Louisville football looking to make statement in 2019 Music City Bowl

Louisville football is looking to gain momentum heading into the 2020 season with a win over a struggling Mississippi State team.

This Music City Bowl is a matchup of teams trending opposite directions.

After years of being an SEC doormat, Dan Mullen turned Mississippi State into a nationally relevant program, taking the Bulldogs to the Orange Bowl following the 2014 season. But Mullen is now at Florida, and new coach Joe Moorhead has struggled to keep up Mullen’s success as the Bulldogs have decreased in wins the past three seasons.

After apparently considering moving on from Moorhead, MSU administration announced that they will retain their head coach. Following the Egg Bowl victory over rival Ole Miss, Moorhead declared, “This is my team. This is my school. This is my program,” and that “You’ll have to drag my Yankee [explicative] out of here.”

Moorhead’s program will face Scott Satterfield’s Louisville Cardinals. After NFL star Lamar Jackson left Louisville, Bobby Petrino could not find a solution and the Cardinals were just 2-10 last year. In five seasons at Appalachian State, new Cardinal coach Satterfield compiled a 47-16 record and has a 7-5 record in his first year at Louisville, ironically the same record as his debut year at App. State. Satterfield will be looking to emulate the success he had with the Mountaineers here in Louisville, and he appears to be off to a good start.

Mississippi State has used two quarterbacks this season, Penn State transfer Tommy Stevens and freshman Garrett Shrader. He suffered an eye injury during bowl practice, and Stevens will start this game. While Shrader led the Bulldogs in passing yards at 1,170, Stevens threw for more touchdowns with 13. The fact that both quarterbacks started semi-regularly suggests that they are similar in talent, but the revolving door and splitting reps has to put a cap on their offensive potential.

Louisville has had quarterback issues of their own, but it appears that they have found their guy in sophomore Micale Cunningham, who owns an impressive 193.6 passer rating in 10 games as starter. The starter for the first two games was Jawon “Puma” Pass who suffered a toe injury early in the season.

With quarterback issues, both teams will look to run the ball during this game. Both teams are in the top-25 in rushing yards per game, headlined by Louisville’s Javian Hawkins and Mississippi State’s Kylin Hill. Both running backs are top-15 in rushing, per ESPN.

So let’s look at how each team defends the rush. Mississippi State is pretty good, allowing less than 150 yards on the ground per game. Louisville, however, really struggles. The Cardinals are 16th worst against the run, allowing 211 per game. This difference will be key in the game, and Hill’s Bulldogs will win comfortably.

Prediction: Mississippi State wins 31-17