The first 6 weeks of the college football season are in the books, and we are starting to see a little bit of separation before the top 4 teams and the rest of the chasing pack. The Louisville Cardinals had thrown their hat into the playoff ring with a really impressive start to the season, but saw things come off the rails a little bit with a loss to Clemson in Week 5. When you lose a big game like that, what you really want to do is get right back on the horse, but with a bye week last weekend, the Cardinals have had a little extra time to stew over that loss. That may end up being bad news for the Duke Blue Devils who will be the first team to face what is sure to be an angry Louisville team. This is a game that could get out of hand early if things start to go the way of the Cardinals, but the Blue Devils may be able to hang in there if they can establish their run game. Find the updated betting lines for this game here.
A Closer Look At The Blue Devils At Cardinals College Football Expert Predictions
When: Friday, October 14 at 7 PM EST
Where: Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, Louisville
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: Watch ESPN
NCAAF Odds: TBA
Why bet on the Duke Blue Devils
Duke Blue Devils got their record back to .500 with a win over Army last weekend, but that was a tough game to judge them on. Both teams struggled to get anything going offensively given that they were playing in the driving rain delivered by Hurricane Matthew. One thing that the Blue Devils did really well was to force Army into making mistakes. Louisville have made a little bit of a habit of turning the ball over this season, and Duke can perhaps keep this thing respectable if their defense can force those errors. As mentioned earlier, running the ball will also be one of the keys to Duke success, and they certainly had plenty of practice last week with 145 yards on 50 rushing attempts.
Why bet on the Louisville Cardinals
There is no denying that the Cardinals playoff hopes took a hit with the loss to Clemson, but they could still be in the picture of they can navigate the rest of the season without taking another loss. The Cardinals were extremely competitive against the Tigers, giving them all they could handle in a 42-36 loss. With Lamar Jackson at the QB position, the Cardinals have a double threat, as this is a kid that ca beat you with his legs or his arm. As long as he continues to put up video game numbers, Louisville has a shot at winning every single week.
Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction
It’s going to be interesting to see how quickly the Cardinals can shake off any rust that might have accrued during the bye week. I really don’t see it being a major issue, though, and this should be a very comfortable win at the end of the day.
