Louisville Football: Can Virginia Be Another Trap Game For The Cardinals?

Will Louisville Football blow out Virginia, or is it another trap game?

The Louisville Cardinals have been dominating competition in recent weeks to say the least, and the 2-7 Virginia Cavaliers shouldn’t present much of a threat. However, the last time Louisville faced a much inferior opponent things definitely did not go their way. Could Virginia have the same effect on the Cards?

Louisville currently sits at a -20.0 point favorite in game, and the Cardinals should look to take care of business with the 2 win Cavaliers. However, the Cardinals just a few weeks ago failed to beat past 1-4 Pitt on the road, and slightly derailed their season. Pitt won by 17 in a baffling loss for Jeff Brohms Cardinals. There was also a lot of odd vibes surrounding that game however. It was a night game at Pitt, it was Pitt’s homecoming, Louisville was going into a bye week, Jawhar Jordan was out for the game, and the Cards were coming off a high top ten win over Notre Dame in the week prior. It is not a reason to excuse the loss, but college football is the best sport in the world for a reason.

Since that loss Louisville has won 2 in a row against previously ranked #20 Duke and Virginia Tech, and has had a point differential of 57-3 in their last 2 games.

I would say Brohm has adjusted Louisville pretty well since the loss.

The Cardinals got up for the Duke game, and battled Virginia Tech as good as they could and absolutely dominated them in a 31 point win. The Cardinals will face Virginia on a thursday night in L&N Stadium, while sporting new uniforms, and it is hard to see Louisville playing down to their competition here. However, they doesn’t mean they won’t.

Virginia beat North Carolina on the road, on a saturday night, while they were ranked #10. If a team can beat North Carolina on the road, then they have the ability to do the same to Louisville. Virginia has been struggling this season under Tony Elliot, but in the weeks preceding the North Carolina win they have been much more competitive. Even in the few weeks before that game they were still competitive.

Since Week 4 Virginia’s losses have been all one possession games. They lost to teams like NC State, Boston College, and Miami by just 3 points. The one outlier is last weeks loss to Georgia Tech, where they lost 45-17.

It is very difficult to gauge this Virginia team based on how they have played this season. But they cannot be overlooked by Brohm and the Cardinals, and if they come out flat they have the ability to lose to the Cavaliers.

Will Brohm and the Cards come out flat against Virginia? Probably not, and they have come out of the tunnel ready to play in nearly every game this season.

Virginia has the ability to beat Louisville, but as long as the team comes in prepared the Cardinals should be able to stray away from the trap game and advance to 6-1 in the ACC.