2024 Louisville College Football Schedule Preview

welcome back to the grid iron expert we're continuing our schedule previews for our way too early top 25 teams and next up we've got our team coming in at number 24 the Louisville Cardinals who all things considered despite the poor finish really exceeded expectations in 2023 year one under Jeff Brom so many new pieces new schemes and yet the Cardinals go 10 and four under ACC run her up made the ACC Championship but did lose their final three games to Kentucky at the end of the regular season to Florida state in the ACC title game and then to USC in their bowl game but regardless a 10 win season in year one under Jeff Brum conference runner up and gotta say they probably gave some of their fans a heart attack I know they weren't fans of of losing the final three games but five of their 10 wins coming by one possession so Louisville you know was was so up and down very very good at home not so good on the road or neutral sites but still all things considered a relatively successful 2023 season they're hoping to build on that entering 2024 a 2024 season where Jeff Braum crushed the transfer portal a lot of Key New pieces again but they're good I mean Tyler chug coming in at quarterback if he can stay healthy going to be perfect in this Jeff Braum offense you got Colin Lacy jakori Brooks coming in as pass catchers on that offense you got Penny Boone coming in from Toledo uh you've got a very very solid defense one that should be uh probably just as good if not a little bit better than what we saw last year from Louisville this is a dangerous Cardinals team guys and an ACC that's adding a couple new pieces this year you got SMU coming in you've got California you've got Stanford coming in an expanding conference but wmer Louisville once again will be contending towards the top of the standings you take a look at the Cardinals schedule what are they going up against this season I will say it's kind of broken into two halves for me that first half half of the season is really really favorable this is a a schedule that lines up perfectly for Louisville to maybe start 6 and one maybe 7 and0 and again we're not here to predict anything right now our predictions for the Cardinals and every other FBS team will be coming your way starting in June but you take a look should be 2 and 0 right after the uh right before the byee their first bye I should say uh and then you get Georgia Tay first conference game there they beat the yellow jackets 39 to 34 last year in the season opener had to battle back dig deep to win that game it was it was a tough one one that Georgia Tech probably should have won but Louisville battled back to win the game by five they get the game at home off a week of rest the Georgia Tech team that made a bowl game last year won their bowl game over UCF and is going to be even better in 2024 with Brent key now at the H that Notre Dame game to me is the key and you know because that to me that's going to show whether or not Louisville maybe starts 7-0 and we're talking maybe playoff for the Cardinals once again again the college football playoff expanded to 12 teams beginning this year so one loss isn't going to keep you out two losses might not even keep you out depending on when you lose and who you lose to that Notre Dame game in South B though going to be so so difficult the Cardinals torched Notre Dame last year although the game was in Louisville they beat them 33-20 now the game's in South Bend Notre Dame's defense going to be one of the best in the entire country Riley Leonard now at the helm we did a video over the Fighting Irish just a few weeks ago talking about how good and how Danger this Notre Dame team can be in 2024 going on the road is not going to be easy and I will tell you this right now if you're Louisville uh to me this is not the key stretch to the season but the games against Georgia Tech Notre Dame and SMU those three games consecutively are going to test your defense Georgia Tech's offense going to be very very tough really really good Notre Dame's offense going to be very very strong and SMU Rett Lashley the head coach you know he's going to have a good offense Preston Stone back at quarterback SMU first year in the conference could contend for an ACC title those three games if your defense is not up to par it you could lose them easily and you're lucky that you get both two of those three games at home that's massive so again I'm not predicting anything right now I think if you're looking for a most likely loss there it would come on the road against Notre Dame uh they go on the road to Virginia after that beat them only by seven last year survived a scare against the Cavaliers late in the season and they host Miami who they also beat by seven so again those first seven games Louisville you know you're obviously you're hoping to go s and0 no doubt about it but six- one even would be massive six and one going in to those final five games and those final five games of the season is where things get tough not necessarily because of the the competition per se but because four of those games are on the road they've got to go two Boston College two Clemson two Stanford if you actually look at that that's three consecutive Road games yeah they've got the bye in there to break things up but that's three consecutive Road games for the Cardinals you know you don't really see that very often and you know the schedule makers going to go it's not three consecutive they get that week off in there but you're telling me that that Louisville is not going to play in front of their home fans for over a month they'll play Miami on October 19th and will not play at home in front of their fans again until November 23rd that's absurd that's crazy kind of ridiculous if you ask me but Boston College showed a lot of signs of Promise towards the end of last year Louisville torched him by 28 56 to 28 last year but now new head coach and Bill O'Brien got a mobile quarterback and Thomas castalanos assuming they keep him assum that's Bill O'Brien wants to use uh or if castalano sticks around as well players could transfer out but at the time of this video uh nothing new on that front Boston College on the road not going to be easy Clemson and Death Valley not going to be easy despite the disappointment we've seen from Clemson over the last few years always a tough out especially at at home by week then they have to go on a long road trip out west to take on a Stanford team that showed signs of Promise last year under Troy Taylor wasn't the first great first year no one expects it to be should be better in year two they host Pittsburgh who torched Louisville last year beat on 38 to 21 keep in mind Louisville was only a one loss team entering their season finale against Kentucky that lone loss was to Pittsburgh if Louisville does not lose to Pittsburgh they're undefeated going into their season finale and we're talking about the card maybe being a college football playoff team at at that point in time seriously that's what we're talking about so that Pittsburgh game kind of screw some stuff up Louisville offense with atrocious the Pittsburgh defense came to life in that game despite an abysmal season under Pat Nardi but Pittsburgh at home on senior day going to be huge and then Kentucky always lately at least a relatively close game between the Wildcats and the Cardinals uh they lost to Kentucky 38-31 at home last year that was a heartbreaker really big Heartbreaker for the Cardinals look like they were going to win that game had multiple opportunities I should say to put that game away were unable to choked it away in the fourth quarter to lose by seven to their bitter instate Rivals but again that's four of your final five games on the road that's why it's so important for Louisville to do well in their first seven games s-0 phenomenal six- one really really good 5-2 probably not where you want to be but not terrible you you have to ask yourself if you're a Louisville fan what are the expectations this year uh in a wide openen ACC are you expecting to win the conference to make the cable playoff would you be thrilled with an 89 maybe another 10- win regular season potentially flirting with a new year six bu birth what are the expectations at Louisville this year because again the ACCC is wide open Florida State loses so much from the team that went undefeated but yet still missed out in the playoff Clemson has the talent has the coaching staff to get back to the top but again has struggled over the last few years in terms of their expectations Duke's got a brand new coach Georgia Tech don't really see them as an elite ACC title Contender but you never know there's so many teams in the conference guys that uh could challenge for a top spot Louisville being one of them but as of right now I don't know if you've got one clear front runner uh in terms of who's going to be you could say Florida State but again they're going to be a completely different team in 2024 so the opportunity is there for the Cardinals but if they want to achieve those goals they want to be legitimate contenders they've got to get a really strong start in those first seven games because those final five are absolutely brutal again not necessarily because of the teams that they're playing but because that they're hardly playing at home and as we know in college football home field advantage is very very very important and playing that many road games in a very short amount of time makes it even worse so guys there you go Louisville Cardinals coming at number 24 in our way too early top 25 that is our schedule preview for them our prediction for them will come out here in just couple of months couple months we're not too far away from the start of prediction season so make sure you keep your eye on that but until then please continue to like comment subscribe share our videos check out everything down in the description below 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