The Louisville Cardinals are the NCAA football betting favorites to defeat the Boston College Eagles on Saturday, November 5th at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, and why wouldn’t they be? Even in an off day, they can still expect a last second miracle from QB extraordinaire Lamar Jackson. These are the sportsbook odds for the game:
Louisville Cardinals -25 (-110) 56 (-110) -3000
Boston College Eagles +25 (-110) 56 (-110) +1500
Lamar Jackson pretty much saved the Cards’ season on Saturday against the Virginia Cavaliers. He also saved Christmas and Chanukah. Jackson was sacked five times and had two TOs, but still managed to finish 24 of 41 for 361 yards and four TDs, as well as run for 88 yards on 17 carries. More importantly, Louisville was down 24-25 when Jackson led a 75-yard drive that resulted in a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Smith with 13 seconds left in regulation for the 32-25 win. Sure, the Elders who compile the college football rankings probably were not impressed by the narrow win over a huge NCAA football betting underdog, but at least the Cards remain in the CFP conversation, and Jackson, if anything, is even a stronger candidate for the Heisman Trophy.
The BC Eagles took the winning tactics that the movie Rookie of the Year taught us and adapted them to football to beat the NC State Wolfpack 21-14 on Saturday. Wide receiver Jeff Smith rushed 60 yards for a touchdown, and running back back Davon Jones threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tommy Sweeney. Highly irregular, but then again, the tight end justifies the means. The worst offense in the ACC – statistically speaking – outgained NC State 386 yards to 338, had a 168-31 advantage in yards rushing, and used some treat-or-trickery to pull ahead. The Eagles snapped a 12-game ACC losing streak and won a conference game for the first time since defeating Syracuse in 2014.
The Cards began this season covering three straight NCAA football betting spreads, but have gone 1-3-1 against the spread since. That being said, the Cardinals have won five games by 30 points or more this season, while BC has lost two times by 40 points or more. Jackson is a touchdown producing machine, but even not accounting for him, the Cards are not without means to score. For instance, Jaire Alexander is deadly when it comes to making big plays on special teams – in fact, he returned a punt 69 yards for a touchdown against the Florida State Seminoles.
Meanwhile, BC’s signal caller Patrick Towles has completed more than 56.3% of his passes only once this season. Head coach Steve Addazio’s best hope for his offense is that they cut down on TOs and keep drives alive – though they’d probably have better luck with a blood drive. Louisville is 9-1 straight up and 7-3 against the spread in its last 10 games. The Eagles are 3-8 against the spread in their last 11 games in Week 10.