Saturday will bring us a matchup of two ACC programs on the Ohio River as the No. 14 Louisville Cardinals hit the road to battle the Pittsburgh Panthers at Acrisure Stadium. The game will kick off at 6:30 p.m. ET and will air on the CW.
Louisville (6-0, 3-0 ACC) is riding high after upending Notre Dame in a 33-20 home victory last Saturday, giving Jeff Brohm his first signature victory as the head coach of his alma mater. Tied 10-10 in the third quarter, running back Jawhar Jordan broke off a pair of touchdown runs on back-to-back drives to give the Cards an edge by two scores. Outside of a late Sam Hartman touchdown pass, the defense shut the Irish down the stretch, recording three of their five turnovers in the fourth quarter.
Pitt (1-4, 0-2 ACC) is coming off a bye and is trying to salvage what is looking like a lost season for Pat Narduzzi’s program. The Panthers were last seen losing in a 38-21 road loss at Virginia Tech, a game where the Hokies took a 21-7 lead into halftime and never looked back even as Pitt mounted a mini-comeback in the second half. The big story from the bye week was starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec being benched for backup Christian Veilleux. There were reports that Jurkovec was making the switch to tight end, but Narduzzi shot those down by stating that Jurkovec is listed as QB2 on the depth chart.
SP+ Rankings
Louisville: 20 overall, 25 offense, 18 defense
Pitt: 53 overall, 67 offense, 48 defense
Injury update
Louisville
No new injuries reported
Pitt
LB Bangally Kamara – Questionable (Foot)
WR Bub Means – Questionable (Undisclosed)
ATS/Total
Against The Spread in 2023
Louisville: 3-3 ATS
Pitt: 1-4 ATS
Total in 2023
Louisville: Over 2-3-1
Pitt: Over 4-1
Team Pace
Louisville: 2.11 plays per minute of offense
Pitt: 2.08 plays per minute of offense
Odds at DraftKings Sportsbook
Spread: Louisville -7.5
Total: 44.5
Moneyline: Louisville -290, Pitt +235
Opening line: Louisville -9.5
Opening total: 47.5
Weather
50 degrees, cloudy with a chance of rain, 15 MPH winds ESE with 29 MPH wind gusts
Our Best Bet for Louisville vs. Pitt
Pitt +7.5
Pitt has been a mess this season, but there’s a few factors it has going in its favor heading into this matchup.
All of these factors could add up to the vaunted Pitt Superweapon being activated in this game. Give me the Panthers to at least cover at home.