– Jersday Night showdown for the Big East Crown and BCS birth
Cards were out “Huskied” on Saturday but still remain in the hunt for the Big East championship and a trip to a BCS bowl game. Cards come in this game after a triple overtime loss to Uconn 23-20. They will face Rutgers who also had a let down on Saturday falling to Pitt 27-6.
Coach Charlie Strong: “We have a large task ahead of us,” “After dropping the last two games, we have to regain our focus and regain our confidence. The thing we have to realize is we’ve won nine games, and dropped the last two, but this team is still a really good football team. Now, we have to go on the road. We have to go on the road to win a championship. What’s at stake for us and what we really have to understand is we have a chance to win a conference championship. We have a chance to go play in a BCS bowl game. We also have a chance for a 10-win season.”
(Courtesy UofLsports.com)
If the Cards are to go to New Jersey and pull off the upset on Thursday night they will have to come out and have a better effort than they did on Saturday. They were not able to get anything going their way as the UConn Defense held them in check for most of the way. Teddy QB was 30-53 for 331 yards and 2 TD’s with one interception. DeVante Parker was the lone bright spot hauling in 8 passes for 91 yards and 2 TD’s. The Cards running game was completely held in check as Teddy QB was sacked numerous times resulting in -29 yards and Jeremy Wright was held to just 43 yards.
Rutgers also came out flat on Saturday in their battle with Pittsburgh. Much like UConn did with Louisville Pitt was able to control the line of scrimmage the whole day. Rutgers could only manage 207 total yards. Gary Nova was picked off once and managed a 3rd quarter touchdown. Savon Huggins and Jawan Jamison combined for just 32 yards. By laying an egg Rutgers failed to claim the Big East Title and now will face our Cards for all the marbles in a Thursday night showdown.
Coach Kyle Flood was promoted to interim coach once Greg Schiano decided to leave the program to take over the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And after FIU’s Mario Cristobal turned down the job he was made the head man of the Scarlet Knights. They have most of their top players back from a 9-4 team that won the Pinstripe Bowl including players at the skill positions. They will try to keep it on the ground with the rushing attack of Jawan Jamison who has 1004 yards with 4 TD’s on the season. And Savon Huggins who has 362 yards and 2 TD’s. Quarterback Gary Nova is the man under center for the Knights. He is a very capable QB with 2282 yards and 20 TD’s on the season but is prone to the interception with 13 on the year. The biggest story of this Rutgers team is on the defensive side of the ball where 2 time Big East defensive player of the week Linebacker Khaseem Greene has lead his team to be the 4th ranked among FBS schools allowing just 13.7 points a game and only Alabama, Notre Dame and Florida are better. Greene’s intangibles, production and playmaking ability could lead him to be a top 50 pick in the NFL draft. Another thing that will play a huge role in this game is the fact that Rutgers hasn’t won a conference championship since Big East football began in 1991. They have a chance to do this for the first time and possibly the last as they will be joining the Big Ten in 2014.
Coach Kyle Flood: “I think when you have the opportunity as a football program, as a coach, as a player, to do something that’s never been done in the history of your program … we are a very focused group.”
Our Cards will be limping into this Big East showdown on Thursday night. Teddy QB broke his wrist on Saturday and will be in a cast. He will only be able to take snaps in the shotgun formation while Senior QB Will Stein will take direct snaps on the plays under center. I think the biggest loss for this Cardinals football team was when Senorise Perry got hurt. I think he was more important to this team than most thought. He was critical in our rushing attack and his hard nosed play allowed things to open up for Teddy QB and the receiving core to do their thing. And I do think Wright and Lamb are very capable of giving us valuable time but you just don’t replace a player like Perry. I do think our defensive unit will hold their own and will have another solid outing.
Folks I would love to play the optimistic homer this week but the realist in me just won’t allow for it. I would love nothing more than for our young and battered team to go into Piscataway and pay them back for keeping us out of the championship game a few years ago. It would be great to ruin their chances for their first Big East title. But I just don’t think our guys have it in them. The real talk is that we are without our leading rusher in Perry, our QB is not at a 100%, and we are facing one of the top defenses in the country on their home field. I will be cheering hard for our guys to prove me wrong this week but it is what it is.
The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 10 Rutgers 17