Louisville, coming in a No. 5 in the latest college football playoff rankings, is looking to impress the voters on Thursday night, as they hit the road to Houston to take on the Cougars who sit at 8-2 on the season.
With kick off set for 8:00 PM ET, lets take a final look at some of the matchups heading into this, as we dive into the numbers so far this season for each team.
Louisville
- Louisville leads the nation in scoring, averaging 49.6 points per game, while giving up 20.3 points per game, ranking them No. 15 in the nation.
- They also rank first in yards per game, averaging 583.2 yards on the season but will be going up against a Houston defense that ranks No. 12 in the nation in opponent’s yards per game at 328.9 yards per game.
- The Cardinals are rushing the ball on 52.5 percent of their plays this season, averaging 6.7 yards per carry but the Houston defense is only giving up 3.0 yards per carry. However, they have yet to face a dual-threat quarterback like Lamar Jackson.
- Lamar Jackson and the quarterback play has been completing 59 percent of their passes but have been hitting his targets for big gains, averaging 9.2 yards per pass. The secondary for Houston should be tested in this matchup.
- Last year, the Cardinals threw for 325 yards and hit their wide receivers for big yards, as four receivers averaged over 11.0 yards per catch in the loss.
Houston
- Houston is averaging 37.1 points per game, good for No. 21 in the nation, while their defense is giving up on average 23.7 points to opponents.
- The ground game hasn’t been successful this year, as Houston runs the ball on 50 percent of their plays but is only averaging 3.4 yards per carry, ranking them No. 111 in the country. The Cardinals also are only giving up 2.8 yards per rush on the season; second in the nation.
- Houston has averaged over 300 yards per game through the air but is going up against a defense that is only giving up 182.9 yards per game passing. Louisville also has a sack percentage of 8.36 percent on the season, so look for the Cardinals to blitz and apply pressure to quarterback Greg Ward Jr.
- In Houston’s 34-31 win last year, it was the ground game that really came through, as the Cougars rushed 57 times for 226 yards, while Ward threw for three touchdowns.
Player-to-Player Match: Quarterback
Lamar Jackson (Louisville): 2,898 passing yards, 27 touchdowns, 6 INT/ 1,334 rushing yards, 19 touchdowns (Leads team)
Greg Ward Jr. (Houston): 2,608 passing yards, 16 touchdowns, 9 INT/ 429 rushing yards, 9 touchdowns (Leads team)
Sleeper Matchup: Linebackers
Houston: Tyus Bower (6.5 sacks, 8.5 TFL, 29 total tackles), Steven Taylor (6.0 sacks, 8.5 TFL, 50 total tackles)
Louisville: James Hearns (8.0 sacks, 10. TFL, 39 total tackles), Devonte Fields (5.0 sacks, 7.0 TFL, 39 total tackles)
