Game Analysis:
Week 7 of the CFB season brings us an ACC matchup between 2 teams having completely different seasons, as the 14th ranked Louisville Cardinals travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers. Louisville enters this game undefeated at 6-0, and having risen 11 spots in the AP poll from last week, following a blowout win vs 10th ranked Notre Dame. On the other hand, Pitt comes into this one with a 1-4 record, including 4 straight losses, and are simply looking to find something to feel good about moving forward.
Louisville could not have dreamt of a better start to the season in Head Coach Jeff Brohm’s first season. They are still undefeated after 6 contests, and coming off by far the biggest win of their season last week, a 33-20 home win vs. #10 Notre Dame. This win took Louisville from the edge of the AP poll all the way to #14 this week. RB Jawhar Jordan led the way against the Irish, posting 143 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 21 carries. The defense was able to force 3 interceptions from Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman, and helped the Cardinals pull away in the 4th quarter. This was a complete team win for Louisville, and now they’ll look to avoid a letdown on the road against a struggling Pitt team.
The host team in the matchup, the Pittsburgh Panthers, need momentum in the worst way, as they are in the midst of a 4 game losing streak following a win in their opener, and they’ll have the perfect chance for that as they host a ranked team who may potentially be overlooking them after an emotional victory. Pitt’s offense got off to a nice start in last week’s 38-21 loss at Virginia Tech, scoring a touchdown on their first possession, but was unable to get much going for the remainder of the game, and the Hokies pulled away. QB Phill Jurkovec threw for 235 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions, but was unable to get much help from the running game at all in the loss. The defense struggled to get stops, so the team as a whole will need to step up if they want to compete against Louisville. For now however, I trust the team that is rolling on all cylinders and putting themselves in the national conversation, so I am going to take Louisville to keep rolling in this one with a big win.
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