Louisville football had a masterclass offseason, adding 30 transfers via the Transfer Portal, including multiple 4-stars. The Cardinals' offense is already earning a lot of high praise, as it will be led by one of the best college football running backs, Isaac Brown, and their top transfer, Tre Richardson.
Louisville added former 4-star recruit out of high school and Ohio State transfer Lincoln Kienholz to run the show next season at quarterback, and is expected to have a dominant defensive line led by Clev Lubin, AJ Green, Tyler Thompson, and Jerod Smith II. Louisville has a handful of key returners, mixed with transfers ready to break out under Jeff Brohm.
This team has already earned a lot of early praise, making many way-too-early top 25s but they might have just received the biggest praise from CBS Sports.
Related: Way-too-early Louisville football 2026 game-by-game predictions
CBS Sports reveals Louisville football’s ceiling with early 2026 ACC prediction
Cody Nagel of CBS Sports predicts that the Cardinals will go undefeated in their regular-season ACC games, setting Louisville up for a potential College Football Playoff run and a return to the ACC Championship game.
“There's a strong possibility Louisville will be favored in all 12 regular-season games next season -- credit Bud Elliott on the Cover 3 Podcast for spotting that. The Cardinals' two toughest matchups are outside the ACC: at Kentucky and Ole Miss. The ACC slate is unusually soft, with games against seven of the 10 lowest-ranked teams in Chip Patterson's 2026 ACC power rankings, setting the stage for a possible unbeaten conference run.”
Throughout the article, Louisville fans will see that Nagel predicts Miami will miss the ACC Championship game and that Louisville will meet SMU. He doesn’t predict what the Cardinals' record will be, but he predicts Louisville to lose to the Mustangs in Charlotte, if the Cardinals find a way to beat Ole Miss or Kentucky and lose just two games, including the conference championship game, then this team will make its first College Football Playoffs.
Louisville’s schedule is definitely manageable, like Nagel suggests, as they face five of the seven worst teams from last year, and those five teams logged a 12-28 conference record and were outscored by a combined 298 points. Going undefeated in conference play isn’t easy, but if Louisville was able to earn its program's first win over SMU in Week 3 and win on the road against Georgia Tech, then the Cardinals would have to earn a spot in the 2026 CFP.
Louisville fans should love this prediction, and it is just another example of how high the ceiling is for Jeff Brohm and the Louisville Cardinals in 2026.
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