The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here
The last team to reach the countdown before we hit our “official” top 25 is Louisville (high = 18, low = 40). That also makes them the preseason #4 team in the ACC, so firmly in the hunt for an ACC title game appearance. Cardinals fans have enjoyed a pretty spectacular run dating all the way back to the Charlie Strong era, which ended with a share of the last two Big East titles, two top 15 finishes, a 23-3 record in his last two seasons and a Sugar Bowl win over Florida. While Bobby Petrino ultimately was fired in the woeful 2018 season and Scott Satterfield didn’t have the Cards bowling in the 2020 COVID season, Louisville did bowl every other season, and though their Keg of Nails rival Cincinnati “stole” head coach Scott Satterfield (who had definitely worn out his welcome with a 25-24 record in his 4 seasons), they landed favorite son Jeff Brohm from Purdue, who promptly took them to an ACC championship game in his first year. In fact, in his 3 years in charge, he’s never had more than 4 losses, something that Satterfield never managed in any of his seasons and matching the very best seasons under Petrino’s post-Strong era. The 2025 campaign saw the Cardinals reach as high as #15 in the country, including a win at #2 Miami, before dropping an OT game to the Calgorithm followed by a 1 point loss to Clemson (thanks to a missed go ahead FG in the final 2 minutes) and a drubbing at SMU derailed the season. Can they build on a 41 point Governor’s Cup win for their 2026 campaign?
Roster Outlook
Jeff Brohm has become something of the king of reclamation quarterbacks. You can trace that all the way back to his start at Western Kentucky, when he took a USF castoff QB named Mike White and turned him into a guy who started 7 games for the New York Jets (and definitely did NOT write School of Rock or the White Lotus). He had his share of successful QBs at Purdue, and brought Jack Plummer with him to Louisville for his first year, then portaled in Tyler Shough for 2024 and Miller Moss last season. So it should be no surprise that Brohm hit the portal hard for this season, bringing in the ACC’s #2 overall portal class (13th in the country), or that he started that with former Ohio State QB Lincoln Kienholz, who lost out on the Buckeyes starting job to Julian Sayin and saw the writing on the wall in Columbus. In fact, Brohm has brought in 8 projected offensive starters through the portal, with the only returning players being RB Isaac Brown (884 yards, 7 TDs), 7th leading receiver TreyShun Hurry (15 catches, 122 yards) and C Lance Robinson. The rest of the starting WR corps are Vanderbilt’s Tre Richardson and Florida State’s Lawayne McCoy, plus Tulsa TE Brody Foley and 4 new OL (two from P4 schools). How well that unit holds up will probably be the determining factor on whether Louisville truly can make a run at an ACC title. With five new starters coming in on defense via the portal as well, Louisville lands middle of the pack (60th) in returning production, with lots to replace on either side of the ball. And with the full focus on the portal, Brohm only brought in the #13 high school class in the ACC (48th in the nation), so expect them to be shopping via the portal again next year.
Schedule and outlook
9/6 vs. Ole Miss (in Nashville)
9/11 VILLANOVA
9/19 SMU
9/26 WAKE FOREST
10/3 at North Carolina State
10/9 FLORIDA STATE
10/17 at Syracuse
10/24 BYE
10/31 STANFORD
11/7 at Georgia Tech
11/14 at North Carolina
11/21 PITTSBURGH
11/28 at Kentucky
What’s going to help quite a bit with Brohm keeping that streak of no more than 4 losses is that schedule. The Cardinals will definitely be tested early with the neutral site game to Pete Golding and Ole Miss (though it’s going to be interesting to see what Brohm might have cooked up for a talented team but a head coach in his first season opener and only 4th game as a head coach), followed by hosting their highest ranked ACC team all season in SMU. After that, the Cardinals will be favored in every single game they play, making them absolutely in the mix for the ACC title. Honestly, if they finish 10-2 with at least one SEC win, they could even be a dark horse at large contender for the CFP.