Louisville Football at Pitt: Final Game Predictions
By Caleb Hall
Louisville takes on Pitt in what could be a trap game for the Cardinals
The Louisville Cardinals will travel up to take on the Pitt Panthers tonight and the Cardinals need to be weary of the Jeff Brohm hangover game.
Louisville is coming in 6-0 and looking to be undefeated going into their bye week. Pitt is coming off of their bye week after losing to Virginia Tech on October 1st. Jeff Brohm is shining in his first season here at Louisville and has led the cardinals to a top ten win already and their best record in the last decade. Pat Narduzzi and the Panthers however, are struggling to find any sort of identity and are fighting to find any sort of resemblance of a win. The only win for Pitt comes in week 1 against Wofford. They have lost every game since then with only one of them being decided by single digits.
Louisville is clearly the better team here and on paper they should absolutely dominate the Pitt Panthers. However, the game is in Heinz Field, it’ll be raining, Pitt is coming off a bye, Louisville just had a top ten win, and the hangover effect could be a real possibility.
Every time Jeff Brohm had a top 5 win at Purdue he would then lose the next game every time. I know Purdue isn’t Louisville but the facts are still there and it is a worry. Brohm needs to have his team ready to play and cannot have them sleepwalk through this game. If the Cardinals come into this game thinking Pitt won’t be able to stop them and don’t try on offense, there is a chance they could get stuffed. Pitt’s defense is good and that’s a fact. They aren’t world beaters by any means, but they hav good enough playmakers to give some offensives some trouble. Brohm needs to have quarterback Jack Plummer ready to play over anybody else.
Pitt’s passing defense ranks in the top 20 when it comes to passing yards a game and that can be worrisome for Plummer, who hasn’t been amazing this season. We can also look at how in the last 2 games the Panthers have allowed 38 and 41 points too. The Pitt defense seems to just show up off and on throughout games this season. It’s really a mystery to what version of Pitt’s defense will show up tonight in Heinz Field.
Pitt’s offense however, is bad and has been outright atrocious at points this season. They made a quarterback change this week and it will be interesting to see if he will bring any type of energy to this Pitt offense. Louisville should be able to dominate this Pitt offense and if they play hard and come prepared it’s hard to say that they won’t shut them down.
Louisville should be looking to win this game, but they have to come ready to play and cannot look ahead to the bye week or even the Duke game in 2 weeks. Brohm has been talking about the 1 game season outlook game to game, and that is exactly what Louisville needs to do for this game against Pitt.
Offensive Bold Prediction:
Jawhar Jordan will finish the game with over 100 yards and 2 TDs
Jawhar Jordan has been on a tear the past couple weeks and with the weather at Pitt this week Louisville should look to run the ball a lot. Jordan should get a lot of touches and prove he’s one of the best running backs in college football.
Defensive Bold Prediction:
Louisville tallies at least 3 sacks
The Cardinal front has been very dominant as of late and even had 5 sacks against Notre Dame last week. They will look to rattle the new Pitt quarterback and start to wreak havoc on the Pitt offensive line
Final Prediction: Louisville 31, Pitt 14
This game could get really dirty really fast but it’s hard to see an outcome where the Cardinals don’t come out victorious. I can see Louisville coming out slow but pull away after the first quarter. Plummer may struggle to throw the ball, especially in the rainy Pittsburgh weather. Look for the Louisville defense and run game to excel.
Louisville moves to 7-0 going into the bye week and Brohm will hopefully avoid the hangover game.