Saturday, October 11, 2008

Speedblog: Louisville vs Memphis

Speedblog: Louisville vs. Memphis

Well, since I was too lazy to write this last night, I better blog about this quick, as I am writing this, there is about 30 minutes before the games begin. Texas vs. Oklahoma will be a big one..

Last night Louisville beat Memphis 35-28, and I gotta tell you, the Cardinals might be in some serious trouble. True, a win is a win, and you take any victories you can get, but 3 of those touchdowns came from special teams or defense. Louisville was known in the last few years as one of the best offenses in the country….what’s up with that?

But at 3-2, they are still on pace to make a bowl, then maybe contend for the Big East Championship. They’re already one game down, losing to Connecticut, and after their next game vs. Middle Tennessee State, they begin a grueling 6 games against conference foes.

It’s gonna be close, but I think Louisville can win enough to earn a bowl bid, because we are assuming they can beat Middle Tennessee State. That would give them a 4-2 record before the conference run. I don’t see them sweeping, in fact they may split those games, ending up with maybe a 7-5 record. But if the offense does not step up, they may drop an extra game, making this very hard to call for post season play.

Memphis at 3-4 however, has to really dig in. With 5 games left on their schedule, and a loss already to Marshall, they would most likely have to sweep all their games AND hope that Marshall loses 2 games in order to get to the Conference USA Championship. A tie with Marshall is not good, because the Thundering Herd gets the nod in case of a tie.

What this also means is that the Tigers must win out, including defeating once ranked ECU and a tough Central Florida team. Best case scenario, Memphis COULD finish 8-4...but nobody is buying that line.

Memphis defeated Nicholls State earlier, does that count towards the 6 wins to qualify for a bowl? If it does, then Memphis needs 3 more wins out of the remaining 5. I think they still have a chance. The ECU game will be in Greenville, but the Pirates have fallen hard lately, so that could be a toss up game. IF Memphis can beat ECU AT Greenville, they have a good chance to win 7 games…maybe even 8, though not likely.

A rebuilding So. Miss team, then against SMU could give Memphis two wins, but the Central Florida game may be tough. They finish against Tulane, but by then they could be already promised a bowl.

But a lot will be made when they play ECU. It could determine if this team is going bowling…or just watching it on tv like the rest of us….

Anyway, gotta fly, games coming on in 20 minutes (see how fast I type?)