Louisville Football: Game-by-game predictions for 2017
The Louisville football will need to find their defense this season. Here are some game-by-game predictions for the Cardinals 2017 schedule.
Head coach Bobby Petrino and the Louisville Cardinals could call the 2016 season an overachievement. However, in 2017, the team has some high expectations.
Their schedule favors a high regular season win total. Heck, after going 9-4 last season who knows what could happen this season. The Cardinals will have to do a better job of protecting quarterback Lamar Jackson. The offensive line gave up 47 sacks last season and only two starters return on the line this season.
The 2016 Heisman winner, Jackson returns looking to do more than use his legs to make plays. He’ll have to replace his top receiving targets but he’s still got the confidence of a top-tier quarterback.
With the college football season, right around the corner, let’s take a look at some predictions of the Cardinals schedule. Their strength of schedule is ranked 58th, according to ESPN’s FPI.
The Purdue Boilermakers and Louisville Cardinals haven’t met on the college football field since 1987. That season the two teams met on September 19 where the game ended in a 22-22 tie.
Fast forward to 2017 and things are a bit different for both college football programs. The Cardinals went 9-4 while the Boilermakers went 3-9. They’re not very good on either side of the ball and are going through a head coaching change.
New head coach Jeff Brohm will have his hands full in his first game as head coach. The Boilermakers allowed 38.2 points per game last season, 117th in the FBS. On top of that, the defense allowed 238.5 rushing yards per game.
It doesn’t look like a good formula for success when factoring in what Louisville Cardinals quarterback Lamar Jackson can do. For the 6th ranked scoring offense (42.5 ppg), they’ll pick up where they left off with Jackson under center.
Louisville has an opportunity to find a new running back and new targets for Jackson to get accustomed to this season. This game should be a tuneup of what to expect from the Cardinals offense.
Reggie Bonnafon should see a bulk of the carries at running back although he’ll still should be used at wide receiver. Senior running back Jeremy Smith should be back from a spring camp injury as well. The duo shouldn’t have a difficult time finding room to run against Purdue’s defense.
Final: Purdue 10 , Louisville 45 (1-0)