The buzz surrounding the No. 19 Louisville Cardinals has only intensified after their performance in the season opener. Lamar Jackson was one of the stars of the week thanks to eight first-half touchdowns against FBS newcomer Charlotte in a 56-point rout. Now, the Cardinals will look to build on that momentum with a win in its first conference game of the season. Louisville will take on the Syracuse Orange in College Football Week 2 on Friday.
This matchup in Week 2 of the regular season will take place on Friday, September 9, 2016,at 8 p.m. ET at the Carrier Dome on ESPN2.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Syracuse +14.5
Louisville -14.5
Odds Analysis
Louisville opened as a 13.5-point favorite, but a few quick bets pushed the Cardinals up to a 14.5-point favorite as of Sunday night. Both teams are 1-0 ATS after covering against outmatched teams in the first week of the season.
Player to Watch
It’s hard to overstate just how good Jackson was in the season opener. As a freshman last season, Jackson had his ups and downs and flashed a ton of potential, and the question coming into this season was whether or not he could put it together this season. Through one game, that answer has been a resounding yes.
Jackson is able to beat you with his arm or his legs and he showcased both of those skills against the 49ers in the first week of the season. He threw for 286 yards and ran for 119 yards as Louisville averaged over 11 yards on any play he was directly involved him. His abilities make him extremely difficult to stop and the Orange will have a tough time corralling him.
Last Meeting
When these teams met last season, Jackson was injured and didn’t take part. Instead, it was Kyle Bolin’s show. Unlike Jackson, Bolin is a more traditional pocket passer and only scrambles when he has to. He didn’t need his legs to scramble away from much against Syracuse and instead passed all over the Orange, lighting them up for 362 yards.
The Orange had one of the worst pass defenses in FBS last season and Bolin exploited that. However, Syracuse should be much better in the secondary this year and it will be more difficult for the Cardinals to throw on the Orange in the 2016 edition of this conference showdown.
Free ATS Pick
This time around, Louisville will be playing Jackson and will go after Syracuse’s run defense instead. All four members of the Orange secondary return from last season and that unit has gone from the weakness to the strength, but it’s quite the contrary for the Orange front seven.
Syracuse was supposed to get some help with the addition of Gabe Sherrod along the defensive line, but at the last instant the grad transfer decided to go to Michigan State instead of Syracuse. The impact of his loss is tremendous. Without him, the Orange will have to rely on four inexperienced underclassmen to get a pass rush and hopefully stop the run. These four could be good down the road but are incredibly raw at this point.
In addition to that, the Orange have a very inexperienced defensive coordinator in Brian Ward. Ward was a defensive coordinator at the FBS level for just one season, last year at Bowling Green, but that defense left a lot to be desired. Although the defense had a solid effort against Colgate last week, Louisville presents a much tougher test.
Louisville is going to be too tough for Syracuse to handle. The Cardinals are going to be able to run all over the Orange and Jackson may start getting some dark horse Heisman consideration after this. The Cardinals are going to dominate in every facet.
College Football Odds: Cardinals 44, Orange 20
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