Louisville and Georgia Tech take the field at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta at 7:30 tonight on the ACC Network.  Louisville (5-3,4-2) enters the game on a three-game win streak, while the Jackets (2-6,1-4) have lost their last three.  The Cards have held steady as a 14.5-point favorite according to DraftKings.  Jeff Brohm is going for his 100th victory as a college football coach today (30 at WKU, 36 at Purdue, 33 currently at Louisville).

On the injury front, Louisville announced last night they would be without OL Anwar O’Neal, WR Lawayne McCoy (who is expected to miss several weeks), and RB Isaac Brown was downgraded to questionable.  Brown had a career high four touchdowns in a 52-24 win over Stanford last week. 

This is a game Louisville should be able to control with the rushing attack and simple reads from Lincoln Kienholz, getting the ball to his playmakers.  Louisville is averaging 6.25 yards per carry on the season, second-best in the FBS.  Over the course of the last three games. Louisville has rushed for 272 yards and at least four touchdowns a game.

The Georgia Tech rush defense is ranked 134th in the country, allowing 219.3 yards per game, while also allowing 30.8 points per game (116th).  Over the course of the Jackets three game losing streak, they are giving up 34+ points per game. 

We know the glaring weakness for the Louisville defense is the secondary’s tendency to give up the big pass play.  Stanford scored three touchdowns last week, all on pass plays of 40 or more yards.  Georgia Tech quarterback and Indiana transfer, Alberto Mendoza has had his share of struggles this season.  Last game out in a 34-11 loss to Pittsburgh, he went 16-for-25 for 81 yards and was sacked five times.  The brother of last season’s Heisman winner, Mendoza’s long pass play of the season has gone for 46 yards.  Louisville cannot allow him to break that record.

Georgia Tech is 111th in the country, allowing 2.62 sacks per game.  Louisville got into the backfield in their last road game, sacking Syracuse quarterbacks five times and combining for 11 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.  The Georgia Tech offensive line is banged up with four players listed as “out” on the injury report.  

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The strength for Georgia Tech is their kick return game.  Rahkeem Smith leads the ACC at 28.1 yards per return.  Running back Justice Haynes is one of the holdovers for Key’s squad that went 9-4 a season ago.  Haynes has 112 carries for 548 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 4.9 yards per carry.  

On the Louisville side with Lawayne McCoy being out, offensive coordinator Brian Brohm was intentional in getting Tre Richardson the ball last week.  The senior speedster brought in 10 passes for 140 yards and took four quick pitches for 49 yards in the win over Stanford.  Richardson has touched the ball 50 times for the Cards this season, with 28 of those going for 10 yards or more.  His three touchdowns on the season have been 30, 62 and 38 yards. 

I fully expect Kienholz to have one of his best games of the season Saturday, with his ability to run being on full display and Isaac Brown’s status being downgraded to “questionable”.  Through eight games, Kienholz has 313 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.  Kienholz joins Gio Lopez (Wake Forest) and Sam Levitt (LSU) as the only three quarterbacks in the country with 2000 passing yards and 300 rushing yards on the season. 

These two teams have met four times as conference foes with each team winning twice.  Jeff Brohm is 2-0 against the Jackets with a 39-34 win at Mercedes Benz Stadium in his first game as coach of Louisville in 2023 and a 31-19 triumph in Louisville the next season.  Defensive back Tayon Holloway returned a blocked field goal in the fourth quarter to seal the deal in the win at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. 

This is the game I believe Louisville will put it all together on both sides of the ball.  The Louisville offense is a wrecking ball averaging 43 points per game and 503 yards per game in this win streak.  The defense will force two turnovers and contain Mendoza from the big pass play. 

Prediction: Louisville 49 Georgia Tech 7