Louisville football's 2025 season is quickly approaching, and Cardinals fans are anxiously awaiting it. Louisville is expected to be one of the best teams in the ACC, and they have the third-best odds to take the ACC crown.
Most news and media outlets project the Cards' as a top-25 team, so Jeff Brohm and the Cardinals have high expectations entering the 2025 season. The Cardinals' nation wants to achieve at least nine wins for the third straight season, especially after FanDuel has set the Cardinals' win total at 8.5.
The Cardinals will have tough matchups against Clemson, Miami, and SMU, but when a program gets challenging, ranked battles like those three matchups, it also receives some creampuffs on its schedule.
So, here are three creampuffs who'll give Louisville football extra bye weeks in 2025.
3 creampuffs who'll give Louisville football extra bye weeks in 2025
3. Kentucky Wildcats - Nov. 29
The Governor's Cup is the rivalry showdown between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Louisville Cardinals. This will be a more challenging matchup than the Cardinals' week one showdown with Eastern Kentucky, but Louisville should dominate this matchup for the second straight season. With this being a rivalry game, anything could happen, but Kentucky is one of the worst teams in the SEC. Last year, they finished second-to-last, 15th place, with a 1-7 SEC record and a 4-8 overall record. This year's game will be played at home at L&N Stadium on Nov. 29 to conclude the season.
Related: Louisville football 2025 game-by-game predictions
2. Cal Golden Bears - Nov. 9
This game could have been Bowling Green, but the Falcons nearly upset Penn State last year, and we wanted to also include an ACC game, not just all out of conference. So this came down between Virginia and Cal. The Golden Bears should be the more creampuff opponent this season as Cal is rebuilding this upcoming season after losing their star quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, to the Indiana Hoosiers. The Golden Bears lost nearly their entire offense to the transfer portal after Mendoza left, as they lost their top running backs in Jaydn Ott, Kadarius Calloway, Byron Cardwell, and leading rusher Javian Thomas. They also lost star tight end Jack Endries to Texas, making this Golden Bears offense extremely thin. Louisville should be able to dominate this game and win by double digits as the game is set to kick off on Nov. 8 from L&N Stadium.
Related: ACC football power rankings after spring portal closes: Did Cardinals get better?
1. Eastern Kentucky Colonels - Aug. 30
The easiest game on the Cardinals' schedule is their week one matchup against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. Eastern Kentucky finished last season with an 8-5 record, but against their one power four matchup, they lost 56-7 to a Mississippi State squad that finished dead last in the SEC and 2-10 on the season. Louisville will have some growing pains in this game with it being their debut in the regular season, but Miller Moss and Isaac Brown will be too much for the Colonels, and this should be an absolute blowout by the second half.