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Game Day: Beef O'Brady's Bowl

By Mike Rutherford

BEEF O' BRADY'S BOWL

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (6-6) vs. SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI GOLDEN EAGLES (8-4)

Game Time: 8:00

Location: Tropicana Field: St. Petersburg, Fla.

Television: ESPN

Announcers: Rece Davis/Lou Holtz/Mark May

Favorite: Louisville by 3

Officiating Crew: From the Sun Belt

All-Time Series: Southern Miss leads 18-9-1

Last Meeting: Louisville won 25-23 in 2009

Excitement Level: 8.9

It's a friggin' bowl game.

Game Attire: Black Titus Teague jersey

I will be dancing.

Pregame Meal: Assorted finger foods

Bold Prediction: Neither team leads by double digits at any point in the game

Predicted Star of the Game: Bilal Powell

And then I bawl when the game's over.

NOTABLE

--Louisville is appearing in a postseason bowl for the 15th time in school history and the first time since win- ning the Orange Bowl in 2007. Louisville appeared in nine straight bowl games from 1998-2007 before missing the postseason the last three seasons. The Cardinals are 6-7-1 all-time in bowl games and have won two of their last three appearances. Louisville made its first appearance in a BCS bowl when its defeated Wake Forest 24-13 in the 2007 FedEx Orange Bowl.

--Southern Miss will be playing in its ninth consecutive bowl game and 21st overall. The Golden Eagles are 9-11 overall in bowl games.

--The Golden Eagles are one of 14 programs which have been to nine-straight bowl games, with the others being Boise State, Boston College, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Wisconsin through the 2009 season.

--Louisville has won four straight over Southern Miss.

--Southern Miss. has never beaten an opponent from the Big East conference (while they reside in the league).

--The Golden Eagles are one of 13 FBS programs that are per game in both rushing and passing

--Louisville and Southern Miss share a single common opponent. The Cardinals defeated Memphis 56-0 and The Golden Eagles won 41-19.

--Louisville has lost its six games by a total of 49 points, dropping a 23-16 decision to Kentucky, a 35-28 loss at Oregon State, a 35-27 defeat on Oct. 15 versus Cincinnati, a 24-21 overtime loss to USF on Nov. 13 and last Saturday’s 17-10 loss to West Virginia.

--Southern Miss is 7-1 when quarterback Austin Davis rushes for 50 or more yards in a game during his career.

--Louisville outscored its opponents, 215-123 in the first half, including a 143-72 margin in the second quarter and 72-51 in the first stanza.

--Heading into his final game at Louisville, Bilal Powell needs 100 yards to break the school record for yards in a season of 1,429 by Howard Stevens in 1971. Powell has 1,330 yards in 11 games this year, which ranks second in the BIG EAST Conference and is the ninth-best total by a running back. However, Powell’s 6.30 yards per carry is among the highest versus the nation’s top running backs.

--Quarterback Austin Davis was out with an injury for last season's loss at Louisville.

Quotable

--"For us to go get a bid to play in the bowl game was really big for the program because we needed that for the confidence of this program. Anytime you change a staff, you want something good to happen. We talked about getting this program to a bowl game and then make this program better each year from there." --Charlie Strong

--"We are extremely excited about the opportunity to play in St. Petersburg in Florida," said coach Fedora. "It is a great area with great weather and we have the opportunity to play a quality opponent from the Big East. We are thrilled about being able to play another game." --Larry Fedora

--"You have to continue to work on fundamentals and technique because it's such a long layoff. We're going to have to be able to lock in and stay focused and be very sound on defense with our assignments." --Charlie Strong

--"Compared to the Big East we just run a completely different style of offense. So I think it will be neat to see the different styles clash in this bowl game." --Austin Davis

--"If we don't tackle as a team and tackle screens we're going to have a long day." --Vance Bedford

--"They've put up a lot of big numbers the last four games. But I think we've got a pretty good defense to hold that down, so this should be a pretty good matchup." --Bobby Burns

--"They started talking trash about us being in Conference USA, [that] we can't dance… it was stupid. We'll do our talking on the field." --Anonymous USM player

CC Prediction: Louisville 34, Southern Miss 30

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