NCAA Football Previews – Cardinals vs Huskies
The Louisville Cardinals square-off against the Connecticut Huskies this Saturday afternoon at Rentschler Field in a matchup of two teams trying to keep their faint hopes of a Big East title alive. Game time is set for 12 p.m. and it will be available on ESPN3.com.
Date/Time: Saturday, November 19 12 p.m. (ET)
Venue: Rentschler Field, East Hartford, CT.
Broadcast: ESPN3.com
Cardinals at Huskies lines by BetOnline.com
Point spread: PICK
Over/Under: 40.5
Louisville’s title chances took a major blow this past Saturday with a 21-14 loss to Pittsburgh as a three-point home favorite. The loss dropped it to 5-5 straight-up (6-4 against the spread) overall and to 3-2 SU in the conference. The total stayed ‘under’ the 45.5-point line and has now stayed ‘under’ in eight of its 10 games this season.
The main thing that has been lacking for the Cardinals this year has been any kind of offensive fire-power. They are ranked 80th in the nation in passing and 94th in running the ball. Overall, the offense is ranked 108th in scoring with an average of just 19.3 points a game.
Connecticut’s chances of repeating as Big East champs is also fading fast with three losses in its last five games. It did manage to knock-off Syracuse 28-21 on Nov. 5 as a two-point home favorite, but overall it is just 4-5 SU (3-6 ATS) this season and 2-2 SU in conference play. The total has stayed ‘under’ in five of its nine games this year. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The Huskies have been a bit more potent on the offensive side of the ball with an average of 22.7 points a game, but they have hung their hat this season on a defense that is holding teams to 22.3 points a game.
The Cardinals are 4-1 ATS in their last five games as road favorites and 5-1 ATS in their last six conference games. The total has stayed ‘under’ in their last six games as favorites.
The Huskies are 7-2 ATS in their last nine games against the Big East and the total has gone ‘over’ in 16 of their last 23 games at home.
Head-to-head in this series, the home team is 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings and Louisville is 2-5 ATS in the last seven games. The total has stayed ‘under’ in three of the last four games between the two. While once again the ‘under’ is probably the best play given both of these teams inability to score points, but stick with Connecticut’s defense to shine in a straight-up win at home.
The Pick: Connecticut 19 vs. Louisville 16
