Louisville Cardinals
Louisville Cardinals Friday night in Louisville the 3-1 Pitt Panthers come into town to take on the 1-2 Cardinals in a Big East Conference match-up that should prove to be a very good game on ESPN2.

Both teams will be looking to get back on track this week after tough losses.

Pittsburgh dropped their first game of the year last weekend, losing 31-38 to North Carolina State in Raleigh. Louisville also feel to the hands of Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.

NCAA odds makers are calling Louisville a home dog as the Vegas line is sitting at Pittsburgh -6.5. The total in the game is set at 53.

The Panthers defensive unit really let head coach Dave Wannstedt down when it mattered most last week against the Wolfpack. Pitt took a 31-24 lead into the fourth quarter, but gave up 14 unanswered points and came up on the losing
end. Pitt gave up more than 500 yards of offense to an NC State team that entered with the highest-scoring offense in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In their loss to the Utes, the Cardinals offense was limited to just 261 yards and only four third down conversions by the Utah defense. The passing game produced 181 yards while the ground game accumulated a meager 80 yards at 2.3 yards per carry. Louisville will have to put up a much better showing against Pittsburgh if they are going to compete.

I look for both of these teams to play a lot tougher in this one. Although Pittsburgh's defense was supposed to be their strong point coming into the season, their offense might just steel the show on Friday night.

Take Pitt and give the 6.5 points on the road. Louisville should stick around for a while, but the Panthers will pull away late. I don't see another defensive meltdown in this one.