Rutgers at Louisville Point Spread
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights will be looking to add to their 3-0 Big East record when they face the Louisville Cardinals away from home this Friday. Last weekend the Scarlet Knights successfully mounted a late comeback to edge Navy by a score of 21-20. Their overall record stands at 5-1, which means that they already have more victories than their last year’s total of four. Louisville on the other hand was defeated in their last game by Cincinnati. The 16-25 defeat was their third consecutive match without victory and their overall record for the season now stands at 2-4.
If you take a look at this week’s college football lines, you’ll find that the oddsmakers have installed the Cardinals as favorites of two points over the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Rutgers’ defense has been their key weapon so far this season and they utilized it to perfection against Navy in their last match. With just five minutes left on the game clock, Sophomore Brandon Jones stopped Navy’s crucial field goal attempt from 34 yards out to make sure that his side came out triumphant.
It seems as if the Scarlet Knights head coach Greg Schiano will keep the faith with freshman QB Gary Nova, who has now effectively displaced his predecessor Chas Dodd from the starting line-up. While Nova’s passes were twice intercepted at crucial times against Navy, he redeemed himself by throwing for 271 yards and scoring two TDs.
In the game against Navy, they also had 152 yards on the ground, a decent return from their standards. Sophomore Jawan Jamison was the team leader with 101 yards, 22 carries and one score to his credit. The match marked only the third occasion this season when the Scarlet Knights have collectively rushed for more than a 100 yards.
Louisville’s 2-3 record may not be a thing to envy, but they have been playing tough defense. They are permitting their opponents just 100.7 yards on average each game, which has elevated them to the 20th in the nation in rush defense. This means that Rutgers’ Nova would once again be required to deliver a strong performance on the offensive end.
Louisville Cardinals
The Cardinals’ offensive has been extremely poor this year. They have an average of just 16.3 points per game and it has deteriorated more in recent games. In their last three games, they have collectively scored 36 points only at an average of 12 points per game.
Their quarterback position has also underwent changes, with their original first choice Will Stein been replaced by true freshman Teddy Bridgewater after the first two games of the season. Against Cincinnati last week, Bridgewater threw 17 of his 28 attempted passes accurately, although he had no TDs and one interception to show for it.
Their running game has yet to get going. In their 30 attempts against Cincinnati, they ran for just 70 yards. If you take their two wins against Murray State and Kentucky out of the picture, their average on the ground shrinks to an abysmal level of 78.3 yards per game.
Considering that Rutgers is one of the better defensive teams in the conference, it is not fair to expect a major offensive game from Louisville on Friday. In their six games, Rutgers has forced their opponents to commit 24 turnovers, which means that Louisville’s first task should be to take better care of the football against them.
Betting Trends:
When playing away from home as underdogs, the Scarlet Knights are 21-8-2 ATS in their last 31 such games.
When favorites of 0.5-3.0 at their own turf, the Cardinals are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 such instances.
