ACC: Louisville vs Wake Forest 10/29/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Louisville Cardinals and Wake Forest Demon Deacons square off Saturday in a week 9 ACC college football game from Cardinal Stadium.

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons will look to build on their current three-game win streak and 6-1 record after a 43-15 win over Boston College in their last game. Sam Hartman has thrown for 1,755 yards, 21 touchdowns and 3 interceptions on 64.2% passing while Justice Ellison has a team-high 432 rushing yards with 3 TDs and Christian Turner has 315 rushing yards and a team-high 5 rushing touchdowns this season. A.T. Perry leads Wake’s receiving group with 32 grabs for 524 yards and 5 touchdowns while Jahmal Banks has a team-high 7 touchdowns with 385 receiving yards and Donavon Greene also has 360 receiving yards this season. Ke’Shawn Williams has 291 receiving yards and Taylor Morin has 207 receiving yards as well for the Deacs. On defense, Ryan Smenda Jr. has a team-high 55 total tackles while Rondell Bothroyd has a team-high 5 sacks and Wake’s defense as a unit has 5 interceptions this season.

The Louisville Cardinals will be out to build on back-to-back wins following a 24-10 win over Pittsburgh in their last matchup, improving to 4-3 on the year. Malik Cunningham’s thrown for 1,090 yards, 5 touchdowns and 4 interceptions on 60.3% passing while also rushing for a team-high 503 yards and 9 scores. Brock Domann has also thrown for 402 yards, a touchdown and 3 INTs on 49% passing. Tiyon Evans has 263 rushing yards and 3 TDs this season while Jawhar Jordan and Trevion Cooley each have 200+ rushing yards as well this season. Tyler Hudson has a team-high 34 grabs for 484 yards and Ahmari Higgins-Bruce has 318 receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Momo Sanogo leads the Cardinals with 38 total tackles including 20 solo tackles while YaYa Diaby has 4.5 sacks and Ashton Gillotte also has 4 sacks. Monty Montgomery and Yasir Abdullah each have 3.5 sacks apiece as well this season. As a unit, Louisville has 24 sacks and 10 interceptions this season.

Wake Forest is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 road games and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games in October. Louisville is 13-29-1 ATS in their last 43 games against a team with a winning record and 5-11 ATS in their last 16 home games against a team with a winning road record while the over is 12-3 in their last 15 games following a win.

I get the case to be made for Louisville as a home underdog, but I’m not overly high on the Cardinals right now, especially if Malik Cunningham can’t go after his concussion last week. The Demon Deacons took it to Boston College and are simply the better team here and I just don’t think Louisville can keep pace or go shot for shot with the Cardinals in this game. The line is more than reasonable in this one, so I’ll lay it and play it with Wake Forest here.