2012-13 Football Previews – (Big East) – Louisville Cardinals
Heading into the 2011 season, no one expected much of anything from the Louisville Cardinals. Louisville finished with 5-2 record, which tied for the best mark in the Big East.
Big East Conference 2012-13 Football Previews: Louisville Cardinals
Head Coach: Charlie Strong
2011 Record: 7-6
Louisville Gambling Odds from Bovada.lv to win BCS Championship: +1,500 (Part of Field)
Louisville Gambling Odds from Bovada.lv to win Big East Conference: +200
Louisville Team Page – Players Stats – Roster – 2012 Schedule –>
Big East 2012 Preview: Louisville Cardinals
Coach Charlie Strong is doing his best to remind the team now that the same media that discounted them last year is now going to talk them up for the 2012 season. Strong is telling them not to buy into the preseason hype or else this team won’t play to its full potential.
Louisville steps into this season as the favorite in the Big East, primarily because the conference is in a state of flux. TCU was in for a few months, but now they are out. West Virginia is gone and Pittsburgh and Syracuse are in their final year. There is no clear dominant team in the Big East. Can the Cardinals continue to play with a chip on their shoulder?
Team Strengths:
Teddy Bridgewater was the Big East Rookie of the Year in 2011. Bridgewater has the tools to be a terrific quarterback for this team. He’ll need to make better decisions and cut down on his interception total (12 last year), but he looks like the real deal. He was highly touted coming out of high school, and I’ve seen nothing to make me believe he won’t be the best quarterback in the Big East.
The Cardinals secondary will likely be the class of this conference. Hakeem Smith started 12 games as a freshman in 2010, and he was a team leader last year. He led the team with 9 pass breakups in 2011. Two of the Cardinals starters in the secondary were first-team all Big East in 2011. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The defensive line was a major strength for the team in 2011, and they return three of their starters from that unit. Opponents rushed for only 3.0 yards per carry against Louisville last year.
Team Weaknesses:
Victor Anderson was the team’s best runner last year, and he graduated after the 2011 season. Strong likes to use a tailback by committee approach, but the Cardinals must establish a better running game in 2012. Louisville rushed for 121.5 yards per game in 2011. They’ll need to be better on the ground, which means they need a guy or two to emerge from this group.
The linebacker position will be a bit of question mark this year after the Cardinals lost leading tackler Dexter Heyman. Heyman was the vocal leader on defense in 2011, and he piled up 90 tackles. The talent is there for the Cardinals to have some solid players here, but they are very inexperienced.
2012-2013 Louisville Cardinals Football Prediction: 9-4
Louisville is a program moving in the right direction thanks to the leadership of Charlie Strong. The team has recruited much better over the last couple years, and I expect them to keep moving up.
It certainly helps that the team plays an extremely easy schedule this year. Keep an eye on the game at FIU in late September. FIU is a solid team and they could upset the Cardinals if Louisville isn’t ready to play. Getting both USF and Cincinnati at home will help the Cardinals in the Big East race.
Louisville deserves to be the favorite in the Big East. Look for this team to grow their win total once again in 2012.
2012 Schedule
9/2/12 3:30 PM ET KENTY
9/8/12 TBD MSBS
9/15/12 3:30 PM ET NCAR
9/22/12 7:00 PM ET @FLINT
9/29/12 TBD @SOMIS
10/13/12 TBD @PITT
10/20/12 TBD SOFLA
10/26/12 8:00 PM ET CIN
11/3/12 TBD TEM
11/10/12 TBD @SYR
11/24/12 TBD CONN
11/29/12 7:30 PM ET @RUTG
