Southern Miss Golden Eagles vs. Louisville Cardinals Odds

Betting Odds

Point Spread: Louisville Cardinals (-3.5)
Game Total Line: (57)
(wagering lines available at 5Dimes)

The Southern Miss Golden Eagles, out of Conference-USA will look to take flight over the Louisville Cardinals from the Big East in the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg, Florida on Tuesday, Dec. 21. Game time from Tropicana Field is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

Southern Miss had its chances to win the C-USA East Division this season, especially after beating eventual champion Central Florida 31-21 in mid-November as a 10.5 point road underdog. But earlier one-point losses to UAB (50-49 OT) as a 10.5 point home favorite and to East Carolina (44-43) as an eight point favorite put the Golden Eagles in a hole they could never climb out off. They would still have to consider their season a success with an overall record of 8-4 straight-up (6-6 against the spread) and 5-3 SU in the conference. The total went ‘over’ in seven of their last eight games.

The one thing this team does know how to do is move the ball through both the air and the ground as well as put points on the board. Southern Miss did struggle on defense, giving up an average of 29.4 points for game, but it made up for this with a 15th nationally ranked scoring offense that averaged 37.6 points per game. QB Austin Davis led the aerial attack, throwing for 2,898 yards and 18 touchdowns, while RB Kendrick Hardy powered the running game with 855 yards on 127 carries. Davis added another 436 yards on the ground and led the team with 10 TD’s.

Louisville has to be happy with making it into a bowl game with six wins after winning just nine games the last two seasons combined, but it also knows it was just two more wins away from possibly winning a very weak Big East Conference this year. The Cardinals actually beat Connecticut, who won the title, 26-0 as a three-point home favorite, but they lost to Cincinnati 35-27 as a 2.5 point home underdog and to South Florida 24-21 in OT as a two-point home favorite to end any title hopes of their own. Louisville finished the season 6-6 both SU and ATS and were 3-4 SU in the conference. The total stayed ‘under’ in four of its last six games.

The Cardinal’s defense kept them in just about every game, giving up an average of just 18.7 points, which was 15th best in the country. They also controlled the line of scrimmage behind a ground game that averaged 180.5 yards per game. RB Bilal Powell was the workhorse of this unit, ending the season with 1,330 rushing yards on 211 carries and also leading the team in touchdowns with 13.

Game Betting Pick

These two teams met last year in the regular season with Louisville coming away with a 25-23 win as a 2.5 point favorite. The total stayed ‘under’ the 49.5 point line. This time around, Louisville will look to exploit Southern Miss’s defense with a heavy dose of Powell, while relying on its defense to ground the Golden Eagles’ attack. Look for the Cardinals to extract a certain measure of respect for the Big East by winning and covering the 3.5 points.

Take Louisville -3.5 at 5Dimes our top rated sportsbook.