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The No. 18 Louisville Cardinals have performed well in games in which they are ranked, posting a 79-26 record. They haven't enjoyed as much success when both they and their opponent are in the rankings as they've gone 8-12 in those contests. The Cardinals look to improve that mark when they host the No. 17 Miami (FL) Hurricanes on Saturday. Kickoff from Cardinal Stadium is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. 

There's been significant movement in the Louisville vs. Miami odds at William Hill. The Cardinals opened as the 1.5-point favorites, but that line has swung to the other side with with the Hurricanes now favored by two points as kickoff approaches. The over-under for total points is up to 66 after opening at 60.5. Before locking in any Miami vs. Louisville picks, be sure to see the college football predictions from SportsLine's Tom Fornelli.

A CBS Sports writer since 2010, the entertaining Fornelli is a consistent winner who has gone 271-232 in his popular college football "Six Pack" column.

What's more, he has had a particularly keen sense for the tendencies of these teams. Fornelli is a combined 15-4 in his last 19 picks involving Miami and Louisville, including a 10-3 mark in his last 13 college football picks for or against the Hurricanes. Anyone who has followed him is way up.

Now, Fornelli has studied Louisville vs. Miami from every angle and has revealed his picks over at SportsLine. Here are the college football odds from William Hill and trends for Miami vs. Louisville. 

  • Louisville vs. Miami spread: Hurricanes -2
  • Louisville vs. Miami over-under: 66 points
  • Louisville vs. Miami money line: Cardinals +105, Hurricanes -125
  • LOU: The Cardinals are 5-1 against the spread in their last six games as the favorite
  • MIA: The Hurricanes are 1-4 ATS in their last five meetings with the Cardinals

Why Louisville can cover

The Cardinals have a blossoming quarterback at the helm in Micale Cunningham, who began his junior season last week by completing 19-of-34 passes for a career-high 343 yards and three touchdowns. The signal-caller, who also ran for a score, averaged 18.1 yards per completion against Western Kentucky after leading the nation with an 18.4 mark last year. Cunningham has thrown 25 scoring passes in his last 12 games, with a trio of three-TD performances over his past five outings.

Louisville outgained the Hilltoppers 487-248 in its first game after having a 337-120 advantage at halftime. Four of the Cardinals' five scoring drives were at least 85 yards in length, with the first two covering 92 or more yards. The 248 total yards by Western Kentucky were the fewest allowed by Louisville against an FBS team since it limited Kent State to 150 in 2017.

Why Miami can cover

The Hurricanes are 10-3-1 all-time against the Cardinals after rolling to a 52-27 home victory in their meeting last season. One of Miami's only returning offensive players is running back Cam'ron Harris, who rushed for 78 yards in that contest and 134 in the team's opener this campaign. The junior, who also ran for a pair of touchdowns versus UAB, two yards shy of his career high and one carry away from matching his personal best of 18.

Quarterback D'Eriq King threw for 144 yards and a touchdown while running for 83 and a score in his Hurricanes debut. The graduate transfer from Houston has registered at least one rushing and one passing TD in an NCAA-record 16 consecutive games. King's 83 yards on the ground last week were the third-most by a Miami QB since the school joined the ACC in 2004, behind Malik Rosier's 84 against Virginia Tech in 2017 and 90 versus Wisconsin the following year.

How to make Louisville vs. Miami picks

Fornelli is leaning under on the total, and he's also found a critical x-factor he believes makes one side of the spread a must-back. You can only get the pick at SportsLine

So who wins Louisville vs. Miami? And which critical x-factor has Fornelli jumping all over one side of the spread? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Miami vs. Louisville spread to jump on Saturday, all from the expert who's on a 10-3 run picking Hurricanes games, and find out.