Editor's note: Christian Alexander has a 7-2 record on Thursdays this season for a 78 percent clip. In addition, he's off a 5-0 run during Week 9. So what does he have in store for tonight? How about a pair of plays as in the side and total for parlay purposes if you wish. And the total is GUARANTEED (pay if it wins only).

Pittsburgh (4-4, 3-1 Big East) at #24 Louisville (5-2, 1-2 Big East)

Thursday, November 3 at 7:30 PM

TV: ESPN

Surface: Artificial, Field Turf (Papa John’s Stadium)

Line: Louisville -21, Total of 65.5

My apologies for the lack of a preview last week but it’s kind of difficult to fire up the computer when a hurricane is threatening to take your roof off…not to mention leaving you without power!

With the lights back on, I’m once again behind the wheel this week and thankfully things are slowly returning to normal down here in South Florida.

After a month long stay in the ACC, we’re off to the Big East this Thursday to check out the Louisville Cardinals. Don’t forget, in the musical chairs last year Louisville jumped out of Conference USA and landed in the Big East with BCS dreams. Had the Cardinals been in the Big East last season they likely would have represented the conference in the Fiesta Bowl against Utah.

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As it was, Coach Bobby Petrino had to settle for yet another Liberty Bowl appearance, their third in five years, while Pittsburgh traveled west for the Fiesta.

Those two teams are now in the same conference and will square off in a crucial game this Thursday.

Louisville has had some string of great QB’s with Chris Redman, Dave Ragone and the recently graduated Stefan LeFors but with current starter Brian Brohm, Cardinal fans might be witnessing the best of the bunch.

Much credit should be directed to Petrino and how he has handled this young talent. In one of the rare instances of a successful QB rotation, Petrino was able to get Brohm quality minutes in 2004 while still getting the most out of Lefors. The end result was not only an incredibly powerful offense, but also a QB that was fully prepared to take over as starter in just his true sophomore season.

The results have been devastating for opposing defenses as Brohm has already been named the Big East Offensive Player of the Week three times this season. The Louisville signal caller leads the nation in passing efficiency, completing 69.4 % of his passes for 2,102 yards while throwing14 touchdowns with only three interceptions.

And lest you think that Louisville is strictly a passing offense, don’t forget that Petrino has one of the top backs in the nation in RB Michael Bush. The junior leads the nation in scoring with 19 touchdowns and is averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Talk about balance!

With those ingredients, it should come as no surprise that Louisville has one of the top attacks in the nation. The Cardinals are second only to Southern Cal in scoring average, tallying an eye popping 46.9 points per game. Overall, they rank eighth in the nation in total offense with 499.9 yards per game.

While Pittsburgh certainly can’t flash those gaudy numbers, the Panthers offense has certainly gotten back on track in recent weeks after a miserable start to the season.

Predictably, much of the credit for Pittsburgh’s winning ways of late should go to QB Tyler Palko. After an outstanding campaign in 2004, expectations were sky high coming into this year for Palko, who like Brohm was very highly touted coming out of high school.

However, with the departure of Coach Walt Harris, Palko had to get used to a new head coach in Dave Wannstedt and clearly the QB and the rest of the team weren’t ready for the start of the season.

Starting 0-3 was certainly a tough pill to swallow for a squad that had just come off of a BCS season but to the credit of the Panthers, they have rebounded to win four of the last five games to get back to sea level. The comeback has put Pittsburgh squarely in the conference race and back in position for a bowl berth.

The main difference is that on offense Palko is finally starting to get some production from his supporting cast. RB LaRod Stephens-Howling is beginning to give the Panthers a viable ground game and WR Derek Kinder is starting to make defenses pay for leaving him in single coverage as they focus on WR Greg Lee.