Game: Louisville Cardinals @ South Florida Bulls
Location: Raymond James Stadium Tampa Bay, FL
Time: 12:00 pm EST (noon)
T.V.: Big East Network which is WHAS 11 (Insight Channel 4)
Radio: WHAS 840 AM

The University of Louisville football team will travel to the sunshine state to take on the South Florida Bulls tomorrow afternoon.  Louisville is coming off of their first conference win against Syracuse last Saturday which kept their microscopic bowl hopes alive.  South Florida, which has already reached bowl eligibility, is licking its wounds after a 31-0 beat down at the hands of Rutgers last week.  The Bulls will certainly be looking to take out their frustration on a Cardinal squad which hasn’t had much luck in Tampa over the last few years.  In fact, Louisville has never won on the road at SouthFlorida going 0-3 all time at Raymond James Stadium.  If the Cards are looking to turn their fortunes around and here is what they have to contend with:

Meet the Bulls

The strength of this years South Florida team is their defense.  The Bulls rank 23rd nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 19.11 points per game.  They also rank 27th nationallyin total defense giving up 319.89 yards per game.  The strength of the Bulls defense is against the pass.  South Florida ranks first in the Big East and 28th nationally, holding teams to 186 yards passing per game.  The run defense is where the holes are.  The Bulls are sixth in the conference and 50th nationally in stopping the run, allowing teams 133.89 yards on the ground per game.  If the Cards are going to have any success, they need to run the ball.

Offensively, the Bulls are just average.  They rank sixth in the conference in scoring (27.33 pts), fifth in total offense (359.56 yds), fifth in rushing (162.56 yds), and seventh in passing (197 yds).  Keep in mind that the Big East is an eight team league, so the South Florida offense ranks in the middle to lower half in every offensive category.  The Bulls, like Louisville, is subject to giving up a lot of sacks.  They rank seventh in the conference and 104th nationally by giving up 2.78 sacks per game.  The only team in the Big East who allows more sacks is Louisville which allows 3.3 sacks per game.  If the Cards defense continues to play like they have the past few weeks and can get pressure on the South Florida’s quarterback, then Louisville can stay in the game. 

B.J. Daniels is the leader of the South Florida offensive attack.  Daniels, who is just a freshman, took over the reigns of quarterback early in the season when starter Matt Grothe went down withan ACL injury.  Daniels is a duel threat quarterback who can do damage with both his arm and his feet.  Daniels averages 136 yards in the air with a completion percentage of 51.1%.  He has thrown for a total of 1,225 yards, 10 TD’s, and 8 interceptions on the season.  Daniels can also throw the deep ball very well.  He leads the nation in yards per completion, averaging 17.3 yards per pass.  The biggest threat withDaniels might come with his legs.  He is the leading rusher for USF, running for 530 yards on 109 carries this season with four touchdowns.  That is good for an average of 58.89 yards per game and ranks sixth nationally in rushing yards per game by a quarterback. 

The other big threat on the USF offense is receiver Carlton Mitchell.  Mitchell leads the team in receiving with 29 receptions for 542 yards and four touchdowns.  This is good for an average of 18.7 yards per catch and over 60 yards per game.  Mitchell is a speedy wideout with deep threat capabilities.  He and Daniels hooked up earlier this year for an 85 yard touchdown. 

On the defensive side of things, keep an eye out for George Selvie.  Selvie was picked as the pre-season defensive player of the year in the Big East and he has not disappointed.  He has recorded 3o tackles so far this season, including 7.5 tackles for loss.  He has also recorded three sacks, forced a fumble, and recovered a fumble.  Selvie currently ranks first among active players in tackle’s for loss with 67.5 during his career.  He is also just 7.5 tackles for loss short of the all time NCAA career record.   Selvie currently ranks thrid among active players in career sacks with 28.5.  He is just 1.5 behind the current active leader, Dexter Davis of Arizona State who has 30. 

Other players to watch on the defensive side of the ball include defensive backs Nate Allen and Jerome Murphy.  Each of these men have three interceptions apiece and make up more than half of South Florida’s total interceptions.  Also keep an eye on linebacker KionWilson who leads the Bulls with 79 tackles on the season.

Key’s to Victory

1) Run the ball effectively.  Hopefully Victor Anderson will be able to play coming off limited time against Syracuse due to injury.  The Cards have tremendous depth at running back if Anderson can’t go.  This means Darius Ashley and BilalPowell need to run hard and with a purpose.  Both have showed a combination of speed and power and are more than capable of having big games.  As I mentioned earlier, the weakest part of the USF defense is against the run.  The Cards need to take advantage of that.

2) Protect the quarterback.  Louisville’s offensive line has been absolutely horrible this year.  It won’t be easy going up against the USF front four, especially Selvie.  If the Cards are going to have any chance at success through the air, they need better protection.  Louisville has great weapons at receiver in Scott Long, Doug Beaumont, Trent Guy, and Josh Chichester.  The QB just needs enough time to deliver them the ball so they can make a play.

3) Continue the great defensive play.  Over the past few weeks, Louisville has shown tremendous improvement on the defensive side.  Chris Campa and Jon Dempsey are already beasts, now the rest of the unit needs to step up.  L.D. Scott and William Savoy need to pressure Daniels and keep him contained in the pocket.  If he gets outside of the pocket, he can turn in a big play with his legs.  The linebackers need to be quick to get to the outside and stop Daniels from turning it up the field.  The secondary needs to keep up with USF’s wide receiverspeed.  The Bulls have some big play, deep threat guys and the Cards DB’s need to be aware of this.  The safety’s need to help over the top and not get burned down field.  Keep everything underneath for short yardage.  Containing Daniels is the first priority and biggest challenge this unit will encounter.

4) Move the ball and score points.  Louisville is 3-1 this season when they produce 400+ yards of offense.  The Cards are also 13-6 in the Steve Kragthorpe era when scoring at least 24 points.  They are just 2-13 under Coach K when scoring fewer than 24.  On the flip side, South Florida is 40-1 all time when allowing 0-10 points to an opponent.  They are 33-8 when allowing 11-20 points.  Once teams score 21-30 points, that record drops to 12-19 and gets worse from there.  The Cards offense needs to be efficient and put the ball in the end zone.  They can’t settle for field goals like they have been over the last two weeks.

The all-time series between the two teams is tied at 3-3, with each team winning at home every time. Louisville defeated the nationally ranked #14 USF Bulls last season at PJCS 24-20.