The fourth bowl game of the Holiday season takes place this evening as Conference USA's Southern Miss Golden Eagles take on the Big East's Louisville Cardinals in the Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl. The postseason clash is scheduled to get underway at 8:00pm ET at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida; it will be broadcast live on ESPN. 2010 St. Petersburg Bowl Southern Miss vs Louisville Odds are presently favoring the Cardinals at -2.5 points. The Over/Under for tonight's game is set at 58.
Louisville football experienced a downward 
turn after the departure of Bobby Petrino in 2006, posting a 15-21 record from 2007 to 2009, including a dismal 4-8 record in the final year of Steve Kragthorpe's tenure. However, the program showed tremendous promise this season under first year Head Coach Charlie Strong, finishing up with a 6-6 overall record.
Granted, Louisville still has some work to do to reach the same heights it did under Petrino, but the way it performed this season showed that it is headed in the right direction.
The Cardinals posted a 3-4 conference record, but they defeated Big East champion Connecticut 26-0 and waxed a respectable Rutgers squad 40-13 in their regular season finale.
Louisville, which relies heavily senior running back Bilal Powell (1330 rush yards, 10 touchdowns, 6.3 yards per carry average), averaged 26 points per game while giving up just 18.7 per contest (15th in the nation).
Southern Miss fought its way to at least seven wins for a ninth consecutive season, going 8-4 overall in Larry Fedora's third year on the sidelines. The Golden Eagles finished third in Conference USA's East Division with a 5-3 league record, and they beat conference champion Central Florida 31-21 on the road in mid-November.
Southern Miss, which is led by junior quarterback Austin Davis, averaged 37.6 points per game this season and it topped the 40 point mark on seven different occasions. Davis completed the season with 2898 pass yards and 18 touchdowns; he also rushed for 436 yards and 10 scores.
The Golden Eagles defense ranked 80th in the FBS in points per game allowed, giving up an average of 29.4 per outing.
2010 St. Petersburg Bowl Southern Miss vs Louisville Odds:
Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles +2.5 (-110), Over 58 (-110)
Louisville Cardinals -2.5 (-110), Under 58 (-110)
