Louisville vs Pittsburgh Odds: Is This a Trap Game For Louisville?

The Louisville Cardinals are making a name for themselves in Jeff Brohm’s first season as head coach. Louisville is 6-0 and a real threat to win the ACC this college football season after earning a home win against Notre Dame last weekend.

If they want to play in the ACC Championship, they must knock off Pittsburgh on the road this week.

The Pittsburgh Panthers are just 1-4 on the year but have a whole bye week to prepare for Louisville.

Can Louisville stay focused after its massive win against Notre Dame?

Take a look at the Louisville vs Pittsburgh Odds for this ACC matchup scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

Louisville’s Trying To Stay Level-Headed

Sometimes, staying focused is hard when things are going incredibly well. Most will want to celebrate success and start to fade away from a hard work ethic.

Some analysts fear that Louisville will overlook its next opponent. Louisville is 6-0 and riding an all-time high after a massive win against Notre Dame.

But now the Cardinals need to focus on the next task. That’s beating Pittsburgh.

Jeff Brohm spoke to the media on Tuesday. He said that the Cardinals aren’t going to fall into that trap. Instead, the team has taken on Brohm’s no-nonsense personality.

Louisville’s got a rich history of success with some big-time star players. This year’s team doesn’t have a single standout. They’ve played together as a team, and the results have shown.

The last time Louisville was ranked in the top 15 was in 2017. They don’t have a single person who was a part of the program then. This is all new for Louisville. A strong start will be crucial for the Cardinals.

Pittsburgh’s Quarterback Change

The Pittsburgh Panthers used their bye week to change quarterbacks.

Head coach Pat Narduzzi confirmed that decision to the media on Monday. His new starting quarterback will be Christian Veilleux, replacing Phil Jurkovec as QB1.

Jurkovec came from Boston College as a highly touted transfer. But he never figured it out with Pittsburgh and has now switched positions to tight end to finish his college football eligibility.

On Saturday, Veilleux will make his second career start. He hasn’t been any better than Jurkovec when he’s played. He’s completed just 12-fo-27 and has thrown for 145 yards. He’s also thrown just one touchdown with two interceptions this NCAA football season.

But if Pittsburgh thought a chance was necessary, then so be it. The best time to make a change is during the bye week. So Pittsburgh finally made the decision.

The depth chart has more changes than just its quarterback. Kenny Johnson and Daejon Reynolds are listed as co-starters at wide receiver for the first time this season. Meanwhile, Ryan Bear will take over for Matt Goncalves at right tackle on the offensive side of things.

Let’s look at the Louisville vs Pittsburgh odds for this pivotal game in the ACC.

Louisville vs Pittsburgh Odds

The Louisville Cardinals are sitting at -7.5 against Pittsburgh on the road. Meanwhile, the total is currently at 46.

Louisville might be 6-0 on the season, but the Cardinals are just 3-2-1 against the spread. The Cardinals have gone 2-0-1 in their last three games, including a cover against Notre Dame as six-point underdogs.

The Cardinals have also watched the total go Under in three of their first six games. One game pushed, with two going Over the total.

Dating back to last season, the Under hit seven of ten games for Louisville.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh hasn’t covered in each of their last five games. The Panthers pushed against Cincinnati on September 9 but have lost against the spread in their previous four games.

The defense is to blame, as the Over has hit in four of five games and eight of their last ten games dating back to last season.

The Cardinals defeated Pittsburgh in their last meeting, 24-10 in 2022. However, Pittsburgh won the previous two games before that. This is the first time since 2010 that the spread is higher than three points on either side. Louisville is much higher than Pittsburgh in the college football standings for the first time in a long time.

Good Luck Scoring, Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Cardinals are giving Christian Veilleux his second career start in college football. He’s got plenty of potential. But his second start is also against one of the best defenses in the ACC and college football.

Louisville has held teams to 322.8 yards per game, including only 98.7 yards on the ground. The Cardinals will force Pittsburgh to throw the football. Knowing how well Louisville has done against the pass is not ideal.

Opponents have earned an average of 224.2 yards in the air thanks to a dominant pass rush and an excellent secondary. Louisville has also wrapped up tackles at a high rate and doesn’t miss many opportunities to get a stop.

With Pittsburgh earning just over 300 yards of offense this season, even at home, the Panthers will likely struggle to find much offense.

After all, Pittsburgh’s leading rusher is Rodney Hammond Jr., who hasn’t even surpassed 200 yards rushing in five NCAA games.

Speed Kills!

Louisville has so much speed on offense. Not even Notre Dame was able to stop it.

Jawhar Jordan leads the run game. He’s averaged 7.5 yards per carry on 87 attempts this season. The junior runner has added eight touchdowns with 653 yards on the ground this season.

Meanwhile, Jack Plummer has thrown 12 touchdowns and 1551 yards this season. His favorite target is another speedster, Jamari Thrash. Thrash had hauled in 30 catches for 519 yards with six touchdowns.

He’s averaged 17.3 yards per catch this year.

So, while Pittsburgh’s defense has been above-average this season, it’ll still be hard to get stops against Louisville’s offense. The one thing that Plummer will need to minimize is interceptions. However, he didn’t throw one last weekend against Notre Dame.

Notre Dame was by far the hardest defense that Plummer has played against this season. He made everything look so easy in that game.

If Plummer takes care of the football, Louisville should earn a significant victory against Pittsburgh on the road. Jeff Brohm said that his team will be prepared and won’t spend time celebrating. I’ll take his word. Another win will increase those NCAAF Championship odds. After the game, check those NCAA Football scores and cash out your winnings.

Back Louisville -7.5.

For NCAAF betting news, analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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