It has been a season of ups and downs for the Louisville football team. Through the first part of the schedule the Cardinals have adjusted on the fly with injuries to key players, offensive line woes and inconsistent QB play. This week they head into the meat of their schedule and finally have all of the key guys back to full strength and seem to have all of the kinks worked out on offense particularly the offensive line. This couldn’t have come at a better time as the Cardinals prepare to play one of the biggest games in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium that they’ve had in a long time.
On Thursday night the #2 ranked Florida State Seminoles come to town for a mid-week showdown with the Cardinals. They are arguably the best team in college football and will be riding a 23 game winning streak heading into this game. The Cardinals and Seminoles have played 14 times in their history. Florida State leads the series 12-2. Those two wins by Louisville came in the very first game between these teams and in the last meeting back in 2002. The Cardinals won that game 26-20 in what was then the biggest win in the programs history. On Thursday night the Cardinals will have another chance at getting another notch in their belt.
Florida State improved to 7-0 on the season after beating Notre Dame 31-27 at home two weeks ago. The Seminoles have beat Oklahoma State, Clemson, and Notre Dame. Florida State has not looked as dominate as they did a year ago, but they continue to find a way to win, and have a very deep football team with a lot of talent across the board. They have great players at all of their skill positions, offensive line, and defense. The Florida State defense ranks 29th in points against, allowing an average of 21.6 points per game. The Florida State offense ranks 19th in points scored, averaging just south of 38 points per contest.
The Seminoles have a pretty balanced offensive attack, but they do rely a lot on their passing game. Leading that attack is a guy who hasn’t lost a game as a starter and while he may not win any awards for chivalry Jameis Winston is one helluva QB. He has thrown for 1,878 yards with 13 touchdowns and 6 interceptions so far this season. Teams have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at him on defense with little or no avail. He’s even thriving against the blitz completing 67 percent of his passes against it this year.
Winston has a deep and talented group of Wide Receivers as targets who are lead by Senior WR Rashad Greene with 52 catches for 791 yards and 4 touchdowns. Wide receiver Jesus Wilson has 25 catches for 307 yards with 4 touchdowns, Tight End Nick O’Leary has 27 catches for 288 yards with 2 touchdowns, and Travis Rudolph who is a true freshman has really came on as of late with 232 receiving yards and two touchdowns this season. He had a breakout game against Notre Dame, with six catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. The vertical threat of this group is second to none in college football.
There’s a slight chance that the Seminoles will be without their leading rusher when they make the trip to Louisville Thursday due to some legal issues swarming around him, although Jimbo has said that he will play. He leads all rushers with 378 yards and 7 touchdowns and will be a big loss if he can’t play. Freshman Dalvin Cook who has 270 with 3 touchdowns, and Mario Pender who has 200 yards with 4 touchdowns are both very capable backups at the position.
FSU’s 2014 OVERALL FBS RANKINGS
-PASSING YARDS
316.7
14th
Overall
-RUSHING YARDS
125.9
104th
Overall
-POINTS FOR
37.9
19th
Overall
-POINTS AGAINST
21.6
29th
Overall
The Cardinals defense has allowed 13, 21, 10, and 18 points at home this season. They rank an impressive 4th in points against, allowing just an average of 14.6 points per game. They also boast the #1 Total defense in the country. Most folks outside of the Louisville circle have been skeptical about this defense being so highly ranked, but the Cardinals will get a chance to prove those skeptics wrong on Thursday if they can hold down this very potent FSU attack. Lorenzo Mauldin who has 35 tackles and leads the team with 11.5 tackles for loss and six sacks will be a big key in slowing down Winston. Gerod Holliman who leads the nation with 8 interceptions will also be key in slowing down the vertical attack of the FSU receivers. James Sample 3 interceptions, James Burgess 2 interceptions, and Charles Gaines 1 interception will all be key in this effort.
As I mentioned above the Florida State defense hasn’t been as dominate this season but they are still pretty darn good. At times this season they have lacked some discipline but they are a very athletic and capable group. Their key defensive guys in this game will be their two cornerbacks Ronald Darby who has 21 tackles, and P.J. Williams who has 24 tackles. They combined for 11 tackles against Notre Dame. Defensive back Jalen Ramsey has also been big for them on this side of the ball and he has 47 tackles on the season.
Their defense will have to contend with a fully healthy Louisville offense that will again feature spider man himself DeVante Parker. He returned to play against North Carolina State and had nine catches for 132 yards. He will be the best wide receiver that FSU will face this season and he will really open up the Cardinal offense on Thursday night. RB Brandon Radcliff and senior RB Dominique Brown are also primed and ready to help carry the load in the rushing game. Both have combined for over 760 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns out of the backfield for the Cardinals this season. The SEC version of Michael Dyer returned for a breakout game against North Carolina State and he had his best performance as a Cardinal with 173 yards and a touchdown. If he can give the Cardinals another effort like this Thursday it will really help.
It will be the day before Halloween when these teams lock up on Thursday and I am hoping that it will be a “Nightmare on Floyd Street” for the Florida State Seminoles. It is going to take a very good effort from our guys and things like turnovers, penalties, and mishaps will have to be kept to a minimum. We will really need Will Gardner to step up and lead the offensive unit and I think he could be the biggest key if our Cardinals can pull off this upset. Papa Johns will be rocking and the Cardinals will have the home crowd standing behind them all of the way on Thursday. I really feel like we can recapture some of that Thursday night magic that we’ve seen in the past and I look for Cardinals to pull out a close one.
The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 20 FSU 17
I don’t imagine that you need to be hyped up for the game on Thursday but just in case here is an excellent hype video done by the guys over at Crunchzone.com.