Louisville Football: 3 reasons the Cardinals will beat Miami in Week 3

1. Louisville defense does just enough

We know how talented the Cardinals’ offense is, the question coming into this season for Louisville was could the defense get any stops.

As mentioned previously, the 21 points given up were mostly due to special team mistakes. The defense actually played very well last week. They held a decent Western Kentucky rushing attack to 119 yards, Miami’s ground game is a bigger test.

The linebacking corps of CJ Avery, Dorian Etheridge and Rodjay Burns is key. This group was able to make plays in the backfield and help against the run last week. If Miami is able to run for 300-plus yards on the ground this week, combined with D’Eriq King making plays in the passing game, Louisville doesn’t have a shot to win.

Controlling this Hurricanes rushing attack is close to the top priority. Last year this defense, which returns a lot of starters, was embarrassed by the Hurricanes, giving up 52 points.

There should be extra motivation for this group to come out and not be embarrassed again. Miami still should be able to score, but a few key stops and winning the turnover battle should be enough to pull out the win.