The No. 22 Louisville Cardinals are still trying to shake off a tough loss to Notre Dame, and now they have to deal with the SMU Mustangs coming to town. This new ACC matchup could provide some fireworks on Saturday afternoon.
Can Louisville get up off the mat after its 31-24 loss to Notre Dame in South Bend? That’s the question for this matchup because, prior to that game, the Cardinals were rolling. Last week, that momentum came to a screeching halt as Louisville turned the ball over three times and converted on just one of its five fourth-down attempts to kill multiple drives.
The good news for the Cards is that Tyler Shough could have a big day against a Mustangs defense that surrendered 42 points to TCU a couple of weeks ago. Even after a tough matchup with the Irish, Shough is still averaging 278.5 passing yards per game with 11 touchdowns and one interception.
The SMU offense is absolutely humming coming into this matchup. The Mustangs have scored a combined 108 points in their last two games against Florida State and TCU, and running back Brashard Smith has been doing serious damage out of the backfield. He has 509 rush yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 7.3 yards per carry this season.