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 Miami Hurricanes vs. Louisville Cardinals, Line Louisville –4, Total 54, Time 3:30pm (EDT), TV, (ABC)
Who can forget last year’s game between Louisville and Miami in the Orange Bowl Stadium in Coral Gables? The Cardinals jumped out to a 24-7 halftime lead before Miami stormed back in the second half to steal a 41-38 win. The Cardinals amassed 507 total yards in a loss that will be remembered as one of the great all-time choke jobs. The memory of the loss is now and forever etched into the minds of the Louisville players. Finally, the Cardinals have a chance to avenge the “Win that got away.” On Saturday (Sept 16) The 15th ranked Miami Hurricanes visit Papa John’s Stadium in Louisville to take on the 12th ranked Louisville Cardinals. The game is set for 3:30 pm (EDT) and will be televised by ABC. This will be the 11th meeting between these two schools. Miami has never lost to Louisville going 9-0-1 in the ten previous meetings. The Hurricanes have played in Louisville four previous times at the old fairgrounds stadium but this will be the first trip to the new Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.
Louisville’s potent offense is led by junior quarterback Brian Brohm who was named the Big East Offensive Player of the Week for his play in the Cardinals’ 62-0 shutout win over the Temple Owls. Brohm threw for 307 yards, the sixth 300-yard game of his career. The junior who left the game early in the third quarter, completed 16-of-29 passes, including a 57-yard scoring toss to wide out Mario Urrutia. He leads the Big East in total offense and is 15th nationally averaging 280.5 yards per game. Missing from the Louisville offense will be senior running back Michael Bush. Bush, the 6’-3”, 250 pound All Big-East runner was lost to the Cardinals from a season ending knee injury in week one’s opening win at Kentucky. Louisville has a pair of able running backs who will step in to take up the slack created when Bush went down to injury. Kolby Smith and George Stribling have rushed for 162-yards and 157-yards respectively.
The game will be a battle of Louisville’s powerful offense against Miami’s perennially sturdy defense. The Cardinals rank No.1 in total offense and scoring offense, No 3 in rushing and No.6 in passing. The Hurricanes rank seventh in total defense, ninth in rush defense and 32nd in pass defense. Miami led the nation in pass defense three of the last four seasons. Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino is more concerned about defending the talented Hurricanes who got back on track from the week one loss to Florida State by defeating Florida A&M on Saturday. “We watched them on video and they’re very fast,” U of L coach Bobby Petrino said. “ They rush the passer and play real tight coverage in the secondary. Offensively, they’re going to come in and try to run the football and try to throw it deep.”
The Miami offense got untracked last week against FAMU, rushing for 339 yards and gaining 563 yards on offense. Four backs contributed to the high rushing output, starter Charlie Jones, Javarris James, Tyrone Moss, who returned after missing almost a year with a torn ACL and Derron Thomas led all runners with 109 yards. Quarterback Kyle Wright had one of the most efficient games, leading the team to touchdowns on all five drives that he led. Wright completed 13-of-18 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown. Larry Coker, Miami head coach knows his team needs a high impact win. “If we go out and win a game like this on the road, it’s a huge statement,” said Coker. “Louisville does not lose many games at home. They may be the best offense we face all season. It’s a tremendous challenge but our players were already excited about this right after the FAMU game.” Louisville is giving a 4.0 chalk at most Online Sportsbooks and 4.5 points in Las Vegas with an over of 54. It’s this writer’s opinion that this game will not hold 54 points. My reasoning is two-fold. As prolific an offense as Louisville has, the Cardinals will not be accused of stopping anybody defensively. As stingy as the Miami defense is, it will not be able to shut down Louisville’s high flying offense. I would not be surprised if the 54 total is achieved by the half.
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