Louisville football is trending this offseason, with many experts circling the Cardinals and naming them not just a dark horse to win the ACC Title but also a team that could make it to the College Football Playoffs for the first time. Josh Pate recently recorded a new podcast, and when discussing new College Football Playoff contenders, he was quick to mention Louisville.
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The heavy favorite to win the ACC at the moment is the Miami Hurricanes. Miami is coming of a National Championship run where they fell just short in the title game against the Indiana Hoosiers and followed that up with an eye-popping offseason where they brought in Duke transfer Darian Mensah and earned the fourth-best portal class.
However, the Cardinals' offseason turned heads as well, especially Pate’s, as he was quick to mention Louisville among the ACC's potential new playoff contenders.
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Louisville had one of the best portal runs this past offseason, ranking as high as No. 5 in On3 Sports rankings. The Cardinals added multiple 4-star transfers this offseason, but one player Pate is keeping a close eye on is the Ohio State quarterback transfer, Lincoln Kienholz. And when he raised the question of who could shock college football fans from the ACC, he made a pitch for the Cardinals.
"In the ACC I am thinking about who it would be if it’s not Miami. I know SMU is No. 2 in the odds, but I actually thought maybe Louisville was the team that made the most sense to be the shark fin offshore, that sort of catches us off guard. And it's because they got Lincoln Kienholz in the Transfer Portal. And I'm thinking about the unknown. I'm thinking about what we call upside of unknown. So, the upside of what could be from a guy who reportedly pushed Julian Sayin to the limit in the quarterbacks battle at Ohio State last year. I am getting him to transfer to Louisville under a bona fide quarterback whisperer in a head coach, Jeff Brohm.Josh Pate
They are hungry. They haven’t really accomplished anything of note at that level. So, there is certainly no complacency or anything like that. There’s no Miami, Virginia Tech, or Clemson on their schedule, and those are four of the top five teams in the odds. Maybe it’s Louisville."
The Cardinals are ranked as high as No. 14 in ESPN’s way-too-early rankings and currently have the third-highest odds to win the ACC. Miami is the favorite at -135, followed by SMU at +700 and Louisville at +1100.
The Cardinals fans truly believe this could be a year Louisville makes a run, as Pate stated, their schedule is manageable. They have a challenging first few weeks with Ole Miss and SMU, but after those two games, they play five of the bottom seven teams from the ACC last season, who combined for a 12-28 conference record and were outscored by 298 points.
Louisville has been on multiple analysts' radars as this “under the radar” team, and Pate is now the newest member to join this club. The Cards will have a big offseason ahead as they try to earn a spot back in the ACC Championship game and win their first ACC Title, securing their first berth in the College Football Playoffs.
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