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Game Day: Louisville at Boston College

By Mike Rutherford
Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

NO. 7 LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (7-1, 5-1) AT BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES (4-4, 1-4)

Game Time: Noon

Location: Alumni Stadium: Chestnutt Hill, Mass.

Television: ESPN2

Announcers: Allen Bestwick (play-by-play), Mike Bellotti (announcer) and Kris Budden (reporter)

Favorite: Louisville by 25

All-Time Series: Louisville leads 5-3

Last Meeting: Louisville won 17-14 last season at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium

Series History:

Statistics:

Relevant Videos:

Louisville Depth Chart:

Excitement Level: 9.1

Once again, opponent be damned, Louisville is in the top five and has the best player in college football running its offense. The EL will not dip below 9.0 unless this team loses again. This week gets a 0.1 bump because I'm in Boston.

Game Attire: Jeans, red Cardinal pullover, Grey Louisville hat

Little chilly up here. Plus, as I've said before, I always feel like you need to bust out your school's primary color when you're at a road game. Not making the same mistake I made at Clemson.

Pregame Meal: Coffee, something else

I don't have a set game plan here. They'll have something at the stadium.

Bold Prediction: Louisville blocks a punt

Took a shot in the dark last week and absolutely crushed it. Maybe it's because I'm still riding that high, but I feel very confident about following that performance up with another hit here.

Cole Hikutini Touchdown Alert Level: Medium Chrome Green (solid)

I feel like we've had this one before and that it meant something different the last time, but again, I don't control the TDAL.

Predicted Star of the Game: Lamar Jackson

Prove me wrong one time and the variety will return.

Motivational Opposition Tweets:

Notable

--Louisville enters Saturday's game leading the nation in both scoring offense (50 ppg) and total offense (603.2 ypg).

--With 451 yards of total offense, Lamar Jackson has 3,520 yards of total offense, the seventh-highest total in school
history, and just 528 yards short of breaking Teddy Bridgewater's school mark for total offense in a season.

--Boston College ranks No. 1 in the ACC and seventh nationally in total defense, allowing just 298.5 yards per contest.

--Louisville ranks 10th in the country in total defense, and is No. 16 in run defense. The Cards lead the nation in fewest rushing touchdowns allowed with three.

--Boston College will be looking for its first top 10 win since Steve Addazio led the Eagles to a 37-31 victory over USC at Alumni Stadium on Sept. 13, 2014.

--Boston College is coming off its first ACC victory in two years, a 21-14 road triumph over NC State last week.

--Louisville is 35-3 over the last four seasons when attempting at least 35 rushes in a game. The only three losses came this season at Clemson, in 2014 at Clemson, and in the 2015 season-opener against Auburn.

--With two interceptions versus Virginia last Saturday, sophomore Jaire Alexander is second nationally with five
picks through eight games. The Charlotte native recorded his second two interception game of the season — also
picking off two versus Clemson — to give him six in just 21 career games.

--Louisville is 34-4 under Bobby Petrino when winning the turnover battle. The Cardinals have lost the turnover battle in four of their eight games this season, but have gone 4-0 in those games.

--Boston College is 30-100-1 all-time against ranked opponents.

--Louisville has won 15 consecutive games when kicking off to begin the game, but has received to start seven of its eight games this season. The lone exception came last week when the Cards lost the toss against Virginia.

--This is the first time since 1993 that Boston College has hosted two top-five ranked opponents in the same season. The Eagles lost to Clemson 56-10 earlier in the year

--Lamar Jackson needs just 4 yards to become the school's first 1,000-yard rusher since 2010, and the first QB to do so.

--Louisville is 6-5 all-time in games played on Nov. 5.

--The Cards have the fourth-most wins nationally since 2011 with 23 wins — tying themselves with Alabama.

--Louisville is 23-8 in road games since 2011, and 3-1 this season.

--Louisville is currently riding a consecutive game scoring streak that spans 207 games dating back to the 2000 season. The streak ranks as the third longest in the ACC behind only Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech.

--Louisville is 174-10 all-time when scoring 35 or more points in a game. The Cards are also 5-102 all-time when allowing opponents to score 40 or more points.

Quotable

--"I don't measure, I don't score compare, I don't do those things. I watch the tape. I evaluate the personnel, and what I can tell you wholeheartedly is Louisville is absolutely one of the most elite, talented teams in the country right now, so we know that we more than have our work cut out for us, and we certainly understand that.We've been in this situation before since I've been here, and you know, we're just looking to let little ol' Boston College see if we can go out on the field and play a little football on Saturday." --Boston College head coach Steve Adazzio

--"I think what we need to do is not worry yet and go out and play good, hard Cardinal football, play the way we know how to play, execute at a high level the way we have shown throughout most of the season. It is hard to win games, and everyone that goes on the road understands that and knows that. We've just got to keep playing football, and you've seen history shows that the first four teams that come out this time of year usually aren't the ones that end up in the playoffs." --Bobby Petrino

--"It's special because it's the next (game in general), but if I told you that there wasn't a little extra there, I'd be lying to you, Obviously there is." --Boston College quarterback Patrick Towles

--"I'm not telling you anything you probably don't already know, but I grew up a huge Kentucky guy. I've loved them dearly since, and when I was at Kentucky, Louisville was our rival. I might be geographically removed from the state of Kentucky, but I still have a lot of allegiance to my home state. Getting a win over them would be super-special. It is our next game. They're a great team, so I'm not getting overconfident or anything like that. But I'm very confident in our guys. I know what we have ahead of us, but we're excited to give them our best shot." --Boston College quarterback Patrick Towles

--"They always play great defense. They're very physical. They run full speed to the ball and they hit and tackle. Offensively, we are very aware of the quarterback. We know him well. I have great respect for him. I've always thought he really throws the ball well and can run with it. A very good running back, so we're going to have to get ready." --Bobby Petrino

--"It's hard to stop anybody on their offense because they have so many weapons, whether it's the quarterback, the running back, the receivers, the tight end. They're multitalented, so if you focus on one area, you're going to get beat on another, so I think you've got to play great team defense, and we've really got to do a great job of rallying to the ball and being multiple. But it's going to be quite a task for us." --Boston College head coach Steve Addazio

Card Chronicle Prediction: Louisville 38, Boston College 16

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