The Kansas State Wildcats head to Louisville, Kentucky to take on the Cardinals in a Humpday matchup between BCS conferences on ESPN 2. JustBet odds makers have listed the road Wildcats as 3.5-point favorites. Expert Football Handicapper Dave Price's Kansas State vs Louisville preview will help you beat the college football betting odds in this Wednesday night matchup.
Kansas State comes into this one 2-0 after blowing out Montana State 69-10 and North Texas 45-6. Kansas State will have had 11 days of preparation to get ready for its toughest non-conference opponent of the season, the Louisville Cardinals. While Louisville is perceived to be down, this game will give us a better indication of the state of the Wildcats.
Although it's too early to tell for sure, it appears that QB Josh Freeman has made the necessary strides in the poise department. He has looked incredibly poised in K-State's two wins, tearing apart opposing secondaries on his way to a 209.3 pass efficiency rating tops of any QB in the Big 12 Conference thus far. In order for Freeman to continue to post gaudy numbers against better competition, the running game is going to have to be able to complement him and thus far it is inconclusive as to whether that will be able to happen.
Running back Keithen Valentine is a junior college transfer who walked on to earn a starting spot. He gained 39 yards on 12 carries against Montana State. While his hard work has paid off, the fact that K-State has a juco walk-on at starting tailback may be the answer we were looking for in respect to the state of the running game.
The Wildcats have been able to do what able the want on the defensive side of the ball in the early going. They produced four turnovers against Montana State, including a fumble return for a touchdown. This is precisely the type of big play defense that head coach Ron Prince has been trying to install.
There are a couple players for K-State that could be very key to whether the Wildcats come away with a win. Cornerback Courtney Herndon is one of those players. Herndon is a special teams ace and was huge in K-State's win over Montana State. He returned a fumble 43 yards for a score, blocked a punt that the Wildcats recovered in the end zone for a touchdown, and returned an interception 26 yards to set up another score.
Place kicker Brooks Rossman is the other guy that the Cats will depend a great deal on this week. He is 3-for-3 on field goal attempts and 15-for-15 on PAT's in the early going. Bet Kansas State Wildcats -3.5 points to cover the spread at BetUS.
After a terrible loss to rival Kentucky to start the season, the Cardinals came storming back with a 51-10 rout of Tennessee Tech last week. Louisville knows that the Wildcats will be a much tougher opponent. Heading into this season, the Cards have dropped the game following a loss to Kentucky four of the last five times so perhaps last week's win was a good omen.
Louisville knows it will have to take care of the football if it wants to be victorious this weekend. The Cards turned the ball over five times against the Kentucky Wildcats in their opener game loss.
It was good to get a solid game under the belt of QB Hunter Cantwell as Louisville nears league play. Cantwell went 15 of 23 for 203 yards and two touchdowns last week.
Louisville's defense also played well last week and has really been solid in seven of eight quarters this season. The Cards held Tennessee Tech to just 33 yards rushing.
Running Back Victor Anderson will have to have a big game for the Cards to come out on top. He carried 12 times for 114 yards and a score last week. On the defensive side of the ball, watch for linebacker Chris Campa to come up big. He replaced Antwon Canady last week because of his speed going against the Tennessee Tech spread offense and came up with an interception. If you like Louisville to cover the spread at home, bet the Louisville Cardinals +4 points at Bookmaker.
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