They were expected to compete for the Big East title, a national championship, and quarterback Brian Brohm was a preseason Heisman trophy favorite.
Well, two of those three opportunities are gone entering Friday night's football game against Utah (2-3), where the 3-2 Cardinals are 14.5-point home betting favorites on WagerWeb.com.
Brohm returned for his senior season, despite the fact he would have been a first-round pick in the NFL draft, despite Bobby Petrino leaving for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. Steve Kragthorpe was hired from Tulsa and promised to keep that same high-powered offensive system running.
"Obviously, I wanted Brian to stay for selfish reasons, but I didn't think it would be fair to break out my 34-inch Louisville Slugger and beat him over the head," Kragthorpe said. "I did not try to convince Brian to stay at Louisville. I tried to talk him through the process."
Brohm has racked up big numbers in every football game this year, starting with 375 yards and four touchdowns against Murray State, followed by 401 yards and five TDs against Middle Tennessee. Against Kentucky, he passed for 366 yards and a pair of touchdowns, followed by a career-high 555 yards against Syracuse. But those two losses have eliminated him from the Heisman race.
The Utes are very wary of Brohm's passing prowess.
"He's really good," said Utes coach Kyle Whittingham. "We need to put some pressure on him. If he sits back there and has all day and you don't make him speed up, then he can really hurt you. He's 6-4, 225 pounds and has a rifle for an arm and is a sure-fire first- round draft choice."
Well, offense hasn't really been the Cards' problem, even though they have fallen from preseason No. 10 to unranked after losses to Kentucky (understandable) and Syracuse (inexcusable). Louisville is coming off a 29-10 win at North Carolina State last week.
Sure, Louisville only allowed 10 points in wins over Murray State and North Carolina State. However in the other three games, the Cardinals allowed 38 points to Syracuse, 40 to Kentucky and 42 to Middle Tennessee State. Louisville's defense is giving up 141.4 rushing yards a game, but it has improved in the last two games, holding opponents to 63.5 yards with no rushing touchdowns.
So you can bet that Utah will try and run the ball all night with Darrell Mack, who rushed for 132 yards on 26 carries against Utah State last week and will have to have another big night for the Utes if they want to keep pace with the Cardinals.
Utah has been a bit of an enigma, losing its first two games, then blowing out No. 11 UCLA, only to follow it up with a shutout loss at UNLV. Quarterback Brian Johnson returned from a shoulder injury to lead the Utes past Utah State last week, but Utah remains very much a work in progress. (Check for NCAA football injuries)
Whittingham called Johnson "rusty" in his return last week.
"We haven't made enough first downs in a game this year, and we're going to need to do that if we want to control the game," Whittingham said. "They're a high-octane offense, and it's not ideal to get into a shootout with them."
Utah is 5-0 all-time against the Big East, but Louisville is 24-2 at home since 2003, and the Cardinals are averaging 55.3 points per game at Cardinal Stadium this season.
"They put up a lot of numbers," Whittingham said. "It's going to be a challenge."
The lowdown: Hard to gauge this game with Utah being so up-and-down, but Louisville will want some momentum heading into Big East play in its final non-conference game. Look for the Cards to cover.
Two of the surprise teams in the SEC, if not the country, take the field in Columbia, S.C., tonight on national television as No. 8 Kentucky (5-1, 1-0 SEC) takes on No. 11 South Carolina (4-1, 2-1). UK is at its highest ranking since 1977 but is a 3.5-point underdog for tonight's game on WagerWeb.com.
Under Coach Rich Brooks, Kentucky is off to its best start since 1984 and has won 10 of its last 11 games dating to last season. The Wildcats already have beaten once-ranked Louisville and Arkansas, and a win tonight would make them 6-0 for first time since 1950. This game also begins a make-or-break stretch for the Wildcats, with LSU and Florida following on the schedule.
South Carolina's only loss came to now top-ranked LSU, and Coach Steve Spurrier, a noted offensive mind, is surprisingly doing it with defense this season. Opponents are scoring only 15.6 ppg against the Gamecocks and only averaging 106.4 yards per game through the air, No. 1 in the nation. Opposing QBs are completing less than 50 percent of their passes and have thrown three times as many interceptions as touchdown passes.
However, the Gamecocks have yet to see a player like Kentucky QB Andre Woodson, who may be the Heisman Trophy favorite. Woodson has completed 67.1 percent of his passes for 1,309 yards and 16 touchdowns with one interception.
"For me, honestly, I really don't care about winning the Heisman at all," Woodson said. "I'm just very concerned about us trying to win games. That means so much more to me."
Last week, Woodson had his NCAA record streak of 325 attempts without an interception stopped against Florida Atlantic, but he threw a career-best five TD passes in Kentucky's 45-17 victory. The Wildcats lead the SEC in scoring at more than 46 points a game.
Spurrier compares Woodson to current Bengals QB Carson Palmer, who won the Heisman Trophy at Southern Cal.
"He's a beautiful passer," Spurrier said of Woodson. "He stands good and tall, knees just slightly flexed. He throws a nice, overhand ball."
South Carolina's offense, meanwhile, is led by freshman QB Chris Smelley, who replaced fifth-year senior Blake Mitchell after the loss to LSU. Smelley answered with 279 yards and two TD passes to receiver Kenny McKinley in the Gamecocks' 38-21 win over Mississippi State last Saturday.
"We hit some balls downfield a little bit more than in the past," Smelley said. "So that looked pretty good."
South Carolina beat Kentucky 24-17 last year, and hasn't lost to UK since 1999, winning the past seven games. Spurrier, in fact, has never lost to Kentucky, going 14-0 in his career at Florida and South Carolina.
"Yeah, we used to have a lot better teams than Kentucky. Now we're very close," Spurrier said. "It's two evenly matched teams."
So with those streaks and a rare national TV audience, you can bet the Wildcats will be jacked up tonight.
"With a couple of wins against some great teams, the sky's the limit for us," receiver Keenan Burton said. "It shows we're not the same Kentucky team."
Southern Miss and Boise State NCAA Football Betting Preview
By Jordan Walters
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer
Thursday night's Southern Miss-Boise Statematchup may feature two unranked teams, but it's an intriguing game between two programs with hopes, if not expectations, of breaking into the BCS bowls on a regular basis.
Last season, Boise State was the darling of the college football world. The Broncos went undefeated, earned a trip to the Fiesta Bowl, then beat Oklahoma in one of the best games ever played. Oh, and tailback Ian Johnson became a national celebrity with his postgame wedding proposal on national TV
"It's a program that I think everyone is trying to emulate if you're not a BCS school," Jeff Bower, the Golden Eagles' head coach, said of Boise State. "They arguably might be the best football team ... we face this year. I think there's a lot of things that make the game attractive."
Southern Miss, meanwhile, was similar to Boise State in the late 1990s, carrying the swagger of an upstart program.
Included in the preseason rankings, Boise State (2-1) crushed Weber State in the opener but then fell to Washington on the road, which took them from national spotlight, to the extent where the Broncos failed to earn even a single point in the AP poll. Boise bounced back with a victory over Wyoming.
The Golden Eagles (2-1, 1-0 Conference USA) beat Tennessee-Martin in their opener, then hung tough against the real Tennessee before the Volunteers pulled away late in a 39-19 loss on Sept. 8. Southern Miss responded the following week, beating East Carolina in the league opener.
This is the first-ever meeting between the schools.
Boise State is again led by Johnson, who may not have Heisman-like numbers, but is averaging nearly 100 yards a game on 4.7 yards per carry. QB Taylor Tharpe is a first-year start despite being a senior and is hitting 60.4 percent of his passes and throwing for 217 yards a game.
With Tharp still getting comfortable at quarterback, opposing defenses are loading up to stop the run - a challenge Johnson says he relishes.
"Teams are preparing for us a little different than they did last year," Johnson said. "So you have to approach it with the mind-set that not every play is going to be a hundred yards ... or a touchdown. There are going to be times you have to cover up and take what you can get, and know that a four-yard gain in our scheme it a very good gain."
The Golden Eagles' offense is led by senior quarterback Jeremy Young and sophomore running back Damion Fletcher, who rushed for 1,692 yards last season, 11th best in the nation. In its first three games, Southern Miss has been hurt by turnovers, including three costly ones in the loss to Tennessee.
But Young is coming off his best game of the season, completing 18 of 28 passes for 237 yards and a touchdown, plus another two rushing TDs, in the 28-21 victory at East Carolina. Like Johnson, Fletcher is
off to a slower start than 2006, averaging 101.3 yards per game.
The blue turf of Boise could be the difference tonight, as the Broncos are 27-1 since 2003 at Bronco Stadium and haven't lost a regular-season home game since 2001, carrying a 38-game regular-season winning streak into tonight's game.
Southern Miss players say the won't be intimidated.
"We want to show the country that we can play," USM defensive end Robert Henderson said. "We want to show people around the country that we aren't a sleeper team that we can play with the big teams, even though they may not consider us a big team."
Boise State is a 10.5-point favorite on WagerWeb.com, and that number seems about right on. I expect a
Broncos victory, but Southern Miss covering is certainly not out of the question.
The in-state battle features two of the nation's top four offenses, with Oklahoma using a more conventional approach and Tulsa using a run-and-gun no-huddle scheme used by former Arkansas offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. The Sooners average 569.7 yards per game (No. 3 in NCAA), the Golden Hurricane 567.0 (4th).
"All of the motions they do, all the different alignments, everything they do is just a little bit different," OU linebacker Ryan Reynolds said. "And then they do no-huddle, trying to get us tired and worn out."
Oklahoma will play its first road game of the season after outscoring North Texas, Miami and Utah State by a combined 184-26.
OU redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Bradford could be tested in his first road start, albeit only a couple of hours from Norman. Bradford is third in the country in passing efficiency, having completed almost 80 percent of his passes. Bradford also has 11 TD passes to 1 INT, and the Sooners lead the nation in scoring, averaging 61.3 points per game.
"In the end, he'll just get out there and play," OU coach Bob Stoops said of Bradford. "I have been pleased with his accuracy. He's continuing to develop."
Tulsa senior quarterback Paul Smith, who has passed for 761 yards and eight TDs in games against La.-Monroe and BYU, will challenge the Sooners' defense, which is ranked No. 2 in the nation.
"We're playing, by far, the best football team we'll play all year long," said Tulsa coach Todd Graham. "This is a team that's playing with a lot of confidence right now. They're definitely a big, big challenge for us."
The problem for Tulsa is a defense that allows 486 total yards and 184.5 on the ground per game. A fourth-quarter stand and five takeaways allowed Tulsa to overcome 694 yards allowed in a 55-47 victory against BYU last week.
"Them being undefeated, and us being undefeated, and probably not many people giving us a chance," Graham said. "That's just where we want to be."
Tulsa hasn't beaten a team from one of the BCS conferences since Oklahoma State in 1998 and last pulled off a big upset in 1996 when it beat 19th-ranked Iowa and then won at Oklahoma.
Look for the Sooners to certainly win the game, but for a fired-up Tulsa to cover the points.
Tonight could be the end of an era at Miami's Orange Bowl.
When No. 20 Texas A&M comes to visit the home Hurricanes, it could be the last ranked team Miami faces in the storied stadium. Currently, none of the rest of Miami's home opponents is ranked, and only Georgia Tech realistically has a chance to be. The Canes are moving to Dolphin Stadium next season.
The Aggies are off to a 3-0 start despite being out gained in two of those games, and the opposition hasn't been much: Montana State, Fresno State (which really should have won the game) and Louisiana Monroe. Tonight will be Texas A&M's first football game away from College Station.
"We don't believe we've played slouches, but we do know that Miami will be the toughest team we've faced," QB Stephen McGee said. "But it's important for us because it's our next game."
A nationally televised win over the Hurricanes in the Orange Bowl would spark a program craving a return to the national spotlight. The Aggies haven't been 4-0 in consecutive seasons since 1956-57 under Bear Bryant.
"This is a great opportunity to showcase what we've got," A&M defensive end Chris Harrington said. "We all know that. Everybody's focus is tighter and this is a good shot for us to show the country what is going on down here."
Miami, meanwhile, is trying to avoid back-to-back 2-2 starts to the season. The Canes beat Marshall in the opener before getting bombed by Oklahoma in Norman. UM was lackluster in beating Florida International last week, but the Canes are -2.5 (over/under: 46) for tonight's game on WagerWeb.com.
Miami's offense has been a consistent struggle; Kyle Wright was renamed the starter after Kirby Freeman struggled in the first two games.
UM has won its last 10 games on Thursday nights, but the Hurricanes are 1-7 in their last eight matchups against ranked opponents and 9-8 in their last 17 games overall.
Coach Randy Shannon said neither the national spotlight nor Texas A&M's ranking should provide his team with extra motivation.
"There's no such thing as a statement game. Every game is," Shannon said. "Every game's got to be a statement game. You've got to be prepared and ready to play at all times. If you don't, somebody's going to sneak up on you and beat you."
Texas A&M will try to rush the ball down Miami's throat. Jovorskie Lane, the Aggies' 268-pound tailback, has seven TDs already this season, and fellow back Mike Goodson has rushed for 247 yards through three games. McGee can beat you on the ground or through the air; he has run for a team-best 263 yards, and thrown for 428.
Miami gave up 159 yards rushing against Florida International in a 23-9 win last week, so that could be a concern for Canes fans.
College Football Betting: USC Trojans vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers
by Geoffrey Vogel
This week's biggest matchup in NCAA football takes place at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, when the No. 14 Cornhuskers will take on the No. 1 Trojans of USC, who have fallen out of favor with some observers after a lackluster win in their home opener.
The USC Trojans came away with a 38-10 win over Idaho in their season opener at the Coliseum in Los Angeles, but most experts believe this victory should have come by a much larger margin. John David Booty was 21-for-32 for 206 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, but the Trojans managed ?only? 420 yards and committed three turnovers against a team that was not expected to put up much of a fight. Only a 17-0 third-quarter surge created enough of a cushion to allow Trojan fans to breathe easy. The USC defense, expected to be the core strength of the team with ten returning starters, gave up 253 yards to Troy.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers, meanwhile, had to battle to a 20-17 win at Wake Forest behind Marlon Lucky's 90 yards on the ground, including a 22-yard touchdown that proved to be the game-winner in the third quarter. Lucky proved to be just that for Nebraska as QB Sam Keller was good on only 24-of-41 passing attempts for 258 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions against the Demon Deacons. The ?Huskers had a tough time keeping Wake Forest's running game under control, allowing 236 yards on the ground. Nebraska will need to put forth a better run defense on Saturday to help slow down the Trojans.
In their last meeting USC knocked off visiting Nebraska 28-10. This time around the Trojans are 9.5-point road favorites with the total set at 51. Kickoff is slated for 8 pm ET with ABC handling the coverage.
The Heisman Trophy may not guarantee its winner a long and successful pro football career, but there isn't a single college player who wouldn't love to display the bronze statue on his mantle.
Heck, they can even be used later in life as collateral for paying off civil penalties after you get off on a murder rap. Right O.J.?
For most college football standouts, their chances of being awarded the Heisman are practically nil unless they playing quarterback or running back for a BCS contender. That's just the way the American media hype machine works.
The two quarterbacks with the best shot at attaining Heisman glory this year are Louisville's Brian Brohm and USC's John David Booty. Both QBs lead teams that have BCS Bowl aspirations this 2007 season and the one that actually leads his team there should have the edge in the Heisman race.
Brohm and the Cardinals are in for a tough fight in the Big East this year from West Virginia and Rutgers. The Cardinals' QB has a live arm and he really showed what he is capable of in last year's Orange Bowl when he roasted Wake Forest for 311 yards. Brohm missed two games last season, which cut into his final numbers. If Brohm can't stay healthy for the entire season this year, his Heisman window will close.
Playing quarterback at USC these days almost makes you a Heisman contender by default. When it comes to Booty though, he's the real deal. Like Brohm, Booty flashed his immense skill in a bowl game last season when he picked apart Michigan for 391 yards and four touchdowns in the Rose Bowl.
Booty has far fewer offensive weapons around him heading into this season, but if he can continue to put up big numbers without the mass of talent around him, it could garner him even more Heisman votes. If Booty leads USC back the BSC Bowl game, he could become the fourth player from USC to claim the Heisman in the last six years.
If a QB doesn't end up with the Heisman, it almost always ends up in the hands of a running back. This year's biggest standouts in the backfield are Darren McFadden of Arkansas and Steve Slaton of West Virginia.
McFadden finished as the runner-up to Troy Smith last year, which makes him a Heisman contender by default. However, to have a chance at actually winning this year, McFadden will have to live up to, or more likely exceed his performance from last season.
If anyone can do that, it's McFadden. The Razorback back is a solid combination of size, speed and power who's hard to tackle and can break off a huge run when he reaches open field.
Slaton may very well be the best running back in college football team right now. Blessed with blazing speed and a never-quit attitude, Slaton fights hard for every yard. That determination to stretch out every carry just that much further paid off for Slaton last season, as he rushed for an amazing seven yards per carry.
If Slaton can match that and find the end zone with regularity, he could take West Virginia to the top of the Big East and earn himself plenty of Heisman consideration. One thing that could trip Slaton up on his way to Heisman gold is his teammate QB Pat White. White, with his own excellent rushing ability and rocket arm is also a Heisman hopeful and could end up splitting votes with Slaton keeping both of them from winning the award.
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