Carrier Dome – Syracuse, NY
Kickoff: Friday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: Louisville -14.5, Total: 65.5

#13 Louisville will be looking to get off to a 2-0 start when it faces Syracuse at the Carrier Dome on Friday.

The start of the 2016 season could not have gone any better for Louisville, as the Cardinals opened up the year with a 70-14 victory as 38.5-point favorites against Charlotte. The team was dominant on both sides of the ball in that one, racking up 663 yards of total offense and holding Charlotte to just 208 yards. Things will be a lot tougher on Friday, though. Syracuse also looked impressive in its opener, defeating Colgate 33-7 as a 23.5-point favorite. The Orange debuted their new, up-tempo offense and threw for 437 yards in the game. They also rushed for 117 and will be hoping to keep moving the ball against a tough Louisville defense. When these teams met last season, the Cardinals came away with a 41-17 victory as 17-point favorites. It was Louisville’s second consecutive win-and-cover over Syracuse, but the Orange had split wins SU in the previous six meetings between the teams. One trend that really sticks out when looking at this game is the fact that Syracuse is 15-3 ATS in home games off of a home win by 17 points or more since 1992. Bobby Petrino is, however, 7-2 ATS in the first half of the season since taking over as the head coach at Louisville.

The Cardinals were dominant in their opening game of the year and that had everything to do with the play of QB Lamar Jackson. The talented signal caller threw for 286 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions in the opener. He also added another 119 yards and two scores on the ground. There were high hopes for Jackson coming into the season, but it’s hard to say that people were expecting a performance like that. Jackson isn’t likely to put up the same type of numbers in any other game this season, but he should find success in what will be a high-scoring affair with this Syracuse team on Friday. What makes the team extremely difficult to cover is Jackson’s willingness to spread the ball around. WR Jamari Staples was the only receiver to catch more than two passes, hauling in four balls for 83 yards. Outside of that, eight different players had touchdown receptions. Defensively, the Cardinals did not allow Charlotte to do anything on the ground in the opener. They did, however, allow some plays through the air and that is where Syracuse will be doing most of its damage. Still, Louisville’s defense was top-25 in the nation last year and has only improved since then. It should be up to the task on Friday.

Syracuse debuted Dino Babers’ high-octane offense on Saturday and it certainly did not disappoint. QB Eric Dungey was fantastic in that game, completing 34-of-40 passes for 355 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He was making a ton of high quality throws and didn’t make many mistakes in that one. Dungey will, however, need to be a lot more careful against this Louisville team. The Cardinals have athletes all over the field and will make him pay for any poor throws on Friday. It will, however, be interesting to see what Louisville decides to do with star WR Steve Ishmael. Colgate threw everybody they had at the talented wideout, holding him to just six catches for 36 yards in the game. That allowed graduate transfer WR Amba Etta-Tawo to completely dominate on the other side of the field. The senior caught 12 passes for 210 yards and a touchdown in that game, and he’ll certainly draw some more attention from Bobby Petrino’s team on Friday. If that’s the case then Ishmael should be able to turn in a big performance. Defensively, the Orange are going to need to do something to contain Jackson in this game. Syracuse does not have a ton of talent on that side of the ball, though. That means that if the team is going to come away with a victory then it’d likely be in an insanely high-scoring shootout.