Top 5 matchups for Week 8 of the 2024 college football season
4. No. 6 Miami at Louisville – Saturday, Noon ET, ABC
Miami and Louisville are becoming more familiar with each other as Saturday will mark their sixth matchup as ACC foes. The Cardinals won last year鈥檚 matchup in a close 38-31 contest, one of four wins in the past six games of the series. However, the Hurricanes have typically dominated Louisville on the gridiron, winning 11 of 16 matchups since 1933.
This year鈥檚 game could follow a similar script to last season鈥檚 contest with No. 6 Miami favored by four points. The Hurricanes have started the season a perfect 6-0, but close games have been a theme of late after some early-season blowouts as it took a comeback at home to defeat Virginia Tech in Week 5 before an even more dramatic 25-point rally to beat Cal in Week 6. Despite some inconsistency, Mario Cristobal鈥檚 squad still boasts a top-15 defense and the No. 1-ranked offense in the country, putting up over 580 yards and nearly 48 points per game behind Heisman candidate quarterback Cam Ward.
Ward will have a chance to exploit a Louisville defense on Saturday that gave up over 30 points in back-to-back losses against Notre Dame and SMU before rebounding a bit in the Cardinals鈥� victory over Virginia this past weekend. The defense that plays better might ultimately decide the contest as Louisville also features a top-25 offense behind talented transfer quarterback Tyler Shough and skilled wideout Ja鈥機orey Brooks. A fast start from those two could put Miami in a hole that it can鈥檛 get out of this time around.
