Louisville football: Three locks and three bold predictions vs. Syracuse

Bold prediction: Both teams eclipse 150 yards on the ground

We are only 10 games into the Scott Satterfield era, and Louisville fans have become totally content with identifying as exactly what we are now: a rush-heavy, ball-control offense.

That it highlighted by the success of redshirt freshman Javian Hawkins, who became the Cardinals’ first 1,000-yard rusher (sans Lamar Jackson) since 2010.

In total, the Cards have rushed for 1,994 yards and 18 touchdowns. Not shabby for a team expected to have questions on the offensive line and uncertainty in who would take snaps at quarterback and running back.

Louisville has had success by committee with the electric Hassan Hall in tote and Micale Cunningham has game-changing speed in his own right. Still, it has been really solid run-blocking and magician-like running that has seen Louisville’s blossoming star Hawkins become one of the most prolific rushers in school history.

On the other side of the ball, the Orange have been absolutely painstakingly bad at stopping the run. They were walloped on the ground by Boston College, allowing a mind-blowing 496 yards on 65 carries. There’s no indication it will be that bad, but Louisville know it’s strengths, and they have proven to know the opponent’s weaknesses.

Meanwhile, Syracuse has quite the rushing attack of its own. Though Louisville has shown to be decent at defending the run, they have been known to let the opponent chip away at them on the ground before attempts are made to truly stuff the run in the red zone.

The Cards will let you have some breathing room on the ground en leu of breaking off a big play in defensive coordinator Bryan Brown’s bend-but-don’t-break 4-3 scheme.

Syracuse will take that and run with it (pun absolutely intended). Their ground game starts with senior Moe Neal, who has been a constant thorn in Louisville’s side over the years. He is averaging 4.5 yards per carry, and will be the workhorse back for the Orange.

Neal is backed up by Jarveon Howard and Abdul Adams, who are solid ball carriers in their own right. And if there’s any team that has been known to let quarterbacks get a little too free when the pass rush comes, its the Cards. Syracuse QB Tommy Devito isn’t a huge threat, but he has wheels dangerous enough to be a serious threat.

Regardless of the outcome of the game, it’s hard to envision both teams not getting over that 150-yard mark in the run game.

Lock: Louisville gets to seven wins, clinches second place in the ACC Coastal, and moves into the race for a top tier ACC bowl

Saturday is a big game for Louisville in their pursuit of eight wins and a trip to a top-tier bowl with ACC affiliation. Coming off of a win against Duke, their first against a power five school this season, the Orange will come into Cardinal Stadium with a ton of confidence looking to get their fifth win and take a step closer to bowl eligibility.

Unfortunately for them, that ain’t happening.

This season Syracuse has been horrible defensively and has shown nothing, outside of the Duke game last week, which would lead me to believe that they can slow down the dynamic Louisville offense.

Louisville currently averages nearly 200 yards per game on the ground this season (ranked 34th) while Syracuse has given up an average of nearly 190 yards per, including almost 500 yards rushing against Boston College just a few weeks back.

What if Syracuse can shore up the run defense? Well, then they’ll have to deal with the passing element of the Louisville offense behind the ACC’s most efficient passer.

Syracuse gives up 249.1 yards per game passing while Louisville’s offense averages 238.9 yards passing and currently have the nation’s leading passer of plays over 70-plus yards.

Syracuse does have a potential all-conference safety in Andre Cisco and a couple of very capable pass rushers in Brandon Berry, Alton Robinson, and Kendall Coleman, but it’s not enough to make me believe that they can get after Micale Cunningham.

If Louisville is able to establish the run game like we’ve seen them do all season and is able to get the ball to their weapons outside, as well as to Tutu Atwell, then I see no way the Syracuse offense can do enough to make up for the defense. Thus, leading to a lopsided Lousiville victory on Senior Day.