Louisville football enters the 2026 season with high expectations, and a major reason is the roster Jeff Brohm built this offseason. The Cardinals' offseason ranks No. 5 among the nation according to On3 Sports, as Brohm is bringing in five 4-stars from the Transfer Portal, and 30 total additions from the portal.
Brohm has his eyes set not just on returning to the ACC Championship game, but on winning the Cardinals' first-ever ACC Title. And while some Louisville fans may think that is a long shot, after the Cards' full 2026 schedule was posted, it became clear the Cardinals' path to the championship game shouldn’t be as hard as some may think.
Related: An early look at Louisville’s schedule quietly opens the door to an ACC breakthrough
Official 2026 ACC Football schedule.
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) January 26, 2026
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Jeff Brohm and Louisville football's path is set
When the Cardinals fans look at their schedule, they are going to circle four games, and two of those games are non-conference games. The Cardinals start their season against Ole Miss, then face SMU in Week 3, Georgia Tech in Week 10, and, of course, Kentucky in Week 13.
On the Cardinals' schedule, they will face SMU, Wake Forest, Florida State, Stanford, and Pitt at home, while they travel to North Carolina State, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina for their conference road games.
When Cardinals fans take a deeper look at their ACC opponents, they will see that their opponents had a combined 34-38 conference record in 2025 and will play five of the bottom seven teams in the conference. Those five ACC teams consist of Syracuse, North Carolina, Florida State, Wake Forest, and Stanford, and they were outscored by a combined 298 points in the 2025 season and had a 12-28 ACC record.
The Cardinals are ranked as high as No. 14 in ESPN’s way-too-early rankings, and the only ACC team on their schedule in those rankings is SMU at No. 17. Ole Miss is also ranked No. 9 in ESPN’s way-too-early rankings, making Week 1 a massive ACC/SEC showdown.
Louisville fans, of course, don’t want to get ahead of themselves, but when they look at this schedule and their additions this offseason, the Cardinals should be in conversation to make not just the ACC Championship game but the College Football Playoffs when November rolls around.
Related: Who's coming and who's going: Louisville football 2026 Transfer Portal tracker
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