Louisville Football: 3 bold predictions vs. Virginia in Week 9

1. Virginia gets upset

Let’s just be honest about something — would you really be surprised if Louisville beat Virginia? It is the ACC, after all. The Cavaliers and Cardinals aren’t that far apart from a talent perspective.

Louisville’s defense is awful, but does Virginia have anything offensively that can take advantage of Louisville’s lack of prowess. When Bronco Mendenhall took over the Cavaliers, he noticed there was nothing about that program that screamed Power Five. He’s done an outstanding job of improving those conditions in Charlottesville.

There’s one part of the Cavaliers’ program that still needs a lot of work: the offensive line. The line has surrendered 22 sacks this season. Louisville isn’t great upfront on defense, but Virginia isn’t great upfront on offense. That matchup is weakness on weakness.

Offensively, Louisville can score. They have speed, and dynamic game breakers at the skill positions. Virginia has played better teams than Louisville, but they haven’t seen a team with as much speed as the Cardinals. That’s the difference in the game.

Louisville’s speed prevents Virginia from making this game a pier-six slobber-knocker because they won’t be able to catch them.