Louisville Cardinals vs. Syracuse Orange Betting Preview
Where: Carrier Dome – Syracuse, New York
When: Friday, September 9, 8:00 PM ET
Line: Louisville Cardinals (-14.5) at Syracuse Orange (+14.5) – view all NCAA Football odds and lines
TV Broadcast: ESPN2
Writer’s Pick: Louisville Cardinals (-14.5)
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Betting on the Louisville Cardinals (-14.5)
Lamar Jackson was one of the most hyped players heading into the new 2016 college football season, and he has added more fuel to the fire with a spectacular showing in Week 1.
Jackson didn’t play in their game against Syracuse last season due to injury, but the Cards didn’t really need him. Backup Kyle Bolin threw for 363 yards and three touchdowns to lead Louisville to a 41-17 win at home. Louisville has now gone 5-1 (SU and ATS) against Syracuse in their last six meetings.
Jackson’s ability to make plays with his legs is no secret. Dating back to last season, Jackson has averaged 177 rushing yards and has scored six total rushing touchdowns in his last three games.
But now that he has a much better grasp of the offense (he didn’t even know the plays last year!) and has the added threat of the passing game which he displayed against Charlotte, it’s hard to see how Syracuse’s defense slows this Cards offense down.
Betting on the Syracuse Orange (+14.5)
Syracuse started off the Dino Babers era with a morale-boosting 33-7 win over Colgate. The Orange defense, which has switched to a new Tampa-2 defense this season, limited the Patriot League team to just 143 total yards of offense.
The Orange obviously have their hands full in containing the Jackson-led Cards offense the way they did Colgate. Cuse does return three starters along their linebacking corps, though, and they will be crucial in keeping Jackson from consistently busting out his signature runs.
On the other side of the ball, the Orange have the offensive weapons to make the Cardinals defense work a fair bit as well. It starts with Babers, whose hurry-up spread offense was a huge reason Bowling Green finished sixth in the nation in scoring offense last year, averaging 42.2 points per game.
Sophomore quarterback Eric Dungey looked sharp in his first game in the system as he completed 34 of 40 passes for 355 yards. A year’s worth of experience, coupled with the implementation of Babers’ system, should help Dungey improve upon his performance against Louisville, which was the worst game he played in his freshman season. He completed just 15 of 30 passes for 158 yards and threw two interceptions.
Writer’s Prediction
Lamar Jackson leads Louisville (-14.5) to another big win, 42-24.
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