Louisville football has been becoming a serious dark horse as of late for the 2025 college football season. Jeff Brohm's Louisville Cardinals recently fell outside of the AP Top 25 and came into the regular season ranked No. 29, and after Media Days in Charlotte, the Cardinals were projected to finish No. 5 in the ACC.
The Cardinals have the third-best odds to win the ACC, according to FanDuel, but for some reason don't get the respect they deserve. Well, Josh Pate is someone who has voiced Louisville as a sleeper multiple times this offseason, and he just said the quiet part out loud as we are quickly approaching the 2025 season.
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Josh Pate believes Louisville football can be a 10-win team
The Cardinals' ceiling for 2025 is extremely high. Louisville will be led by star running backs Isaac Brown and Duke Watson, as well as USC transfer Miller Moss. The Cardinals' schedule has some challenging games, but Pate doesn't just believe this team is going to hit the over for their win total; he also thinks this team is one of the biggest College Football Playoff sleeper teams.
"I think Louisville could crash the playoff party," Pate stated. "I am higher than most people on Miller Moss. I think they got a sneaky good wide receiver group there. I implicitly trust Jeff Brohm to get the most out of offensive personnel."
Pate has been one of Brohm's most prominent supporters through his tenure with Louisville. Earlier this offseason, he said Brohm is the most underrated head coach in college football, and now he is stating that even though Louisville "played the portal game," this team is one of the biggest darkhorse teams in college football.
He loves the fact that they get No. 4 Clemson at home this year after dominating the Tigers in Death Valley last season, and he ended his segment on Brohm's Cardinals by saying they have the chance to win at least 10 games. "It wouldn't shock me if you looked up in November and they are a 10-win team," Pate stated on his podcast.
Related: Louisville 2025 game-by-game predictions: Can Cardinals beat Clemson again?
For all the latest on Louisville football's offseason, stay tuned.