There’s no place like home and there’s nothing like the home opener of the College Football season. The smell of pigskin will be in the air on Floyd Street as Cardinal fans return to their favorite tailgating spots of the fall. Saturday will be a revival of sorts as fans gear up for another exciting home football slate.
Our Cardinals will try to get their first win of the season in front of the home crowd at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium on Saturday as the play host to the Houston Cougars. These teams have met 15 times in school history, with the Cardinals holding an 8-7 overall series advantage. This series dates all the way back to 1950. Louisville won the last meeting 20-13 in 2013 at Papa Johns in their first and only season in the American Athletic Conference.
The Houston Cougars have always been known for their explosive offenses and I expect that legacy to only improve with their new head coach former Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman. Herman is fresh off Ohio State’s College Football Playoff championship run and you can bet he will have this Cougars team ready to go Saturday.
I expect to see a pretty balanced attack pass and rush from Houston on Saturday. Leading that attack will be QB Greg Ward Jr. Ward ranked ninth nationally in completion percentage in 2014, completing 67.3 percent of his passes, or 177-of-263 attempts with 2,010 yards. He is also pretty mobile scrambling for 573 yards on the ground last season. In their opener last week he had 107 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. He also threw for 275 yards and one touchdown.
Leading their ground attack is two of the better running backs in college football seniors Kenneth Farrow and Ryan Jackson.
Last season the duo rushed for 2,911 yards and combined for nine 100-yard games. Farrow is their feature back and he is coming off a career year that included 1,037 rushing yards, seven 100-yard games and 15 total touchdowns, which led the American Athletic Conference. He had a quiet day last Saturday only recording 11 carries for 49 yards but you can expect a healthy dose of him against the Cardinals.
Houston is task with finding some emerging talent at their receiver positions as they lost 5 of their most experienced guys last season. They do return Junior Demarcus Ayers who has 11 career starts and he was second on the team in 2014 with 33 receptions for 335 yards. He had a big game in their opener catching 10 passes for 121 yards. Much like in Louisville’s opener they had three players make their first career receptions against Tennessee Tech last Saturday. Chance Allen, Isaiah Johnson and Kyle Postma all got into the action for the first time. Postma had 4 catches for 82 yards and a touchdown. They are also expecting a solid year out of junior tight end Tyler McCloskey who pulled in two receptions for 19 yards last weekend.
Another similarity they have with our Cardinal is their lack of experience on the offensive line. I expect Coach Grantham to attack this young group with a lot of pressure on Saturday. James Burgess had a tweet this week that insinuated he wasn’t too happy with his performance against Auburn. That’s not going to work out to well for Houston. I expect him to dominate. I think the Cardinals secondary could have a big day as well. What we seen out of Josh Harvey and Trumaine last Saturday was just the beginning and Chucky Williams is hungry after leaving a few interception opportunities on the field at the Georgia Dome. With the first game jitters behind him I expect a big day from Devonte Fields. Then there’s that guy named Shaq. #6 will be flying all over the place in his Papa John’s debut.
Task with stopping emerging superstar Lamar Jackson and the Louisville offense the new Houston defensive coordinator Todd Orlando will bring a 3-4 base that mixes up looks and brings pressure from all angles. He will also try to put a lot of pressure on a very young Louisville offensive line. Orlando has two solid guys up front in defensive tackle B.J. Singleton (11 starts) and defensive end Tomme Mark (15 starts). Houston’s defense has been one of the best in the nation with 73 turnovers forced over the last two seasons. A big reason why is their secondary. They return every starter in their secondary from 2014. This is a group that has 97 career starts and a group that had 19 of the 30 turnovers in 2014. Adrian McDonald (5 Int), Trevon Stewart (3 Int), Howard Wilson (3 Int), William Jackson III (2 Int), Lee Hightower (1 Int), and Earl Foster (1 Int). Last weekend Adrian McDonald led the defense with an interception. Linebacker Elandon Roberts led the team with 8 tackles. This is a very formidable defense.
Lamar Jackson said this week after practice that he wanted to showcase his passing game more on Saturday. I think he’ll get his chance as his scrambling ability along with Brandon Radcliff and Jeremy Smith running down hill will draw the secondary in and allow him to throw over it to the Cardinal receivers. Devonte Peete led the team with 3 receptions for 60 yards against Auburn and I look for him to have another great game this week. I look for JaQuay Savage to have a good game this week also.
This Houston team won’t be a push over as they have a very good coaching staff and some solid athletes. I just think our guys will keep building off of that strong second half showing in the Georgia Dome last weekend. I really think we have found something special with Lamar and our defense is going to be one of the best units in college football. Look for a big win Saturday.
The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 37 Houston 13