After a blowout loss to Miami, Louisville football will look to bounce back and get bowl eligible on the road against North Carolina State. Here are three things to watch on Saturday.
For Louisville football, it’s all about moving on.
We know what took place last weekend against Miami last weekend, in what was undoubtedly the hardest loss to stomach this season, but with three games remaining and the chance to go to a bowl, the focus has to be on what’s to come and not what’s happened.
An opportunity to do just that comes this weekend when Louisville travels to Raleigh to take on North Carolina State in a game where they will be favored on the road for the first time under Scott Satterfield. They’ll play a team coming off three straight losses, all by 21 or more trying to figure things out with a young quarterback.
North Carolina State was more than formidable last season. They won nine games and beat Louisville 52-10 at Cardinal Stadium. But the loss of now Bengals quarterback Ryan Findlay and multiple other players have put this team in a position that they haven’t been in for a few years. The Wolfpack have eclipsed the seven-win make in each of the last five seasons, winning nine games in each of the last two.
Things have been very different in 2019. A season that began at a promising 4-2 is now a pressure-filled 4-5. NC State defeated Syracuse, who is winless against power 5 teams on October 10th. Since then, they lost at Boston College 45-24, at Wake Forest 44-10 and at home to Clemson 55-10.
This is a team that’s been beaten up over the last few weeks. But, not all hope is lost for the Wolfpack. They are two wins away from bowl eligibility, with home games remaining against Louisville and North Carolina. While their only remaining road game is against the ACC’s last-place team, Georgia Tech.
Here’s how the Cards can get to six wins on Saturday.