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Louisville Football’s Pulse vs. Wake Forest

By Robert Caudill

U of L OLB Yasir Abdullah (22) celebrated a defensive stop against Clemson during their game at Cardinal Stadium on Oct. 19, 2019 in Louisville, Ky.Uofl Clemson13 Sam
U of L OLB Yasir Abdullah (22) celebrated a defensive stop against Clemson during their game at Cardinal Stadium on Oct. 19, 2019 in Louisville, Ky.Uofl Clemson13 Sam /
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Louisville continues the season today against a top ten Wake Forest team where hopes seem to be high. The sportsbooks seem to defend this theory with Louisville only being a three point underdog against Wake Forest. Louisville struggled at the beginning of the year, but is this where Coach Satterfield and company turns it around?

Let’s take a dive into the pulse of the fanbase:

Louisville’s defense has brought back excitement to the fan base after their performance against Pittsburgh. Louisville forced four turnovers against the Panthers, helping the Cardinals come out on top.

The Louisville fan base has hope. From talk radio to social media, all I hear and read is people buying back in. The Football Outsiders DFEI Metric, which shows the scoring advantage a team’s defense would have on a neutral field against an average opponent, has Louisville ranked 29th in the nation. This statistic has the Cardinal defense ahead of notable teams such as Syracuse and Tennessee.

It is hard to believe with the outcomes Louisville had against Boston College and Syracuse, but that is what the numbers say.

Fans will remember the close game Louisville had against Wake Forest last year as a reason to buy back in. Spectators will reminisce on the referees ruining the close game in 2021 where Louisville ended up losing 37-34. As well as the game in 2019, made famous by then backup quarterback Evan Conley, where Louisville won 62-59.

Close games have given the fan base hope and will continue to do so with this matchup today.

Personally, I have not bought back into this team being able to pull off this level of an upset. However, I do think that Louisville’s defense can still show a good performance.

Sam Hartman is a quarterback who is someone who is not receiving enough publicity for how good he is. The lowest score Wake Forest’s offense has put up this year has been 31 against Florida State. While I do believe Louisville can limit their offense to around this number, I do not think Louisville can score enough to win against Wake Forest.

My prediction is Louisville loses 28-21.  I’ll never root against Louisville, but my expectations aren’t high with the matchup today.

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