Louisville Cardinals vs Southern Miss Golden Eagles NCAA Football Picks and Predictions

Louisville Cardinals vs Southern Miss Golden Eagles
Tuesday, 12/21/10, 8:00 PM EDT, TV: ESPN
Opening Point Spread: Louisville -3
Current Betting Line: Louisville -3
Opening Total: 57.5
Current Total: 57

The Southern Miss Golden Eagles are playing in their ninth-straight bowl game and are 3-point underdogs in facing Louisville

Louisville needed a victory in its final regular season game to become bowl-eligible and it picked up a 40-13 win over Rutgers to accomplish the task. “I kept telling our guys you’re a good football team. It’s just a matter of believing it,” head coach Charlie Strong stated. “Our guys just developed some confidence.” The former defensive coordinator has wasted little time in turning around a program that went 12-1 as recently as the 2006 season. The Cardinals will be playing their 15th bowl game in school history and have posted a 6-7-1 all-time mark in the postseason. The Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg, Florida will be the team’s third straight bowl appearance in the state of Florida, defeating Wake Forest in the 2007 Orange Bowl and dropping a contest to Virginia Tech in the 2006 Gator Bowl. Louisville is 7-6 ATS as a favorite the past three years and is currently favored on the college football lines page.

The Cardinals have compiled a 87-77 mark against Conference USA opponents, including a 56-0 win over Memphis at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. Louisville is 9-18-1 all-time in this series, but has won four straight meetings, including a 25-23 comeback win on October 10, 2009 at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. The team is averaging 29.5 points per game during its four-game win streak against Southern Mississippi. The turnaround was spurred by the play of the defensive unit, improving from 65th to 12th nationally in surrendering 304.7 yards per game. The quarterback position is still up in the air, but Strong has plans of starting senior Justin Burke, but Adam Froman and Will Stein might also play.

Southern Miss is in familiar territory and will be playing in its ninth consecutive bowl game and 21st overall. The Golden Eagles have posted a 9-11 mark in bowl games and will be playing in the state of Florida for a bowl game for the first time since the 1981 season. In order to capture a victory against its Big East opponent in this contest, the team must improve a defense that allowed 29.4 points and allowed opponents to surpass 40 in five games. “I thought there were some games that we played very well defensively and there were some games that we did not,” said coach Larry Fedora. Southern Miss will be playing indoors for the second time this season, defeating Tulan 46-30 at the Louisiana Superdome in November. The team is 6-6 ATS on the year.

The Golden Eagles are a difficult offense to prepare for due to being one of 13 programs nationally that are averaging 200 yards per game in both rushing and passing. Junior quarterback Austin Davis bounced back from a foot injury that limited him in 2009, throwing for 2,898 yards and 18 touchdowns, while rushing for 436 and 10 more scores. He has posted a 18-12 mark as a starter.