Louisville has everything in place to have a huge season
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After a sack-laden, three-game losing streak to finish last season, Louisville’s football team will start preseason practice on Monday as a team garnering little buzz as a national contender in 2017.
That’s understandable. Louisville looked overwhelmed by Houston and LSU and lost as a big favorite to rival Kentucky.
But I disagree. Everything is in front of the Cardinals to have a huge regular season with 10 or 11 wins.
My thinking is based on a simple premise: Louisville should be a little better, and the schedule is a little easier.
As for the nonconference schedule, U of L has replaced a killer Thursday night game at Houston with a neutralfield season opener against rebuilding Purdue. One could see the first game getting out of hand quickly with Lamar Jackson being way too much for Purdue to handle.
As for the ACC schedule, Louisville, which went 7-1 in league play in 2016, again has hugely challenging games against Clemson and Florida State. The rest of the ACC games? U of L will be expected to win them all.
The Clemson game at home in Week 3 is a pick’em, according to the Golden Nugget sports book. U of L has played Clemson down to the final possession the past three years, and if there is going to be a year in which the Cards get over the hump against the Tigers, this is probably it.
It’s hard to believe the national champs won’t take a step back in 2017 after losing all-timers Deshaun Watson and Mike Williams as well as other stars at receiver, running back and tight end. Now U of L gets the Tigers at home early in the season in a national TV game that could have the same kind of atmosphere as Florida State last year.
If U of L emerges 3-0, it’ll be knocking on the door of the top five and Jackson probably will be right back in the Heisman Trophy conversation.
U of L will go to FSU five weeks later, and I don’t expect the Cards to win that game. But FSU could just as easily stumble when it plays at Clemson in November. A three-way tie at 7-1 atop the Atlantic Division sounds realistic.
As for other potentially tricky games on U of L’s schedule?
North Carolina lost nearly all of its offensive playmakers, including No. 2 draft pick Mitch Trubisky at quarterback and its top three running backs.
The Cards are 3.5-point favorites (per Golden Nugget sports book) for the Thursday night, Oct. 5 game at NC State. But U of L destroyed NC State 54-13 in 2016 with speed mismatches all over the field, and Jackson had one of his best passing games.
The finale at Kentucky will, like usual, be intense, and the Wildcats, who can run the ball as well as anybody, could be a sleeper contender in a wide-open SEC East. That said, while UK could, of course, beat U of L again, I wouldn’t predict it. How about Louisville’s team itself? The offensive line will remain the question mark after U of L finished last in the country in sack yards allowed.
But there are reasons to think the Cards will be better.
For one, the two linemen who were regarded as U of L’s most talented - tackles Geron Christian and Lukayus McNeil are back and have experience as thirdyear starters.
On the interior, the quality of U of L’s recruiting would suggest the Cards will be upgrading talent there after using a former walk-on and two former juniorcollege transfers before.