Louisville football: 3 takeaways from the 2020 schedule announcement

Ten wins can be the ceiling for Louisville football in 2020, but shouldn’t be the expectation

After looking through this schedule multiple times, I continue to come back to the Cards being able to win at least nine games. While there’s always challenges and unknowns this far out, the incredible turnaround from last season combined with the amount of talent (at key positions) and production returning should lead to an even better season.

There are two ways that I look at every season for Louisville, no matter the sport. I always look to see 1) what is the ceiling or the maximum number of wins if they play the way they are capable of all season long and 2) what should be the expected number of wins.

Last season I thought that the ceiling heading into the first season with Scott Satterfield was six wins, while I expected the staff to at least get to four or five. We obviously saw how far off the national perception of the program was, picking the Cards to finish dead last in the ACC, and only win three total games.

This year I think heading into the season it is fair game to think that if Louisville plays at their best in a season where the defense takes another step forward, the overall depth improves, Micale Cunningham takes another big leap, and the skill position players in Javian Hawkins, Hassan Hall, Dez Fitzpatrick, Marshon Ford, and Tutu Atwell all have similar or better seasons, then talking about winning 10 games is fair game.

When I look at the 12 games ahead of Louisville, I automatically see two that I think will be losses; Clemson and Notre Dame. The other 10 are made up of games that either Louisville will be favored in or have a 50/50 chance to win.

However, when talking about expectations and what fans should expect I think the number has to come down a bit. With Louisville losing key pieces on the defensive side of the ball in G.G. Robinson, Amonte Caban, and Khane Pass as well as other parts on offense and special teams, there are going to be growing pains.

With 25 freshmen incoming, many will be expected to step in and play right away while other new starters will be asked to do a lot and with that comes mistakes and learning that must take place. I believe all of that will happen on the fly while the stars and other key contributors will hit the ground running at incredible speed.

Whichever way you want to look at it I think we can all agree on one thing. The days of thinking the Cards will need time, time, and more time to begin competing are gone. Heavy expectations will and should be placed on the staff who was responsible for saving a sinking ship and getting Louisville back on track to compete at the very top of the ACC and the country.