Cards Ready for Major Challenge at Houston

University of Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino talks to his team constantly about the next game on the schedule is always the most important -- and Thursday night's game versus Houston – is the most imperative because, not only is it the next one, but it's brings a number of ramifications.

After the 44-12 win over Wake Forest, and a number of top five teams dropping games, the Cards have positioned themselves to be a key topic in Tuesday night's College Football Playoff rankings.
The Cardinals, who were sixth last week, will look to jump into the top four with only two games remaining, but it must be ready to play on Thursday night.

"Yeah, I think for our players, they just have to understand that they need to go out and play well, and play the type of football we are capable of playing," Petrino said. "Really, that's what we need to do our last two games, and then whatever happens, happens. We can't control any of that."

After falling behind 12-0 on Saturday, the Cardinals responded with 44 unanswered points – 34 coming in the fourth quarter. It was a reminder that each play is critical in November, especially with so much on the line in the coming weeks.

"We just have to go play the way we are capable of playing and obviously we know it's on national TV, nobody else is playing, everybody will be watching it," Petrino said. "These 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 you know mid-week games."

This won't be just another midweek opponent though, playing a Houston team, which defeated the Cardinals 34-31 at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in the second game of the 2015 season.

Sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson was making his first career start at quarterback, and is far more advanced this season -- rushing for 1,334 yards and 19 touchdowns and passing for 2,898 and 27 scores.

A Heisman Trophy candidate, Jackson has accounted for 46 touchdowns this season, and has electrified college football with his big-play ability and his ultra-competitive attititude.

"We're a much different team than we were last year," Petrino said. "Right then we were trying to even find out who we are and what we were doing and everything was new to Lamar [Jackson] when he was out there. He made some really good plays in the game. He made some mistakes. Just understanding the difference between high school football and college football, so I don't think last year's game will play into this game at all."

The Cougars, at 8-2, are one of the top defensive units in the nation and bring a physical defense into the game geared to stop the nation's top offense. However, it was the play of quarterback Greg Ward that caused the Cards major problems last season – rushing for 98 yards and throwing for 236.

"He really has done a nice job running the football," Petrino said. "He's hard to tackle. He made some plays against us where it looked like we had him boxed in, and it looked like we had everybody covered, and he was still able to create room and run out and make conversions. His ability to run the ball was the way they won the game in the fourth quarter, so we've got to do a good job being disciplined like we were in the second half last week."

The Cardinals have played great defense all season, and are faced with a huge challenge against one of the nation's top offensive units in front of a sold-out crowd.

With so much on the line for both teams, it will be a huge game. However, for the Cardinals, it's the biggest, because it's the next game.

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