Sunday Look Ahead: The Louisville Cardinals

Following the loss to WKU there was a certain sense of dread associated with the Louisville game. Not only were the Cards riding a two game win streak in the series, coming of the best athletic year in school history, and featuring a Heisman hopeful in Teddy Bridgewater but they had looked fantastic in a dismantling of the Ohio Bobcats. Meanwhile the Cats had looked pitiful against the Hilltoppers on both sides of the ball. Fast forward one week and there is now a glimmer of hope. The air-raid demonstrated it's effectiveness as Max Smith racked up three big touchdowns through the air all while the Cats continued to get it done on the ground. It may be hard to limit the Cards defensively but perhaps the Cats can win a track meet through the air. We will find out in one week when the following questions are answered: Just How Good Are The Cards? That is the million dollar question. So far the Card have outscored their opponents by a total of 93-14. However, that isn't too hard when your taking on Ohio and EKU. The Cards were winners in the BCS Sugar Bowl last season as they beat the Florida Gators pretty handily. They got there by going 5-2 in the horrible Big East and took down an uninterested Florida team that got there by smoke and mirrors. At 11-1 Florida had a good record last season, don't get me wrong, but they could have just as easily been 9-3 had they not gotten some breaks to go their way. The Gators weren't quite the team everyone thought they were as demonstrated by the 21-16 loss they picked up from Miami yesterday. It's hard to say just how good Florida is at this point as well. So no one can really remember the last time the Cardinals played an opponent without any glaring flaws and it's the same group of guys that lost to both Syracuse and Connecticut last season. Are they a team worthy of the probable top five finish they will land by going undefeated? There is no way to know. What we do know is that they feature arguably the best quarterback in the nation in Teddy Bridgewater and the MVP of the national championship in Michael Dyer. That alone is good enough to make you an elite team. We won't know just how good until they roll out into commonwealth this Saturday. Can The Cats Keep Up? If reigning SEC defensive player of the week Za'Darius Smith an find a way to disrupt Bridgewater then the Cats could have a shot. I'm not worried about what the Cats can do offensively. If they can do half of what they were able to yesterday then they should be able to match the punches that Louisville is  throwing back. With the air and ground attack Kentucky should be able to keep up with most of the teams they play this season. The only question is the defense and penalties. If the Cats can get some key stops of the Card attack and limit the foolish penalties that have been a problem these first two weeks. Then maybe, just maybe they can keep up and have a shot to win in the end. It should be a fun Saturday in Lexington if they can at least make it close. Win the game? Couches will be a-blazin like it's 2012.   So what do you think? Will the Cats have a shot a pulling the upset this Saturday? Or is Louisville just too good.