Forde Yard Dash - Louisville/Houston preview

Pat Forde does a brief write-up of the game in his weekly Forde Yard Dash this week:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/forde-yard-dash-making-the-case-for-and-arguing-against-each-playoff-hopeful-not-named-alabama-051954341.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma

Louisville-Houston (24). This Thursday night game in H-Town lost significant luster when the Cougars were defeated by Navy and SMU in a span of three weeks in October. But it’s still a huge spot for the Cardinals, who can add a quality road win while potentially putting on a show for the committee. During Bobby Petrino’s nine-minute news conference Monday, The Dash asked about the opportunity to take center stage for a night.

“Obviously we know it’s on national TV, nobody else is playing, everybody will be watching it,” Petrino said. “Those are the type of games we like, something that is fun as a team, something that we feel like has always helped us in recruiting, and we are used to playing mid-week games.”

The matchup of Lamar Jackson against Greg Ward is a tantalizing one, but Houston has to find a way to reignite its offense. The Cougars averaged 505 yards per game and 5.9 yards per play their first seven games, and 332 and 4.4 in the last three.

Dash prediction: Louisville 34, Houston 21.