College Football – Upset-minded (25) Louisville Hosts (2) Florida St.

(2) Florida State Seminoles at (25) Louisville Cardinals (+4, 50.5 o/u)

The No. 2 Florida State Seminoles (7-0, 4-0 ACC) will face a stiff test on Thursday night when they travel to Louisville to play the No. 25 Cardinals (6-2, 4-2 ACC).

Embattled Noles QB Jameis Winston will have his hands full against a defense which ranks first in the nation in total yards, allowing just 245 per game. The Cardinals have 15 picks on the year, and CB Charles Gaines will be looking to up his draft stock against Winston, another NFL-caliber talent.

The Noles know they are in for a war. “They’re one of the top defenses in the country,” said Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher said. “They play the run well, play the pass. Create a lot of turnovers.”

This marks the Seminoles first game since a nail-biting 31-27 win over Notre Dame nearly two weeks ago. Louisville is the last ranked opponent on Florida State’s schedule. (Louisville is not ranked in the Coaches Poll or the AP Poll, but claimed the last spot in the first ever CFP Selection Committee top 25 yesterday.)

Said Winston, “We don’t have anything to prove to anybody. We’ve just got to keep playing and hopefully things will go our way. But one thing we are consistently proving is that we are winners.”

The rising Cardinals are happy to have wide receiver DeVante Parker back. In Louisville’s last game against N.C. State, Parker caught nine passes for 132 yards.

Said Cardinals quarterback Will Gardner, “It’s great to have him back. I think it puts a lot of pressure on the defense to have him back there. He is one of the best wide receivers in the country and it gave us a big lift.”

Even with Parker in the lineup, though, Cardinals head coach Bobby Petrino knows his squad will have to play a perfect game to upset the No. 2 ranked team in the country.

“This is the type of game you like to play in and prepare for,” Petrino said. “So we’re going to have a good time in doing it and excited that they’re coming into our house to play.”

The Cardinals are currently four-point home dogs. Considering their tough defense, taking Louisville and the points is the better play.

(Photo credit: Kentucky National Guard Public Affairs Office (Flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode], via Creative Commons. The photo has been cropped from its original.)