The ACC is set to release the official schedule for all ACC teams on Monday, Jan. 26, according to ESPN. The ACC Network will host a show at 9 p.m. local time to release the schedule, highlighting every ACC team's schedule.
Louisville football enters the 2026 season with high expectations after Jeff Brohm rebuilt his roster. The Cardinals lost 29 players to the portal while adding 30 players from the Transfer Portal and 20 players from the 2026 recruiting class. The Cards' offseason ranks as high as No. 5 in the nation, and all of a sudden, this Cards squad is ranked in multiple way-too-early rankings.
So, with Brohm eager to win the program's first-ever ACC Title, Louisville fans are browsing the Cardinals' schedule, and the city is beginning to realize the door is open for a breakthrough season from Louisville.
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Louisville football's schedule gives Cardinals a real shot to contend in 2026
The Cardinals' schedule will consist of 12 games, with nine against ACC opponents and three against non-ACC opponents. On top of that, Louisville will have two bye weeks across the 14-week season. The Cardinals had a challenging ACC schedule last season as they faced the top four teams in the conference in Virginia, SMU, Pitt, and Miami, and all of those games were on the road, except for their game with the Cavaliers.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the case for next season. Louisville fans won’t learn the dates until Monday, but what they do know is who they are playing and where. The Cardinals' ACC schedule opens the door for Brohm and Louisville, as the combined ACC record of their 2026 opponents from last season is 34-38.
Louisville will face Florida State, Pitt, SMU, Stanford, and Wake Forest at home, while going on the road to face Georgia Tech, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Syracuse. Of these nine programs, only SMU is in any way-too-early Top 25 rankings.
Also, looking at last year's standings, the Cardinals are playing five of the bottom seven teams in Syracuse, North Carolina, Florida State, Wake Forest, and Stanford. These five teams had a combined 12-28 conference record and were outscored by a combined 298 points.
Louisville does have Pitt, SMU, and Georgia Tech on its schedule, who have been contending teams in the past year, but the Cardinals have SMU and Pitt at home this year, while they travel to Atlanta to face the Yellow Jackets.
ACC Title odds haven’t been released yet, but as of now, the Cards' +15000 odds to win the 2026 National title are the fifth-best odds from the ACC. The four teams above Louisville is Miami (+1900), Clemson (+10000), SMU (+10000), and Virginia (+12500).
Louisville tends to be an underrated team in college football, but with its schedule appearing to be much easier than last year, and the Cardinals having one of their best rosters under Brohm, this appears to be a year Louisville can not only return to the ACC Championship game, but win its first-ever ACC Title.