No. 9 Louisville (9-1, 6-1 ACC, No. 10 CFP) at Miami (6-4, 2-4), Saturday, Noon ET (ABC).
Line: Louisville by 1 ½, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
Series record: Miami leads 11-3-1.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
It’s very simple for Louisville — win, and the Cardinals are heading to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game againstNo. 4 Florida State on Dec. 2, plus keeping hope alive of making it into the College Football Playoff semifinals. The Cardinals would have to win out and get some help to make it to the CFP mix, but it’s possible. Miami still needs one win to ensure a winning season; after this game the Hurricanes go to Boston College to close the regular season, then will have a bowl-game finale.
KEY MATCHUP
Miami run game vs. Louisville run defense. Strength vs. strength. Miami has gotten great offensive line play all season and the Hurricanes have been shaky in the passing game, so they’ll need to run well with hopes of taking some pressure off QB Tyler Van Dyke. Problem is, nobody really runs on Louisville. The Cardinals are ninth nationally in run defense, 12th in scoring defense and 16th in total defense.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Louisville: RB Jawhar Jordan. The Syracuse transfer has five 100-yard games this season, four instances of rushing for two TDs in a game and enters this weekend just 24 yards away from what would be his first career 1,000-yard season.
Miami: WR Xavier Restrepo. The Hurricanes must find a way to get the senior back involved on some level. They’re 4-0 when he averages 12 yards per catch, 2-4 when he doesn’t. When he gets catches in the middle of the field, it opens up the outside for Miami’s other receivers.
FACTS & FIGURES
After playing No. 4 Florida State last week, this is Miami’s first instance of facing top-10 teams in consecutive weeks in the regular season since Oct. 3-10, 1992. It also happened in back-to-back games to end the 2017 season, counting the Orange Bowl. … Louisville can reach 10 wins for the seventh time in program history, the first since 2013. … Howard Schnellenberger coached at both schools, winning Miami’s first national championship in 1983 and giving Louisville its first 10-win season in 1990. … Miami hasn’t lost back-to-back home regular-season finales since 2010 and 2011. It lost last year’s home finale to Pitt.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
