WKU Football: WKU at Louisville Staff Predictions
The Tops. The Cardinals. It’s what we’ve been waiting for, the Petrino Bowl, ever since Bobby P left the Hill for UofL and the day is…
The Tops. The Cardinals. It’s what we’ve been waiting for, the Petrino Bowl, ever since Bobby P left the Hill for UofL and the day is finally here.
And, for the first time this season, our panel of distinguished pickers differs on the predictions.
Fletcher Keel, 1–1
The Hilltoppers aren’t supposed to win this game by just about every measurable thing you can measure. They’re coming off a near inexplicable loss, they’ve yet to prove they can play 60 minutes, on either side of the ball and their head coach has yet to prove that he has the chops to cut it as an FBS head coach close to a season and a half into his tenure.
Having said that, here’s the thing; the Tops weren’t supposed to lose to Maine, but did. Sanford hasn’t proved he has what it takes to head coach in the FBS, yet here he is, hauling in another top-ranked recruiting class (C-USA standards, wise). The Tops weren’t supposed to hang with a potential CFP team in Wisconsin, which they did for basically three, three-and-a-half quarters.
While it’s only been two games for the Tops, it’s been a topsy-turvey (pun is always intended) opening pair of contests.
Which is why I’m doing the thing. I’m doing the bloody, freakin’ thing.
It hasn’t been a great start for the Tops, but you can say the same for the Cardinals.
The stats really tell of similar seasons, and you really can’t call anything an outlier — both teams have faced a Top 4 team followed by an FCS opponent. Neither team can run the ball (WKU ranks 122nd nationally, UofL ranks 115th), they haven’t scored a bunch (22.5 points per game for UofL, 15.5 for the Tops) and the defense, in theory, should keep them in things, but are still giving up points (T-93rd for UofL, T-103rd for the Tops).
Neither team is happy with how they’ve started this year in really any form or fashion. The Cardinals could overcorrect a slow start against Indiana State and play very tight early. The Tops could overcorrect and get off to another fast start and refuse to take the foot off the throat this time.
Or the exact opposite could happen.
Regardless, I don’t think anyone thought this game would be this in flux, yet here we are.
Yall, I’m doing the thing, and saying the Hilltoppers take this one, 28–26.
Sam Gormley, 1–1
There is nothing I would enjoy more than watching the Hilltoppers take down the Dirty Birds (ed. note — watch it, Gormely. There’s only one dirty birds, and they sure as hell aint these birds.), but after last week’s performance, I can’t see it happening.
The good news for Topper fans? Lamar Jackson is not taking the field and his absence is being felt early on for Cardinal fans. His replacement is Puma Pass, who was battling in practice this week with Malik Cunningham to start the game. Both quarterbacks, like Jackson, have a dual threat option that the WKU defense hasn’t seen so far this season.
Offensively, Western very well could be without Drew Eckels and will be forced to turn to three players who have seen very limited action. The offense is a big worry going into the game, but the Louisville defense has struggled at times, so this could be an opportunity for the offense to regain confidence.
Overall, this does have the potential to be a trap game for Louisville. It is also really hard to pick, because the Cardinals’ two games this season have resulted in a blowout loss to Alabama and a blowout win over Indiana State. It is hard to understand really how good they are.
With all of that being said, I can’t bring myself to pick WKU, if they can’t beat Maine, what makes us think they can beat Louisville? Louisville 35 — WKU 13
Ross Shircliffe, 0–1 (no prediction for Wisconsin)
This is a game that matches up two programs in desperate need for a statement to take some heat off of their respective coaches. For Mike Sanford, a win here will erase most of the doubt and give him a signature win to hang his hat on. For Bobby Petrino, this game is an opportunity to show that he can still take care of business against a perceived “inferior” opponent and build towards a respectable season.
With that in mind, I think that Louisville has the edge in talent and on the sidelines. I expect WKU to come out aggressive and score some points against a suspect Louisville defense but I think their lack of a running game will continue to cause drives to stall out and give Louisville opportunities to exploit a perennially tired defense. Bobby won’t take it easy against his former employer because he needs a statement game to quiet down some of his doubters after two poor performances to open the season. With questions abound at quarterback for both teams, I believe this game will be low scoring. I think the Cardinals emerge 33–16 in a game that will leave both fan bases unhappy.
Jared Rosdeutscher, 1–1
Well, last week was about as low as you can get for a team the caliber WKU has been the past few years. A loss to Maine means WKU has to steal a win against a team that they may not have as good of a chance against. But is Louisville that team?
Bobby Petrino’s Louisville squad hasn’t gotten off to the best start this year after losing Heisman winning quarterback Lamar Jackson. They are in a major transition and lost their opener against #1 Alabama (understandably so) but struggled against Indiana State at home in the first half of that game.
WKU has been a team that has started well but hasn’t played a complete 60 minutes of football yet so I’m hoping they play a full game regardless of if Drew Eckels is healthy and plays for this game. Playing Eckels if he isn’t 100% good to go seems like it would be risky and could be a major mistake so it may be best to give Duncan or Thomas some snaps for this game.
Unfortunately, I still don’t see WKU ending their losing skid this week in a pretty rough road environment and I expect Louisville to win at home, 28–13.
Matt McCay, 1–1
Last week sucked for the Tops. I’m very interested to see how they move on from losing to an FCS team. When I was a member of the program in 2009, WKU lost to Central Arkansas and ended up losing every game. That’s one way to handle it, or you can buck up, get mad, and use the adversity as motivation, like in 2011, when they started out 0–4 and ended up 7–5.
That being said, I’m not sure which way this thing is going, but I’m pretty sure Louisville is not going to be the time they get it back rolling. Louisville is talented and a member of the ACC with significant recent expectations. That being said, Louisville is absolutely not invincible. Louisville struggled mightily against Alabama and Indiana State. Blown out by Alabama, the Cardinals were in a tight battle until blowing it open late against ISU.
I believe WKU will come in fired up and ready to go. I believe it will be pretty close, but I think WKU’s combination of youth on the field and off may be the difference. I do believe WKU could get into the backfield, and I believe Louisville is not remotely as explosive of an offense. However, I would be surprised if WKU doesn’t yield at least 400 yards and 30 points defensively. Can WKU keep pace with Louisville? Or can the Tops find a way to hold Louisville at bay? I think it’s close, but Western falls in a pretty close affair.
Louisville 31 — WKU 17