Louisville Football In For A Hammering

By Paul Sykes

One could hardly blame the Louisville football team if it dipped into the Keg of Nails for Saturday’s game at Cincinnati to mend a porous defense and wobbly offense. The keg, of course, is the traditional prize for the team winning the game, which hardly seems to be in doubt this time around.

Issues that will plague Louisville:

• Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly is trying to keep people guessing whether Tony Pike will start after injuring his left arm and wrist. Spare us the drama, Kelly. The starter will be Zach Collaros who ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns. Any of his reserve quarterbacks would start at U of L.

• Wide Reciever Mardy Gilyard leads the Big East in all-purpose yards. He averages 166 a game and has caught at least one touchdown pass per game . Louisville’s Johnny Patrick will probably be assigned to him, but there are plenty of other threats to go around.

• Cincy leads the nation in tackles for a loss at 10.2 a game, ranking second in sacks with 4.2 sacks per game. They’re in the top 10 in forcing turnovers. Restock the aspirin bottle for the Cards QB’s and running backs.

• The Bearcats average 40.7 points a game and have only committed four turnovers this year, all interceptions, tied for the lowest turnover rate among BCS teams.

Predicting a Cardinal win this year would be akin to old guy Paul winning the Boston Marathon. It’s just not going to happen. Cincinnati 44, Louisville 14. Sonja is calling for a lower scoring game due to the chances of rough weather in the Queen City, 24-7 Cincinnati.