College football Odds: Louisville at Utah

Utah's chances of a national championship have all but vanished, but the season ain't over yet. (AP Images)"]

Certainly Utah's season isn't over in the wake of last week's loss at Oregon, but the nation's longest winning streak was put to an end, as were the Utes' chances of crashing the national championship game. Thus it will be interesting to see how they respond this week in what looks like a letdown game with conference play and a tough game at Colorado State coming up next week. Utah is -14 this week on Bodog's college football odds.

Louisville seems unlikely to end Utah's 12-game home winning streak on Saturday, but will the Cards cover? Not if they don't solve their red zone woes – they are tied for 92nd in Division I in red-zone efficiency, scoring points on 10 of 14 trips. Only five of those have been touchdowns. And it's not like Louisville has faced tough competition so far, having beaten Indiana State and lost to Kentucky.

Will the altitude affect the Cards this week? Not if you listen to coach Steve Kragthorpe, who grew up in Utah and had a great quote on the altitude: "We're not freaking going to play on Mount Everest here. We're going to 4,200 feet. It's not that big of a deal."

Kragthorpe, by the way, is 0-2 in his collegiate coaching career against the Utes, with his Tulsa team falling in 2006 and his Louisville team doing the same the next year.

Look for UL to try and focus on the running game to start out. Last year, the Utes allowed just one team to crack 200 yards on the ground, but this year Utah State (221) and Oregon (217) already have surpassed that mark -- the Utes rank just 78th nationally against the run. Louisville averages 154.5 yards on the ground behind sophomore Victor Anderson (6.2 yards per carry, three TDs).

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The Cards will be without a key player on defense this week. Starting safety Terrence Simien is out indefinitely with a lacerated kidney suffered against Kentucky. He had an interception and fumble recovery and was tied for third on the team with 10 tackles. Louisville's defense gives up just 93.5 yards per game on the ground.

Utah is one of the better running teams in the country behind Matt Asiata, who leads the Mountain West Conference in rushing. He was limited last week with a shoulder injury but should be back to around 85-90 percent health this week, according to coach Kyle Whittingham. In addition, Whittingham said this week that he wants QB Terrance Cain to stretch the field more. Cain has just 10 passes of more than 20 yards this season and had just two last week in the loss to Oregon.

When doing your football betting at Bodog this week, know that Utah is unbeaten all-time against current members of the Big East at 6-0, including 3-0 against Louisville.

Get all your college football odds at Bodog Sportsbook.