The Louisville Cardinals and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets meet Friday in week 1 college football action at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
Louisville Betting Preview
Louisville is coming off an 8-win season and now begin the Jeff Brohm era. Louisville hasn’t had back-to-back winning seasons since 2016-17, when Bobby Petrino was coaching the squad. Purdue and Cal transfer Jack Plummer should take over at quarterback, a guy who has 6,500 yards and 47 touchdowns. Jawhar Jordan returns as Losuivlle’s leading rusher after 815 yards and 4 touchdowns, while Ahmari Huggins-Bruce and Chris Bell are a receiving duo that combined for 400 yards and 2 touchdowns. Defensively, Jarvis Brownlee Jr. returns after 66 tackles, Ashton Gillotte had 7 sacks and Quincy Riley led Louisville with 3 sacks. Oddsmakers are predicting a strong year for Louisville, as only Clemson and Florida State have better odds to win the ACC. To me, it will come down to the consistency of Plummer at QB if Louisville can seriously compete for a conference title.
Louisville Cardinals Team Facts
- Louisville has won 15 of its last 16 September games as a favorite.
- The favorite has covered the spread in each of Louisville’s last five games.
- Each of Louisville’s last five games against non-AP-ranked teams have gone UNDER the total points line.
Georgia Tech Betting Preview
Georgia Tech won 5 games last year and enter the first full year under coach Brent Key. There’s a new offensive coordinator as well in Buster Faulkner. Georgia Tech is looking for its first winning season since 2018. Texas A&M transfer Haynes King will likely take over at quarterback, a guy who had 1,600 passing yards and 10 touchdowns with the Aggies. Dontae Smith returns after 420 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns, while Malik Rutherford and Dylan Leonard are a receiving duo that produced 34 receptions and more than 300 yards. Defensively, LaMiles Brooks returns after 52 tackles, D’Quan Douse had 3.5 sacks and K.J. Wallace had 1 interception. Georgia Tech lost a lot of production on both sides of the ball, including its quarterback, leading rusher, oodles of receivers and its top-3 tacklers. It’s no surprise Georgia Tech is tied with Virginia for the worst odds to win the ACC. Key, who is a full time head coach for the first time, has his work cut out for him.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Team Facts
- The underdog has won six of Georgia Tech’s last eight games.
- Georgia Tech has failed to cover the spread in nine of its last 10 home games.
- Georgia Tech has lost the first half in eight of its last nine games against conference opponents.
- Each of Georgia Tech’s last four games as a home underdog have gone UNDER the total points line.
Matchup/League Facts
- Georgia Tech was one of only 17 FBS teams with a better road winning percentage (.500) than home winning percentage (.333) last season (min. 8 games).
- Georgia Tech was one of only 20 FBS teams to win 3+ games when trailing at HT last season.
- Louisville ranked 7th among FBS teams for Q4 points allowed per game last season (4.2).
- Louisville ranked 8th among FBS teams for H2 points allowed per game last season (7.8).
Randy’s Pick
A rare conference game to start the season, and I’m not going to lie about considering the home dog. This is a big game to start the season, and it’s still a feeling process to lay this many points. With that said, Louisville has the third-best odds to win the ACC and has good talent on both sides of the ball. Georgia Tech has a new coaching staff and tons of players to replace. There’s going to be early growing pains for Georgia Tech. Give me Louisville in a double-digit victory, as it’s in a far better spot roster wise.
