Louisville football: Game-by-game predictions for 2020

Week 10:  at Boston College

Date: 11/27

I don’t know why, but I have a weird feeling about this year’s Boston College matchup. I’ve felt that way for a while now even though the last time these two team’s took the field, Louisville won on a game-winning Blanton Creque field goal.

I covered that game last season and it was difficult to watch for a variety of reasons, but none more so than the defenses inability to stop the passing game. Had then starter Anthony Brown stayed in the game and thrown for four or five touchdowns, I could’ve lived with it. However, it was backup Dennis Grosel who was responsible for dicing up the Louisville defense.

A year later and Anthony Brown and long-time running back AJ Dillon are gone as is head coach Steve Adazzio, and in are new head coach Jeff Hafley (the former Ohio State co-DC), prized Notre Dame transfer Phil Jurkovec at quarterback, and multiple other transfers who are expected to make an impact.

Just like that the Eagles are a team with enough fire power to suprise some folks, including Louisville.

This is a new team who has a lot of talent on both sides of the ball – actually more than I really remember in any year of Adazzio’s stay. Jurkovec was supposed to the QB of the future for Notre Dame and now he’ll play in a system that should be a good fit, have a strong supporting cast, and a defense that should be even better than they were a year ago.

They’ll return the majority of their front seven and a few pieces in the secondary and while they will be implementing a new system, by this time in the season they’ll have had time to get comfortable and clicking.

Louisville will have the advantage here in terms of offensive fire power and overall speed/athleticism, but let’s not forget how things went last season. The tight ends were a major problem, both of whom are back, the receivers gave the Louisville secondary fits, and the running backs did enough to open up the air.

I expect Louisville to be able to put up points, but I’ll be watching to see how they take care of the football and whether or not the defense can figure out the high number of errors last year that led to a offensive shoot out. I’m going with a lower scoring total because again there’s always that one game where things just seem to get stuck. This is it for me.

This game will also take place on the Friday night following Thanksgiving on the road at Boston College, meaning it’s going to be cold. BC will be coming off of a brutal stretch that includes Clemson and Notre Dame in a three week period, but I still think Louisville slips up. There’s just something about a quiet , freezing evening on Chestnut Hill against a team that’s had Louisville’s number for the last few years that makes me uneasy.

It’s also why I’m going with an upset that will put Louisville clearly on the “bubble” of the ACC Conference Championship which  will be the top two teams based on win percentage. With the chance at competing at the highest level on the line, this type of loss will come with a lot of disappointment.

Score: Louisville 17, Boston College 21

Record: 8-2 (7-2)