With all that has happened this week the College Football season has taken a back seat. That boring performance by the Cardinals last Friday Night didn’t help much either. Saturday afternoon Louisville Football will take center stage again. The Cardinals will have a chance to become Bowl eligible for the seventh straight year and have another shot at getting that quality type performance to help bolster a playoff resume if that were to come into play. I think that is a long shot at this point but all it takes is one crazy weekend to change everything.
The Cardinals will welcome the NC State Wolfpack into Papa John’s Stadium on Saturday. This will be the seventh meeting between the two schools, with the Cardinals owning a 5-1 series advantage and have won two in a row over the Wolfpack. Its Homecoming weekend in Louisville and this should help add a little spark. That and a very competitive NC State team should provide much entertainment in this game.
NC State was a field goal away from upsetting Clemson last weekend and will look to ride that wave of emotion into Louisville on Saturday. The Wolfpack is the only team in the FBS this season that has the privilege of facing top 10 teams on the road in back to back games. They are one of six FBS squads that have had back-to-back top 10 opponents this season, but the only one that has faced both on the road. They have not beaten a Top 10 team since 2012.
Leading the Wolfpack offense is QB Ryan Finley. He is completing 64.9 percent of his passes for 1,272 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions. Finley has just three touchdown passes in his last three games. Finley’s favorite targets are WR Stephen Louis and TE Jaylen Samuels who have combined for 650 receiving yards and five touchdowns this season. WR Kelvin Harmon has 10 receptions for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The NC State offensive line has been a solid unit for them this season. They call themselves the Band of Brothers. It is a group that has yielded just nine sacks in 2016, and is helping senior running back Matt Dayes have one of the best seasons in school history. Dayes enters the game Saturday ranked third in the ACC and 18th in the FBS in rushing with 111.5 yards per game. He has 669 yards and four touchdowns on the season. The NC State Wolfpack ground game is averaging 186.1 yards a game.
Tasked with slowing down the NC State offense is a Louisville defense that is allowing 24.3 points and 309.8 yards per game this season. One of the keys to Louisville’s defensive success has been getting off of the field on third down. The Cardinals are 11th in the country, holding opponents to just 26-of-89 for a 29.2 percent conversion rate. However, in the last two games, opponents are 12-of- 25 on third down, including Duke, which was 8-of-16 for 50.0 percent. I hope this little trend ends on Saturday or it could be a long day with NC State’s ability to run the ball.
It has been some of the usual suspects getting it done on the defensive side of the ball for the Cardinals. Josh Harvey-Clemons leads the Louisville Cardinals with 45 tackles, and Keith Kelsey has 43 tackles. While James Hearns has 5.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. Jaire Alexander has made some big plays with 21 tackles and three interceptions. Devonte Fields has 27 tackles and two sacks this season but has just 7 tackles in the last two games. I would really like to see him get back on track Saturday. There has been some other guys step up this season on this side of the ball. Tackle Drew Bailey had 11 much needed tackles to help the Cardinals pull out that snoozer last Friday.
Duke played stall ball last Friday and that did slow down the Cardinals high powered offensive attack but it has yet to be stopped. Lamar Jackson is completing 58.2 percent of his passes for 1,806 yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions. He has seven touchdown passes in his last three games. The top targets in the Cardinals passing attack has been James Quick and Jamari Staples who have combined for 890 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Continuing to emerge as one of the biggest weapons for the Cardinals Cole Hikutini has 21 receptions for 275 yards and three touchdowns. The Cardinals ground game is averaging 305.6 yards per contest behind Brandon Radcliff (534 yards, 3 touchdowns), Jeremy Smith (217 yards, 5 touchdowns) and Jackson who leads the way with 832 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Trying to slow down the Heisman Trophy leader and this Louisville offensive attack is a NC State defense that is allowing 18.7 points and 315.7 yards per game. Leading their defensive unit is safety Josh Jones with 53 tackles and 1 interception. Defensive end Bradley Chubb has 25 tackles with five sacks and Mike Stevens has 16 tackles with one interception. This is a solid unit for the Wolfpack and they will be another stiff test for Lamar and the Cardinals Saturday.
Like most of you that game last week put me to sleep and I hope we don’t see another one like it for the rest of the season. I think we will see a more exciting game this Saturday afternoon. I think the Cardinals are going to come out inspired and ready to put up some big numbers. The Wolfpack are coming off a very good performance in Death Valley and one that they should have won. They not only believe that they can play with the best in the ACC but now they know they can. They will challenge the Cardinals but I don’t think they have enough firepower to ruin the day. Should be a lot of train horns tomorrow. Go Cards!