Kentucky Wildcats vs. Louisville Cardinals
When: 11/26/2016 12:00 PM

TV: Noon ET, ESPN.
LINE: Louisville -26.
PREDICTION: Louisville 45, Kentucky 14

Oddsmakers currently have the Cardinals listed as 27½-point favorites versus the Wildcats, while the game’s total is sitting at 71.

The disappointment of the loss to Houston last week still seems to be lingering a bit with Louisville heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale against Kentucky.

The No. 11 Cardinals (9-2, 7-1 ACC) and unranked Wildcats (6-5, 4-4 SEC) kick off at noon ET at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in Louisville with ESPN cameras covering the action.

The 36-10 whipping by the Cougars essentially squashed whatever hopes the Cardinals had of garnering one of the four spots in the College Football Playoff. At 11-1, they would have been in the conversation. At 10-2, not so much.

“We blew it. We had an opportunity sitting there,” coach Bobby Petrino said immediately after the game. “It was one of those situations where they were better than us tonight. There’s no question about it.”

Mistakes, which started with the Cardinals fumbling the opening kickoff away to set up Houston’s first touchdown, led to their downfall. They lost two other fumbles, were penalized 15 times for 114 yards, allowed a remarkable 11 sacks, and got only one touchdown and a field goal on three trips inside the red zone.

“When you look at a video when you get beat, you always consider two things,” Petrino said. “Did we just get beat, or did we beat ourselves?

“Certainly that game was a combination of the two.”

But it’s time to move on, and Petrino thinks the Cardinals have.

“Our focus is completely on this game,” he said, looking to Kentucky. “And winning this game and doing everything we need to do be successful in winning this football game. And, like I said, send the seniors out with a win.”

The Wildcats come into the affair having already reached bowl eligibility for the first time since 2010 with last week’s 49-13 win over Austin Peay, unlike the last two years when they needed to beat Louisville for a sixth win. Thus they will be playing without that kind of pressure weighing on them.

“I don’t know if it is a relief,” Wildcats coach Mark Stoops said, “but it is certainly better. I wish we were sitting at seven or eight, but definitely a better situation.”

Freshman Benny Snell has rushed for a Kentucky freshman-record 1,006 yards, a good bunch of it by taking direct snaps from the “wildcat” formation. Junior Boom Williams has amassed 1,072 yards in more conventional fashion.

“They’ve made a commitment to running the football,” Petrino said, “We know going into the game we’re going to need to stop the run, and we’re going to need to the ball to win the game.

“So it should be a good matchup.”

Quarterback Stephen Johnson, a junior college transfer who took over when Drew Barker suffered a season-ending back injury the third game of the season, also has been a big key in the Wildcats’ turnaround from an 0-2 start.

“They now have a quarterback that can run the ball and throw the ball deep,” Petrino said. “And they’re running a lot of the wildcat game. I think the installation of the quarterback has really helped because he has a strong arm and can throw the deep ball.

“Once you loosen people up, you can run the football.”

Of course, Louisville has a pretty good runner and passer at quarterback as well. Sophomore Lamar Jackson has rushed for nearly 125 yards a game and passed for another 283. He has scored 19 touchdowns and passed for another 28.

He has Stoops’ respect.

“What I admire most about Lamar Jackson is you can see his leadership and you can see his toughness,” Stoops said. “Just watching some of their games when I could get a chance throughout the year, and, of course, on film you don’t see as much as on TV, but you could see how strong he is and what type of leader he is.

“They are good across the board and well-coached across the board, but when they need a play he is there. He will either run or throw it or make a good decision and will his team to wins.

“You have to have a lot of respect for someone like that.”

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Georgia at Louisville
When: 6:30 PM ET, Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina
TV: 6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN.
LINE: Georgia -6.5
PREDICTION: Georgia 30, Louisville 24
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Oddsmakers currently have the Bulldogs listed as 7-point favorites versus the Cardinals, while the game’s total is sitting at 59½.

Thanks in large part to Chubb (12) and Gurley (nine), Georgia ran for a conference-leading 35 rushing touchdowns – a total that trails only the 1971 Bulldog team that finished with 39. Hutson Mason, who was one of three Georgia quarterbacks to combine for a completion percentage of 68.1, saw his six-game streak without throwing an interception snapped on his final attempt in the Nov. 29 overtime loss to Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs finished the regular season with a plus-15 turnover differential – tied for fourth in FBS – and scored 104 points off their 26 takeaways.

Georgia was a 30-24 loser in their most recent outing at home against Georgia Tech. They failed to cover the 10.5-point spread as favorites, while the total score (54) made winners of UNDER bettors.

Team record: 9-3 SU,7-5 ATS
Georgia is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games
Georgia is 8-2 SU in its last 10 games
The total has gone OVER in 9 of Georgia’s last 12 games

Sophomore All-American safety Gerod Holliman emerged as the country’s best ball hawk in 2014 with 14 interceptions, matching the NCAA single-season record held by Al Worley of Washington in 1968 and becoming only the 11th player in NCAA history to record 12 or more in a season. The Cardinals’ offense also finished the season on a roll, scoring 30 or more points in five straight games. That streak coincided with the return of receiver DeVante Parker, who posted team-high totals of 35 catches, 735 yards and five touchdowns despite missing seven contests with a left toe injury.

Louisville was a 44-40 winner in their most recent outing at home against Kentucky. They failed to cover the 14-point spread as favorites, while the total score (84) made winners of OVER bettors.

Team record: 9-3 SU,7-5 ATS
Current Streak: won 3 straight games.
Louisville is 21-4 SU in its last 25 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Louisville’s last 5 games

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The 15-1 Cardinals took advantage of losses by Duke and Michigan to move up two spots to No. 1 on Monday in The Associated Press’ Top 25 poll. This is just the second time in school history they’re on top. The other time was the final poll of 2008-09, a season in which they reached the final eight of the NCAA tournament.

Hours later, Louisville used a strong second half to beat Connecticut 73-60 on Monday night to move to 16-1.

Louisville was one of five teams to receive a first-place vote this week, and that backs Pitino’s point.

“I think the top teams will play musical chairs for No. 1 for the next two months and it will be really significant at the end of the year,” Pitino said before the Monday’s game. “We played a tough nonconference schedule and I’m really happy the way our guys have battled through injuries. We’ll try to hold the musical top as long as we can.”

The Cardinals, who have won 11 straight since losing to Duke in the final of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, received 36 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. That’s 23 more than Indiana, which moved up from fifth.

Indiana was No. 1 in the preseason poll and for the first five weeks of the regular season. Duke, which was No. 1 for the past four weeks, was third with 14 No. 1 votes. The Blue Devils were followed by Kansas and Michigan, which drew one first-place vote each.

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Four teams entered the week unbeaten — Duke, Michigan, Arizona and Wyoming — and each suffered its first loss.

It was the first time three of the top four teams lost in the same week since November 2003, when the top four teams — Connecticut, Duke, Michigan State and Arizona — all were defeated.

Syracuse, Arizona, Gonzaga, Minnesota and Florida rounded out this week’s top 10.

There were four newcomers to the poll this week: No. 21 Oregon, No. 22 Virginia Commonwealth, No. 24 UCLA and No. 25 Marquette.

It is VCU’s first ranking since the 1984-85 season. Oregon is back in for the first time since 2007-08. Marquette was ranked last season, and UCLA, which was No. 13 in the preseason poll, is back after being out for the past seven weeks.

They replaced Georgetown, Cincinnati, Wichita State and UNLV, who all lost once last week.

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