Despite all of the basketball talk this week we are right in the middle of the college football season. Our Cardinals return to Papa John’s Stadium this week for another tough ACC game against Boston College. Louisville and Boston College will meet for the eighth time in school history, with the Cardinals owning a 4-3 series advantage. Louisville has won the last two games in the series, winning 38-19 in Chestnut Hills last season and 52-28 in Louisville during the 1998 season.
Coach Petrino and Reggie Bonnafon talk BC:
The Eagles have dropped three-straight games are 3-4 overall and 0-4 in the ACC after a 34-17 defeat at No. 5 Clemson last Saturday. The Cardinals are no strangers to the Eagles head man Steve Addazio as they also faced him when he was Temple’s head coach. He’s a very good coach who is affectionately referred to as “Vitamin A” because of his high-energy nature on the practice field, on game days and on the recruiting trail. He has the Eagles playing very good on defense. After seven games, Boston College is ranked fourth in the country allowing just 11.0 points per game and first against the run (51.7 ypg.) and first in total defense (196.1). The Eagles are also fifth nationally against the pass at 144.6 yards per game.
Through seven games, the Eagles have played three different quarterbacks this season, but freshman Jeff Smith seems to be the stand out completing 30.8 percent of his passes for 173 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Smith has 34 pass attempts in his last two games. His top targets Thadd Smith and Charlie Callinan have combined for 263 receiving yards and two touchdowns while Bobby Wolford has nine receptions for 80 yards. The Boston College Eagles ground game is averaging 206.1 yards per contest, and QB Jeff Smith leads the way with 270 yards and four touchdowns. RB Tyler Rouse has 249 yards with 5 touchdowns and RB Marcus Outlow has 241 yards with one touchdown.
Task with stopping a less than impressive Boston College offense is a Louisville defense that pretty much gave up during the second half last week against Florida State. There was talk of guys who just didn’t perform at the level they should have. I have to say that I’m surprised that the guys on the defensive side of the ball for Louisville didn’t perform to expectations as some of those guys are getting a second chance in college football with our program. Defensively, Louisville is allowing 23.7 points and 354.8 yards per game. James Burgess leads the Cardinals with 50 tackles, Chucky Williams, Trumaine Washington-and Josh Harvey have two interceptions and Sheldon Rankins has four sacks with 33 tackles. The former Big 12 defensive player of the year Devonte Fields was one of the players who appeared to lay down last week has 25 tackles and has vowed to give his best effort going forward. This Louisville defense has a lot of potential and they need to start living up to that during this final stretch of the regular season. If they don’t we will be staying home during bowl season.
The Louisville offense and offensive line put together their best effort of the season last week against Florida State. They need another solid performance and victory to climb out of a brutal 2-4 hole. Lamar Jackson is completing 54.5 percent of his passes for 905 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions on the season. Jackson has four touchdown passes in his last two games. In the receiving corps James Quick and Jaylen Smith lead the way for 523 receiving yards and four touchdowns while Micky Crum has 161 yards with 13 receptions. Devonte Peete has 150 yards with one touchdown, while Traveon Samuel has 136 yards and Ja’Quay Savage has 135 yards with one touchdown. The Cardinals ground game is averaging 152.8 yards per contest, and Jackson leads the way with 467 yards and five touchdowns. Brandon Radcliff has 265 yards with three touchdowns. This Cardinals offense is led by the youth movement as 52% of the all-purpose yards have been by freshmen, and 63% of the passing yards have been by freshman.
This Louisville offense will be facing one of their toughest challenges of the season as this Boston College defense is one of the best in the country. Defensively, Boston College is allowing 11 points and 196.3 yards per game. LB Steven Daniels leads the Eagles with 45 tackles, 3 sacks and one interception. LB Connor Strachan has 38 tackles, one sack and two interceptions and Matt Milano has 31 tackles with four sacks. They are really good up front and will pose a challenge for the Cardinals ground attack.
The Cardinals much like the fans were very dejected after last week’s disappointing loss to Florida State. A game like that can really zap the energy and the drive out of a football team. It is very hard to regroup after coming up short like that after a very good first half effort. I think that’s why a lot of folks are looking at the game Saturday against Boston College as one of those trap games. The outcome of this game will be determined by how these Cardinals come out of the locker room. Will they still have a hangover from a tough loss? I have total and complete confidence in our coaching staff and it is their job to make sure that doesn’t happen. I do think our guys will come out focused as they are still playing for a bowl game and still have a chance at finishing the season very strongly. This game will be a defensive slug-fest with our Cardinals winning a close one.
The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 23 Boston College 13