a realistic conclusion to the Cardinals opening contest. There are many challenges that face our guys on the football slate this year, but this is just not one of them. These guys aren’t in the same league. They just aren’t… Louisville opens up as 20.5 point favorites but I think it will be much worse than that for the Bobcats.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 51 Ohio 13

(Photo GoCards.com)

The 2013 University of Louisville football season began last Monday evening when the players reported to camp at 6 p.m. When we last saw our football team on the field, they were beating the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl, earning the program’s second BCS victory. They will be looking to carry the momentum from that great season finale into the 2013 season. They will start the 2013 campaign ranked in the top 10 in the coaches poll, unanimous choice to win the AAC and a bona fide BCS championship candidate. On Tuesday and Wednesday the Cards had their open practices for fans to get a look at the team before the doors close and the real work begins. Below is some photos of this years group I shot during Wednesday nights practice. I have also added my breakdown of the season ahead.

The Cards finished the 2012 season ranked 52nd in the nation on offense averaging 31.2 points a game. With the fire power returning this year I expect this offense to put up huge numbers and quite possibly surpass their points per game average last season as they go against some shaky secondaries. Louisville’s offensive attack this season will be lead by our Heisman candidate Teddy Bridgewater. He turned in a stellar 2012 season throwing for over 3700 yards and 27 touchdowns and is sure to be a headache for opposing defenses again this season.

The Cards finished last season ranked 24th in the nation in passing yards averaging 296.1 yards a game. 70.7 percent of Louisville’s yards came from the passing game, the 15th-highest total in the country. Louisville had one of the best passing teams last year and will return one of the most talented and deepest group of receivers in the nation this season. They will be led by DeVante Parker who had 744 yards and 10 touchdowns last season and Damian Copeland who had 628 yards and 2 touchdowns last season. QB Teddy Bridgewater will have plenty of targets at his disposal with returning players Eli Rodgers and former starter Michaelee Harris along with the talented group of newcomers Tennessee transfer Matt Milton, Florida transfers Gerald Christian, Robert Clark and five-star recruit from Louisville Trinity James Quick.

The Cards finished last season ranked 105th in the country in rushing averaging 122.2 yards a game. The rushing attack will need to step up with the departure of Jeremy Wright. Wright accounted for 824 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. They return a stable of backs that should be able to make up for that production. The Cards will be led by Senorise Perry who had 705 yards and 11 touchdowns last season before he was sidelined with an injury. He is rehabbed and will hopefully return to the line-up. The rushing game will also look for heavy production from Dominique Brown who carried for over 500 yards in 2011 before missing last year with an injury. He has lost weight and gained muscle during his rehab year making him more explosive. He has also had the chance to learn more about the blocking schemes and where he should run making him more effective. Also competing for time this season will be Brandon Radcliff and Corvin Lamb two guys that had a great springs. Oh yea, and there’s that one guy who was added recently Michael Dyer. The kid was a beast at Auburn and is a proven winner. But until he earns his way into the rotation he’s still a question mark. He’s been out of football for a year.

The main losses off of the offense from last season are along the offensive line with the departures of tight ends Andrell Smith and Nate Nord, tackle Alex Kupper and center Mario Benavides.
Mario was big at the center spot and captained all of the calls for the offense. He will be replaced by Jake Smith who had a great spring and the coaches have full confidence in him stepping up to the challenge.
Kupper will be the toughest of the three to replace as he could play all five positions. And that’s one of the things that made him stand out to the NFL scouts. Jamon Brown will be the guy that try’s to fill his shoes and coaches believe that he has the skill set to do it and just lacks the experience.
Smith and Nord were fly under the radar type guys last season and the coaching staff was able to do some very creative things with them on offense. They will be missed but there are still some very good players at that position to fill there spots. BJ Butler and Ryan Hubbell will need to step up.

Charlie Strong is the man with the ultimate defensive plan. He has defense running through his veins and was the man behind all those great defenses at Florida when they won their national titles. Louisville’s defense has grown leaps and bounds over the last couple of seasons and continues to improve. In 2012, the Cardinals finished 12th against the pass nationally, 48th against the run, and finished ranked 23rd overall with opponents averaging 24.8 points a game on them. As more speed and athleticism is recruited to this program from the sunshine state look for these numbers to improve.
The center piece of this years defense is in the secondary where the Cards have two grizzled veterans in safeties Calvin Pryor and Hakeem Smith, both combined for over 170 tackles last season. Leading the charge at the second level are linebackers Preston Brown (2012 Big East Defensive Player of the year candidate) and Keith Brown (2012 Freshman All-American). Preston lead the Cards in tackles with 109 and Keith had 57 tackles. The guys holding down the defensive line are lead by Marcus Smith who had 29 tackles with 4 sacks last year, and Brandon Dunn who had 28 tackles with 2 sacks last year. I look for Lorenzo Mauldin to also have a big year. He had 22 tackles last season and lead the team in sacks with 4.5. The Cards did lose a great defensive player in Adrian Bushell. He was a quality cover man and strong presence in the locker room.

On Special teams John Wallace will be called on to continue his consistency in the kicking game. He knocked in all 14 attempts from 40 yards or closer last year including a heroic game winner in the “Keg of Nails” battle. Like most seasons punt return and kick return teams will be fairly open competition this summer with a few candidates vying for those slots. I think Kai De La Cruz will be called on for the punt return duties.

Cardinal fans we are less than 4 weeks from kickoff and a lot of things could change from my projections above. Coach Charlie Strong will make each one of these young men earn the reps and field time they get. And they will all be battling for that time. One thing is for certain, and you can guarantee that our coaching staff will have these guys ready to go when that ball is kicked on September 1st.