NC State Wolfpack vs. Louisville Cardinals
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Carter-Finley
TV: ACCN
Line: State -6.5

Coming out of a rough game in Miami, State returns back to Raleigh for a Homecoming matchup against Louisville. Can State get back on track? Will Louisville keep it close late? Let’s take a look.

Louisville Preview

After a week one loss against Ole Miss (where they were absolutely blown off the field), there were a lot of questions about what this team could be. Sneaking by Florida State before back-to-back losses against Wake Forest and UVA, Louisville beat Boston College last week to move to 4-3 on the season.

Stop us if you’ve heard this before; Louisville only goes as far as their dual threat quarterback can go. Malik Cunningham is going to be a problem for State, especially with a LB crew now out two studs. Cunningham has over 2,100 yards on the season (1648 passing | 480 rushing), with TWENTY-ONE touchdowns (8 passing | 13 rushing).  Out of Louisvilles 26 touchdowns, Cunningham had a part in all but five…ridiculous. Beyond the QB, the runningback duo of Mitchell and Hall are solid. State’s 11th ranked rush defense is going to be tested by all three.

Receiver-wise, Louisville is “standard” and nothing really jumps off the page. Marshon Ford is a great TE (actually leads the team in receptions and yards). Lots of home run play potential with their speed, just a matter of if Cunningham has the time to get them downfield.

Defensively, their front is everything. 24th in the nation in sacks per game, they rely heavily on pressuring the quarterback and hoping that backend can create turnovers. Abdullah is a beast from the linebacker position, leading the team with 6 sacks. If the pressure doesn’t get in the backfield? Louisville will give up major yards. Bottom fifth of the nation in yards against, including being 117th with an average of 276 passing yards against per game.

Keys to Winning for the Wolfpack

• LET LEARY COOK – State has one of the more consistent quarterbacks in the ACC, with a 17 td to 2 int ratio. This Louisville defense is going to give Leary yards through the air. Carter needs to come back with a strong game, this receiver crew, as a whole, needs to find space and attack. Really like the Thayer run wild, with Rooks getting some big plays. This offense needs to roll the dice deep and get this Cardinals team stretched vertically.
• Keep your balance – While air raid needs to happen, can’t forget about this running back duo. Two constants when State loses this year; a stud LB goes down with season ending injury and the running backs don’t get to 120 combined yards. We get there’s a lot of mouths to feed, but Person and Bam need to get in a groove early and carry it through the game.
• Control Cunningham – We ummmmmm…….we………we didn’t take care of business against a pocket QB last week…Cunningham brings a whole other level of difficulty. Each and every play is a guessing game of pass or him taking off. Need to have solid tackling and shadowing to ensure that he doesn’t burn us for distance. He’ll give you opportunities for turnovers by extending plays and forcing throws. NEED this State secondary to go four notches up from the poor performance in South Beach. Ingle will backup his postgame comments with some big hits and plays.

Prediction

First and foremost, the O/U is 56 and that’s going to get murdered. Don’t see a rough Louisville defense and a banged up State crew being able to control Leary’s arm and Cunningham’s feet. This will be a back and forth game from the get go. Can we get turnovers and big third down stops? Does Leary have the chance to throw for four tds and gain a whole lotta confidence heading down to FSU next week?

Another heart attack game is upon us WPN.

State wins 37-33.