Louisville football recently dropped its second game of the 2025-26 season. The Cardinals had everything in front of them as they were the frontrunners to make the College Football Playoffs from the ACC, and after watching Virginia lose, they were emerging as the frontrunners to win the ACC. However, a loss to Cal, and now the fans are beginning to accept the reality that they are no longer in the race.
Well, despite Louisville's low odds of winning the ACC Title now, ESPN recently revealed a fatal flaw for every playoff contender, and with Louisville technically in the race for the ACC Title, ESPN exposed a key stat that is holding the Cardinals back.
Related: 5 immediate observations following Louisville’s devastating loss against California
ESPN's 'fatal flaw' for Louisville football is spot on
The Cardinals' underwhelming performance against Cal had many areas that fans and Jeff Brohm could rant about for hours, where Louisville needs to improve. However, one of the biggest areas ESPN just revealed is negative plays.
"In Saturday's 29-26 upset loss to Cal, Louisville ran 69 plays; 29 of them (42.0%) gained zero or negative yardage. The Cardinals turned positive yardage on just four of their last 13 snaps. That raised their season average to 35.0%, which ranks 116th nationally. Running back injuries and unreliable QB and line play are dragging Louisville down."
Brohm was seen after the game, furious with his offense, and had a ton of passion and anger in his voice when talking during his press conference. Penalties and negative plays were a topic he was clearly upset about, and for good reason. He stated this morning that he is not optimistic Brown will return. With their star out again, this offense has to find ways to generate plays and big plays.
ESPN gives Louisville an 8.5 percent chance of winning the ACC, which is the sixth-highest percentage, behind Georgia Tech, Virginia, Duke, SMU, and Pitt. It is a tall task for Louisville to win the ACC, and a lot has to happen; winning out is no easy challenge.
Louisville has Clemson this week, followed by a road game at SMU next, and concludes the season against Kentucky. This is the three-game gauntlet that fans knew would be challenging, and if this offense, specifically Miller Moss and the offensive line, continues to hold everyone else back, they might slip up one or two more times.