– THE BEAK PREVIEW: Louisville vs. North Carolina
Our Louisville Cardinal Football team is on a roll. They are 2-0, ranked 19th in the country with big wins over in-state rival Kentucky and FCS member Missouri State. But the question still remains whether or not this Louisville football team is as good as it has appeared in recent weeks. That question is likely to be answered on Saturday as ACC member North Carolina rolls into town.
Coach Strong: “You look at it, it’s an ACC opponent coming in here that just has some tradition about them. It’s a big football team and they’re going to look good. It has to be a physical game for us.” “This is great test for our program,” “I think this weekend we will find exactly where we are as a football program.”
North Carolina is 1-1 after beating up on Elon in their opener and getting beat by Wake Forest last week. The Tarheels are lead by first year coach Larry Fedora who used to be the head man at Southern Mississippi. Fedora took over the job at UNC after they were hit with a one-year bowl ban and a reduction of 15 scholarships over the next three years for violations involving illegal agent activity, improper benefits and academic fraud. He was able to convince 19 seniors on the roster to stay, even though they were eligible to transfer and play right away under NCAA rules.
Fedora on his team: “All we’ve done is come in and try to implement a philosophy, basically, a whole new offense, a whole new defense and a whole new special teams unit,” “We’ve worked hard at doing that. We’re not anywhere close at this time. But I think our guys have an understanding of what we’re trying to get to.”
This is the seventh meeting with UNC in a series tied at three. Last season, the TarHeels defeated Louisville 14-7 in Chapel Hill. The TarHeel defense limited the Cardinals to 273 yards to win a defensive struggle. Louisville missed a pair of field goals in the first half. This is the 11th straight season UNC has faced a Big East opponent. Since 2002, Carolina has played 16 games against Big East teams and is 7-9 in those contests with three consecutive victories.
Strong and Fedora were the defensive and offensive coordinators at Florida from 2003-04. In 2010, with Fedora coaching Southern Mississippi and Strong in his first season at Louisville, the two met in the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl with the Cardinals rallying for a 31-28 win.
UNC will come into Papa Johns Saturday energized by their high-octane new coach with his aggressive new offensive and defensive schemes. And the Cardinals will be fired up bringing in the momentum of a 2-0 record and a 19th ranking in the AP poll. This should be a great game and a great battle.
The Beak Prediction:
UofL 24 UNC 17