Louisville football suffered its first loss of the season two weeks ago to a surprisingly good Virginia team. After reviewing the film, Coach Jeff Brohm surely showed his team exactly how they let a winnable game slip away. The mistakes didn’t just cost the Cardinals a victory — they set them back in the ACC standings, now chasing a group of undefeated teams. That’s what makes this week’s matchup against No. 2 ranked and undefeated Miami so critical for Louisville’s ACC title hopes.
At times this season, the Cards have looked like legitimate conference contenders. At others, they’ve appeared average — or worse. What was supposed to be a veteran, transfer-led roster has struggled to find consistency. Fortunately, the bye week came at just the right time. If Louisville is going to pull off the upset in Hard Rock Stadium on Friday night, they’ll need to play their most complete game of the year.
Here are three key areas where Louisville must be nearly perfect to shock Miami and pull off one of the biggest upsets of the season.