Louisville at Syracuse

Syracuse has certainly fallen hard from the annual Bowl trips they were making not very long ago. They now have gained the reputation of a loser, and not to many are interested in backing them. Louisville, on the other hand, has been the team ushering in Bowl bids of late with a potent offense. But the 2008 version is built a bit different. They are better defensively, and much less explosive offensively, and run a lot more than past Louisville teams. Yet the perception has not taken firm hold yet. Syracuse is a much improved team this year, but the gap has been left so wide, the improvements have gone largely unnoticed. This team is more like the 2006-07 team that only won four games, but held their own at home vs BSC and conference teams. That team won one such game and lost the other three by 7, 10 and 15 points. Last year the Cuse lost their home games vs BCS teams by margins of 21, 31, 24, 41, 21 and 32 points. This year they lost by 10, and even went on the road to Morgantown and lost by just 11. I'm not overlooking the beating they got at Penn State, but that is a whole other level of competition. Louisville amazingly has not faced a BCS team on the road the entire season, and is off a big emotional win vs. South Florida. They also have a big game with Pitt on the road next week so this is a perfect letdown sandwich spot. Remember last year an 0-3 Syracuse team that had lost their first three by almost 30 per game went to Louisville and caught the Cards in a similar spot, winning outright as a 37 point dog. I'll back Syracuse who should be able to hang around at home.