Louisville (4-0) at Miami (FL) (4-0) -- Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET
Why to watch: O.K. BCS haters, this is one of the only legitimate chances you have to upset the status quo so get out your Matt Leinart F*** The BCS t-shirts and wave your Louisville pom-poms as this is the Super Bowl for the little guy. The Cardinals are in the top ten nationally in several major categories destroying everything in their path on the way to a 4-0 record and immense national respect. A win would be the one feather in the cap needed to make an undefeated Cardinal team a player in the BCS race. But Miami isn't East Carolina. The Hurricanes and their fans are pulling the "no one respects us" rant, but it's been brought on by themselves with a lousy offense that needs it's elite defense to win games. While some would dismiss a win over Louisville as simply a victory over a Conference USA team, this would be every bit as impressive as the 16-10 overtime win over Florida State and would prove once and for all that the Canes are serious about staying home in early January.
Why Louisville might win: Miami's offense is awful gaining only 337.5 yards per game with an inconsistent passing game and a surprisingly average ground attack. Sure the Canes average over 32 points per game, but defense, the punt return game, and good opportunities have a lot to do with that. Miami might not move the ball much, but it takes advantage of every mistake. Unfortunately for Miami, Louisville doesn't make many currently third in the nation in turnover margin giving up three so far and taking away 12. This is a diverse Cardinal attack with just as much speed and more weapons than it knows what to do with. Oh yeah, and the defense isn't bad either pitching two shutouts, allowing a touchdown against East Carolina in a 59-7 win, and giving up garbage time points to Army.
Why Miami might win: Louisville might be putting up video game numbers this year, but Kentucky (90th in the nation in total D), Army (117th), North Carolina (112th) and East Carolina (115th) have four of the worst defenses in college football. Miami's defense is more than fantastic ranking second in the nation in total defense and first in scoring D allowing 216 yards and 6.5 points per game. This is a team and a program that thrives on challenges and doesn't like hearing about how Louisville is going to come in and make a BCS statement. With 12 days off to prepare, Louisville is going to see something it hasn't seen all season long and could be stunned by just how fast and how physical the Cane defense can be.
Who to watch: The time off has helped the struggling Miami receiving corps a little bit as Sinorice Moss, who leads the team with 153 receiving yards, will be back from his hamstring problem, but Ryan Moore is still out with an ankle injury. That means Roscoe Parrish will have to continue to be the main receiving weapon and has to come through with a big game to stretch the field for Frank Gore and the ground attack. For Louisville, Eric Shelton needs to control the tempo of the game and the clock. The Florida State transfer has rushed for 215 yards and eight touchdowns in his last two games and will be a marked man early.
What will happen: This isn't going to be a blowout, so one of two things will happen. Either Miami will get down and be left for dead before Brock Berlin engineers another fantastic comeback, last-gasp drive like he did in last year's classic 22-20 win over West Virginia and in the season-opener against Florida State, or Louisville's defense will hold and do what Tennessee did last year in the 10-6 win the Canes. Either way it'll be high drama. While all the making are there for the upset, it's still the Orange Bowl and it's still Miami.
Must See Rating: (5 lock yourself in a room to watch - 1 Taxi) ... 5
Line: Miami -9.5
Fearless Prediction: Miami 17 ... Louisville 16
Why to watch: O.K. BCS haters, this is one of the only legitimate chances you have to upset the status quo so get out your Matt Leinart F*** The BCS t-shirts and wave your Louisville pom-poms as this is the Super Bowl for the little guy. The Cardinals are in the top ten nationally in several major categories destroying everything in their path on the way to a 4-0 record and immense national respect. A win would be the one feather in the cap needed to make an undefeated Cardinal team a player in the BCS race. But Miami isn't East Carolina. The Hurricanes and their fans are pulling the "no one respects us" rant, but it's been brought on by themselves with a lousy offense that needs it's elite defense to win games. While some would dismiss a win over Louisville as simply a victory over a Conference USA team, this would be every bit as impressive as the 16-10 overtime win over Florida State and would prove once and for all that the Canes are serious about staying home in early January.
Why Louisville might win: Miami's offense is awful gaining only 337.5 yards per game with an inconsistent passing game and a surprisingly average ground attack. Sure the Canes average over 32 points per game, but defense, the punt return game, and good opportunities have a lot to do with that. Miami might not move the ball much, but it takes advantage of every mistake. Unfortunately for Miami, Louisville doesn't make many currently third in the nation in turnover margin giving up three so far and taking away 12. This is a diverse Cardinal attack with just as much speed and more weapons than it knows what to do with. Oh yeah, and the defense isn't bad either pitching two shutouts, allowing a touchdown against East Carolina in a 59-7 win, and giving up garbage time points to Army.
Why Miami might win: Louisville might be putting up video game numbers this year, but Kentucky (90th in the nation in total D), Army (117th), North Carolina (112th) and East Carolina (115th) have four of the worst defenses in college football. Miami's defense is more than fantastic ranking second in the nation in total defense and first in scoring D allowing 216 yards and 6.5 points per game. This is a team and a program that thrives on challenges and doesn't like hearing about how Louisville is going to come in and make a BCS statement. With 12 days off to prepare, Louisville is going to see something it hasn't seen all season long and could be stunned by just how fast and how physical the Cane defense can be.
Who to watch: The time off has helped the struggling Miami receiving corps a little bit as Sinorice Moss, who leads the team with 153 receiving yards, will be back from his hamstring problem, but Ryan Moore is still out with an ankle injury. That means Roscoe Parrish will have to continue to be the main receiving weapon and has to come through with a big game to stretch the field for Frank Gore and the ground attack. For Louisville, Eric Shelton needs to control the tempo of the game and the clock. The Florida State transfer has rushed for 215 yards and eight touchdowns in his last two games and will be a marked man early.
What will happen: This isn't going to be a blowout, so one of two things will happen. Either Miami will get down and be left for dead before Brock Berlin engineers another fantastic comeback, last-gasp drive like he did in last year's classic 22-20 win over West Virginia and in the season-opener against Florida State, or Louisville's defense will hold and do what Tennessee did last year in the 10-6 win the Canes. Either way it'll be high drama. While all the making are there for the upset, it's still the Orange Bowl and it's still Miami.
Must See Rating: (5 lock yourself in a room to watch - 1 Taxi) ... 5
Line: Miami -9.5
Fearless Prediction: Miami 17 ... Louisville 16
Well, I just don't like Teasing down to -8. -8 is not a significant number for me. I usually like to tease -spreads between 2-9 points. Teasing 14 down to 8 doesn't appeal to me. Teasing it up to 3 TD's does. So it's either tease UCLA or don't. I think I found my replacement game tho. I might tease Virginia up to 9 or Iowa up to 8.5. Iowa at home plus Ohio st. hasn't won by a margin more than 8 all year. Ohio St. wins by a FG. Then both gfeese and I'll be happy. 
Welcome Greg
Greg, Welcome to TheRX. I came from covers to not sure if you knew me over there or not I have only been there 2 months and already I am tired of the bullshit there. I love Arizona State and Oklahoma State, little hesitant about Wisconsin, Purdue has the better QB and these two team are almost evengly matched other than that. Know your from Illinois, you think they will hold up against Michigan this week, I'm on Illinois+19. GL this weekend, lets kick his ass!!:drink:
Greg, Welcome to TheRX. I came from covers to not sure if you knew me over there or not I have only been there 2 months and already I am tired of the bullshit there. I love Arizona State and Oklahoma State, little hesitant about Wisconsin, Purdue has the better QB and these two team are almost evengly matched other than that. Know your from Illinois, you think they will hold up against Michigan this week, I'm on Illinois+19. GL this weekend, lets kick his ass!!:drink:
