Syracuse Football: Eyeing bowl bid, SU has tons in common with next foe

This Saturday afternoon, Syracuse football will head to Louisville for the third year in a row, according to cuse.com, in a pivotal Atlantic Coast Conference clash for both squads.

The Orange (5-4, 2-3), at least for now, is a slight underdog as it prepares to suit up versus the Cardinals (4-5, 2-4), a group that absolutely crushed the ‘Cuse, 30-0, on their own turf a stanza ago.

But the 2021 campaign could prove a different story. Syracuse football has won two-straight league encounters, and the Orange is coming off of its bye week just one victory away from reaching post-season bowl eligibility.

For Louisville, it must attain two wins in its final three games to garner a bowl berth. So a lot is on the line for each team when they do battle from Cardinal Stadium on November 13.

Let’s take a look at various statistics for Syracuse football and Louisville.

Before we get to a bunch of numbers, it’s good context to note here that the ‘Cuse and the Cardinals each have come out on top in several close affairs throughout the 2021 term, and they’ve both also suffered some defeats by small margins.

As such, I expect a closely fought contest between these two ACC units. In perusing data on the ACC’s Web site, I found a lot of commonalities among Syracuse football and Louisville so far in 2021.

Within the conference, the Orange is No. 7 in scoring offense, while the Cardinals are No. 8. In scoring defense, the ‘Cuse is No. 5, and Louisville is No. 8.

Syracuse football and its upcoming opponent are each excellent in the ground game, and that holds true on both sides of the field.

In rushing yards per contest, the Orange is No. 1, with the Cardinals at No. 3. As it pertains to rushing yards allowed per encounter, Syracuse football is No. 4, and Louisville is No. 5.

Both defenses will have their hands full with really good dual-threat quarterbacks. The Orange’s Garrett Shrader and the Cardinals’ Malik Cunningham each rank in the top-10 within the ACC as far as rushing yards per game.

Syracuse football does have the conference’s leading rusher in running back Sean Tucker. Conversely, Cunningham is No. 7 within the league in passing yards per game, and Shrader is near the bottom, at No. 13.

One thing to monitor is the status of Cunningham. He apparently got a little banged up in last weekend’s loss to Clemson but is expected to play versus Syracuse football, according to a report by The Courier-Journal.