Ralph Russo
Lamar Jackson and No. 3 Louisville go from playing the main event last week to the side stage this week.
The Cardinals head to Marshall after jumping into the national title race by tearing up Florida State at home last week. Louisville certainly isn’t the first team to play a huge game and then hit the road to play a lesser opponent, but it is not too often you see a team in a Power Five conference go from hosting GameDay to playing at a Group of Five school a week later.
Jackson and the Cardinals are talented enough to avoid a letdown, but it should be interesting to see how they respond to being the hunted in Huntington, W.Va., where a salty crowd should be revved up for an 8 p.m. kickoff at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. CBS Sports Network is airing the game.
At No. 3, Louisville matches the highest ranking of any team to visit the Thundering Herd. Marshall has just two victories against ranked teams since joining FBS in 1997, the last in 2003 when the Herd beat No. 6 Kansas State. More relevant, Marshall is coming off a 65-38 loss to Akron. So it should be another stat-padding game for Jackson.
No. 13 Florida State faces a similar and likely more challenging road test Saturday. The Seminoles play unbeaten South Florida from the American Athletic Conference in Tampa.
The showcase games Saturday are mostly in the Southeastern Conference, with three matchups of ranked teams, and over in the Big Ten where No. 11 Wisconsin faces No. 8 Michigan State.