Louisville Opens as Four-Point Home Favorite vs. Duke

The Cardinals come out of their bye week to host the Blue Devils for a ranked matchup.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With the Louisville football program coming out of their bye week, oddsmakers are liking them to get back on track when they host Duke.

According to Circa Sports, the No. 18 Cardinals have opened up as a four-point favorite over the visiting No. 20 Blue Devils. The over/under has been set at 51.5.

Louisville (6-1, 3-1 ACC) captured their first six games of the season for their best start since 2013, but ran into their first road block in their last time out against Pitt. Despite out-gaining the Panthers 430-288 in terms of total yardage, three turnovers inside the 25-yard line by quarterback Jack Plummer proved too much too overcome, leading to a decisive 38-21 loss in the Steel City.

As for Duke (5-2, 2-1 ACC), they are also coming off of their first conference loss of the season. They had Florida State on the ropes in Tallahassee, leading the Seminoles 20-17 at halftime. But after Blue Devils QB Riley Leonard re-aggravated his ankle injury in the third quarter and had to exit the game, it all went downhill for Duke, getting out-scored 21-0 in the fourth quarter to fall 38-20.

Louisville is 3-4 against-the-spread so far this season, whereas Duke is 4-3. The Cardinals are 3-0 ATS and straight up at home, while the Blue Devils are 1-1 both ATS and straight up on the road.

Louisville was able to cover vs. Murray State (-43.5), vs. Boston College (-14.0) and vs. Notre Dame (+6.5); but failed to do so vs. Georgia Tech (-7.0), vs. Indiana (-10.0) at NC State (-3.5) and at Pitt (-7.0).

Duke covered vs. Clemson (+12.5), vs. Northwestern (-17.0), at UConn (-22.0) and vs. NC State (-4.0); but could not do so vs. Lafayette (-42.5), vs. Notre Dame (+5.5) and at Florida State (+14.0).

Kickoff vs. Duke is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 28 at 3:30 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Trevion Cooley: Jaylynn Nash - USA TODAY Sports)

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