LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Elvis Dumervil laughs at the question. Maybe because it's the same one the senior defensive end has gotten since the day he stepped onto the University of Louisville campus.

In an age where defensive linemen could double as power forwards on a basketball court, isn't the 5-foot-11, 258-pound Dumervil too small, too short - too something - to be one of the most feared pass rushers in the nation?

“That's what they say,” Dumervil said. “I've always been too small.”

Dumervil enters Saturday's game between the 17th-ranked Cardinals (7-2 overall, 3-2 Big East) and reeling Syracuse (1-9, 0-6) with an NCAA-high 20 sacks, four shy of the single-season mark of 24 set by Terrell Suggs at Arizona State in 2002.

Playing against the 115th-ranked offense in the country and a unit that's allowed a conference-high 34 sacks, Dumervil could make his last game at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium the capper on a season that's defied even his own ambitious expectations.

He started the season hoping to get 15 sacks. He reached the milestone by the fifth game.

His 10 forced fumbles this year are an NCAA record. And he's done it even as teams have thrown everything at him.

“Double-team, triple-teamed, you get it all now,” Dumervil said. “Against Pittsburgh (a 42-20 win for Louisville on Nov. 3) there were things I've never seen before. Tight ends, receiver chips. Running backs and fullbacks and guards. I'm getting it all.”

Not bad for a player senior Travis Leffew used to throw around in practice during Dumervil's freshman year. Leffew, a 6-4, 304 lb. offensive tackle, said there were some eyebrows raised during Dumervil's first summer in Louisville in 2002, when the little defensive end with the not-so little mouth showed up.

“Everybody was questioning his talent and ability,” Leffew said. “But in his heart, he's 6-5 and nobody can stop him.”

This season, nobody has. Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino said it's Dumervil's nonstop motor that sets him apart. Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson has a different word for it.

“He's one of those guys who's possessed,” Robinson said. “He's affecting football games.”

Dumervil said he's trying to keep it all in perspective. Sure, he's come a long way in four years, but so has the Louisville program.

The Cardinals enter the game looking to build off their school-record 11 straight home wins and take another step in securing a Jan. 2 bowl bid.

Louisville's bowl game means Dumervil has three chances to tie the sack record. But he'd love nothing better than to do it before he walks off the Papa John's Cardinal Stadium turf and for the last time touches the statue of Johnny Unitas that greets the players.

Four sacks in one game sounds ambitious. But after Dumervil rolled up six sacks in the season-opener against Kentucky, Leffew thinks anything is possible.

“He's the best defensive lineman I've played since I've been here,” said Leffew, who will start in his 47th straight game. “I think it'll be something he'll accomplish. ... so I can say I went against this guy in practice and he never beat me, he beat all those other guys.”