Louisville football concluded week one of the season this past Saturday with a dominant win over FCS opponent Austin Peay.
Tyler Shough tied the program record for most passing touchdowns in a season debut. He threw for 232 yards and had a quarterback rating (QBR) of 211.
While these stats were awesome many speculated Shough to flash against a lower level of competition.
The running back room, the position group with the most uncertainty entering the season had one of the biggest performances of the day. Highly regarded true freshman running back Issac Brown ran for 123 yards and a touchdown. This was the highest rushing total by a Cardinal freshman in a season debut in program history.
On the defensive side of the ball Austin Peay barely gained over a hundred total yards of offense. Through one game Cardinal fans could not have asked for a better start.
Looking Ahead
It’s now time to turn the page to week two and beyond. The Cards are at home again this Saturday at three-thirty against Conference-USA opponent Jacksonville State. The Cards are 28-point favorites. Veteran coach Rich Rodriguez took over at Jacksonville State in 2022 after the Gamecocks had a losing season in ‘21. The former Michigan, WVU, and Arizona coach has gone 18-7 the past two seasons turning the program around immediately. However, this past Saturday the Gamecocks suffered a 28 point loss to Coastal Carolina in their season debut. As with many early season games, there are many potential outcomes but look for the Cards to role against another overmatched opponent this Saturday.
Following Saturday’s game against Jacksonville State the remainder of Louisville’s opponents will be Power four opponents and independent Notre Dame. This means the level of competition is about to get much tougher.
Following a week three bye the Cards will welcome number twenty-three ranked Georgia Tech to L&N Stadium in week four. The Yellowjackets are two and zero and they have a top ten victory already as they beat Florida State in Dublin, Ireland in week zero. However, FSU may not be the team they were expected to be as they followed their week zero loss with a week one home loss to Boston College.
Fifth year senior Haynes King is the quarterback for the yellowjackets. Last season he led the ACC in touchdowns, but he also led the conference in interceptions. On the other side of the ball Georgia Tech was one of the worst defensive teams in the ACC and all the Power Five last year. However, they hired Tyler Santucci this offseason as defensive coordinator. He led one of the best defenses in the ACC at Duke last year and through two contests this season his defense is letting up just over sixteen points a game.
If the Yellowjackets are going to beat the Cards, Haynes King must protect the ball, and their defense will have to perform the way it has through the first two games this season. This will be the fifth game of the season for Georgia Tech and just the third for the Cards. Jeff Brohm likely has wrinkles in his offense that have not been implemented yet this year that he can use to exploit a new Gorgia Tech defensive system. Additionally, this will be a hostile environment against a strong Cardinals defense which will lead to Haynes King turning the ball over. Look for the Cards to win by double digits.
The toughest test of the 2024 campaign comes in week five at Notre Dame. This is a game the Irish had circled coming into this year after their loss at Louisville last year where they were never even competitive.
In fall camp Notre Dame lost their starting left tackle Charles Jagusah. This was a significant loss as his replacement is a true freshman Anthonie Knapp. This past week the Irish picked up a huge road victory at Texas A&M. The true freshman held his own as well, for much of the game he was facing off against first round draft prospect Nic Scourton.
If the Cards want to repeat last year’s result Ashton Gillotte will need to exploit Knapp’s inexperience as he faces off against him. If he can, he can make life difficult for Notre Dame’s quarterback Riley Leonard. Leonard is among the nation’s best at sack avoidance which makes it crucial to apply pressure on him. Defensively Notre Dame is always one of the best units in the country and this was no different in week one when they held Texas A&M to just thirteen points.
For the Cards to walk out of South Bend with a victory they will need a big day from Ashton Gillotte and the offense will have to do its part against likely the best defense they will play all year. This will be the toughest test of the Cards twenty-twenty-four season.
The Cards return home in week six to play new ACC member SMU. The Mustangs were a dark horse pick to win the conference heading into the season. They are led by Rhett Lashlee who led them to a 11-3 record and an American conference championship victory last season. However, they were 0-3 against power-five opponents losing on average by over 14 points a game in those three losses.
They also struggled in their week zero contest two weeks ago as they narrowly escaped with a victory at Nevada. The Mustangs will be coming off games against TCU and FSU prior to facing the Cards.
SMU must prove they can consistently compete with power four opponents, and they have not done that yet. Look for the Cards to roll in week six.
Louisville will go on the road for just the second time of the season in week seven to play UVA in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers were picked to finish only above Stanford in the preseason ACC poll. The Cavs are in year three under Tony Elliott where he is seven and seventeen as their head coach. This is a must win year for Elliott and he has a quarterback in Anthony Colandrea that gives them a chance to be competitive in most of the games they play. He stands at less than six foot tall and threw for nearly as many interceptions as touchdowns last year, but he has a ton of play making ability.
This was seen when he nearly handed Louisville a loss in Cardinal stadium last year. A big part of his production last season was slot receiver Malik Washington. He had over fourteen hundred yards receiving last year but he is in the NFL now.
Unless another playmaker steps up it is going to be a long year for the Cavaliers. This will be another contest in which the Cards role at home.
The Cardinals should be at least five and one when they return home to play Miami in what is shaping up to be the game of the year in the ACC. This past offseason the Canes had arguably the best transfer portal class in the county. They added quarterback Cam Ward who looked like a Heisman contender in week one at Florida.
At running back, they added Oregon State transfer Damian Martinez who was the second highest ranked back in the portal and by far the best back in the spring transfer portal window. Additionally, they added two former Louisville football guys on defense in Jaylin Alderman and Tyler Baron.
Despite these additions the Canes have always had the personnel to compete at the top of the ACC. Their head coach Mario Cristobal is known as an elite recruiter, but he hasn’t necessarily got it done on the field when it matters. For reference the Canes won their first four games last season in year two under Cristobal and were ranked top twenty in the nation.
As time was expiring in game five against Georgia Tech, they simply had to enter victory formation to win the game. Instead, they handed the ball off and lost the game in one of the worst coaching botches in modern college football history. Cristobal mentioned they hired a time management coach in the offseason though so they should be squared away with handling victory formation now. Year three is make or break for Cristobal and the Canes.
The toughest test they face until their matchup with the Cards is a home game against Virginia Tech. This means they will likely be undefeated heading into what could be the biggest game in Cardinal Stadium since Lamar was at Louisville.
In week nine the Cards head on the road to Chestnut Hill to face Boston College in a Friday night matchup. This is the definition of a trap game with it falling in between games versus Miami and Clemson.
Last year BC was among the bottom five in both offense and defense in the ACC. However, the Eagles have a whole new coaching staff led by Bill O’Brien and through just one game things are already trending up. In week one the Eagles went on the road and defeated top ten Florida State. That victory comes with an asterisk as the Seminoles lost in week zero but it’s still an impressive season debut.
The Cards road trip to Chestnut Hill falls on homecoming which will likely draw a decent crowd especially if the Eagles keep winning games. However, it will not be their annual red bandana game, which is a fortuitous break for the Cards as that would make the environment even more chaotic on a short week.
On offense the Eagles are led by quarterback Thomas Castellanos who is extremely mobile. Another weapon for the Eagles is transfer running back Treshaun Ward. The sixth year back has gone for over five hundred yards on the ground in the past three seasons. He’s also an asset as a pass catcher out of the backfield.
On defense the Eagles let up the third most points a game in the ACC last year, but they are now led by first year defensive coordinator Tim Lewis. If Lewis’ defense continues to perform the way they did against FSU in week one they could give the Cards a tough test.
The final third of the season starts with a road trip to Clemson. Since Louisville joined the ACC in twenty-fourteen the Cards have played Clemson eight times, and they are yet to defeat the Tigers. Furthermore, this week ten contest will be on the road in Death Valley where the Tigers are fifty-one and three over the past eight seasons.
Growing criticism of Dabo Swinney has only been increasing as he continues to refuse to adapt to the changing landscape of college football. This was evident in the Tigers thirty-four to three loss last weekend to Georgia. Despite being overmatched no amount of transfer portal additions would have propelled them to victory over Georgia. Another Tiger who is being criticized is their quarterback Cade Klubnik who has not lived up to the prospect he was projected to be coming out of high school. His offense coordinator is Garrett Riley who was the Broyles award winner in twenty-twenty-two given annually to the nation’s best coordinator in college football. Klubnik is a talented player, but he has a clear inability to read defenses and make the correct reads under the fire of competition. Until he proves he can improve his football IQ the Tigers offense will continue to underwhelm no matter who their offensive coordinator is.
On defense the Tigers are always strong. They have a talented young duo of defensive ends in TJ Parker and Peter Woods. At the second level of their defense Barrett Carter is one of the best linebackers in the country. He has over a hundred and thirty total tackles the past two seasons. As it stands right now ESPN gives the Cards a fifty-five percent chance to win the game. This is an accurate prediction until Cade Klubnik can prove that he is a reliable option at the quarterback position.
The final two ACC opponents on the schedule for the Cards are Stanford and Pitt. In the preseason Stanford was picked to finish last in the ACC. The rigorous academic standards at Stanford limit their ability to utilize the transfer portal which inhibits their potential return to the top of the college football landscape.
Receiver Elic Ayomanor is a game changer. He went for over a thousand yards last season and had a hundred-yard contest in Stanford’s week one contest against TCU.
On the field Stanford is outmatched against the Cardinals but a cross-country trip in a sleepy atmosphere has the potential to be a trap game.
That brings us to last season’s trap game opponent the Pitt Panthers. Pitt won an ACC championship just three years ago but last year their offense ranked last in the ACC. They averaged only twenty points a game which led to new offensive coordinator Kade Bell being hired in the offseason. In week one against Kent State the Panthers put up fifty-five points. This was two touchdowns more than their season high point total of forty-one last year.
On the defense the Panthers are led by Randy Bates who has had some solid defenses in his six years as the Pitt defensive coordinator. Additionally, Pat Narduzzi prides himself as a defensive coach. At thirty-one, Kade Bell could be one of the hottest young coordinators in college football at season’s end. If the Panthers can regain their defensive identity that so many former Narduzi teams have had, they could be the most improved team in the ACC this season.
The final game on the Louisville football schedule in the Governor’s Cup. Any Cardinal fan reading this knows the recent lopsided nature of this rivalry. The Cards have not beaten Kentucky since twenty-seventeen when Lamar Jackson was quarterback. With the entire season ahead, this contest is hard to predict. ESPN FPI gives the Cards a sixty-two percent chance to win the game which is encouraging considering their seven-year drought in the rivalry.
The Cats have some of the most talented players in the SEC. Defensive tackle Deone Walker had twelve and half tackles for loss last season. He is one of the best defensive linemen in the whole country and he is a preseason first team All-American. In the secondary Maxwell Harriston is another preseason All-American who led the SEC in interceptions last year. That defensive line secondary tandem is on par with Ashton Gillotte and Quincy Riley.
On offense Barion Brown is among the best return specialists in the nation. He has four kickoff return touchdowns in his career and he is yet another preseason All-American for the Wildcats. No matter the personnel or the spread this will likely be a close game.
