Louisville Cardinals at North Carolina State Wolf Pack
The Louisville Cardinals will travel to Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday evening to take on the NC State Wolfpack in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup.
The Cardinals are 4-3 (2-2) his season and are coming off a 28-14 home win over the Boston College Eagles. Junior quarterback Malik Cunningham struggled as he went 9-of-17 for 107 yards and a pair of interceptions.
The NC State Wolfpack are sitting at 5-2 (2-1) and are coming off a 31-30 road loss to the Miami Hurricanes. Sophomore quarterback Devin Leary finished going 24-of-42 for 310 yards with a pair of touchdowns.
Ford Tough
The Louisville Cardinals have been throwing the football a good amount to sophomore tight end Marshon Ford this season. On the year, he has recorded 30 receptions for 313 yards (10.4 yards per catch) with a receiving touchdown.
In his last game against the Boston College Eagles, Ford had three receptions for 48 yards (16 yards per catch). If he can figure out how to be a little more involved in the offensive game plan here, it will do big things for Louisville.
The Louisville Cardinals have been an okay defense thus far as they are allowing 27 points per game this season. In their previous game against the Boston College Eagles, they gave up 14 points on 266 total yards of offense (141 passing, 125 rushing). The Cards did a stellar job at stopping the Eagles on third down as they went 3-of-14 on third down but 2-of-3 on fourth down attempts.
Louisville also forced a good amount of mistakes as Boston College had three turnovers (one fumble recovery, two interceptions). If the defense can continue to force mistakes, they will be in this game.
Knight Night
The NC State Wolfpack depend on their running game to get the offense going, and sophomore running back Zonovan Knight has been doing that this year. So far, he has 90 rushing attempts for 519 yards (5.8 yards per rush) with three rushing touchdowns as well as 11 receptions for 66 yards (6.0 yards per catch).
In his previous game against the Miami Hurricanes, they slowed Knight down as he had just eight carries for 16 yards (2.0 yards per run) and three catches for 15 yards (5.0 yards per reception). If he can shake off that dreadful performance, it will really help NC State in this game.
The NC State Wolfpack have been doing very well on the defensive side of the football this year as they are giving up 16.7 points per game. In their previous game against the Miami Hurricanes, they allowed 31 points on 421 total yards of offense (310 passing, 111 rushing).
They held the running game in check as the Hurricanes averaged 2.5 yards per run as well as going just 6-of-17 on third down but converted their only fourth-down opportunity. If they can continue to limit offenses to one type of play, they can be successful here.
Who to Bet Cardinals at Tar Heels
These two programs are very similar, so pointing out a couple of differences could be the key here. These offenses are similar, so looking at the defense is where they begin to split.
The Cardinals are allowing 28.6 points in their last five games, while the Wolfpack are giving up 18.6 points in that same span. Louisville is 10-24-1 against the spread vs winning teams, while NC State is 5-0 against the spread following a loss.
Go with the Wolfpack under a touchdown here.