Louisville vs. South Florida football: Betting line, 3 things to know for Week 4 game
Louisville football has its back against the wall.
For the third time in five seasons, the Cardinals are 0-2 to start ACC play, the latest a 35-31 defeat at the hands of Florida State. The loss also drops them to 5-9 in close games decided by a touchdown or less under head coach Scott Satterfield.
U of L will try to build some positive momentum with a break from conference action when South Florida comes to town for a noon kickoff on Saturday.
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Here are three things to know about the Week 4 game:
Facing another rushing attack
Louisville can’t avoid mobile quarterbacks.
The Cardinals’ defense has been up and down when defending the three it's faced so far — Syracuse's Garrett Shrader, Central Florida's John Rhys Plumlee and Florida State's Jordan Travis — and must prepare for the challenge of USF quarterback Gerry Bohanon’s legs. The Baylor transfer is the team’s second-leading rusher with 139 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, an average of 6.6 yards per touch.
Despite not having thrown a touchdown pass yet and totaling four interceptions, Bohanon has thrown for 507 yards and completed 53.5% of his passes. U of L defensive coordinator Bryan Brown said Bohanon is most similar to Travis, the latest of the three dual-threat quarterbacks the Cardinals have faced.
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“Maybe not as fast (as Travis), he's a little bit bigger,” Brown said of Bohanon. “He will try to lower his shoulder on you as opposed to, some quarterbacks may want to get down and get out of bounds. He wants to bring the boom to the defense. … I think the coordinator, Travis (Trickett), has done a really good job of getting him involved in the run game, especially these last couple of games. So we’ve got to do a great job of gang tackling him.”
Louisville has struggled all year defending dual-threat QBs. The defense is 117th in the country against the rush, allowing 201.7 yards per game. The Cardinals have done slightly better in the passing game, allowing 212.7 yards per game through the air, which ranks 66th among FBS teams.
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Injuries have entered the chat
Neither Louisville nor Florida State got out of the Week 3 ACC contest clean, and the Cardinals took the biggest hit of all losing wide receiver Dee Wiggins. The Miami transfer exited last week’s contest with a foot injury that will require surgery on his toe. His timetable for recovery is 4-5 months.
“I feel like he was really getting ready to hit his stride,” Satterfield said. “He's a fast receiver for us, a big, big receiver. So now, other guys are gonna have to step up in that role for losing him. We're already a little bit thin there anyway.”
The Cardinals can breathe a sigh of relief with other players like offensive linemen Trevor Reid and Caleb Chandler expected to be back. That includes running back Tiyon Evans, who was a gametime hold against Florida State, and third string back Jalen Mitchell.
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A close history
Louisville and South Florida haven’t played one another since 2013 when they were both in the American Athletic Conference. The Cardinals won that meeting on the road 34-3, then moved to the ACC the next season. The victory made it three in a row for U of L over the Bulls while also giving the squad a 6-5 overall series lead.
The Cardinals are also 4-1 over the Bulls in Cardinal Stadium with USF’s lone road win coming Nov. 13, 2010 in overtime, 24-21. The two teams have only played three times since then.
Overall, Louisville is 102-93 against AAC opponents.
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Betting line
Louisville is favored by 14 points to beat South Florida, according to Circa Sports.
Prediction: Louisville 35, South Florida 24
Much like with UCF, the Cardinals need to use this opportunity as a bounce-back, get-right game before going on the road to ACC foe Boston College, another noon contest, next week. Depending on how you feel about Florida, the Bulls making it a close game with the Gators can make this less of a cupcake game than one would have expected a month ago. Still, U of L must take its chances where it can to fix the necessary areas and get wins as the season progresses.
Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville vs. South Florida football: 3 things to know, betting line
