Games to Follow in Louisville Football’s Second Bye Week

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Another weekend of college football is upon us! But unfortunately, fans of the Louisville football program will have to wait until next weekend to see the Cardinals take the field as they are in their second and final bye week of the season.

Although No. 22 Louisville (6-3, 4-2 ACC) is not in play this weekend, there are plenty of games around college football involving future and past Cardinals opponents. This will give fans an idea of ​​what to expect going forward, as well as allowing them to gravitate toward a team in hopes of improving Louisville’s strength of schedule.

Here are a few games that Louisville fans should follow this weekend:

– Channel: ESPN at 12pm EST
– Future Date/Past Result: Miami defeated Louisville 52-45 on Saturday, October 19; Louisville defeated Georgia Tech 31-19 on Saturday, September 21.

On one side, quarterback Cam Ward and the rest of Miami’s offense appear to be an unstoppable force. On the other hand, the Canes’ defense continues to look like it can’t stop anyone.

Normally this would have implications for trap play since this is a road game against a good Georgia Tech team. However, point guard Haynes King is at risk of missing his third straight game and the GT could not come close to the same situation without him.

There are two schools of thought: cheering for Miami and SMU for SOS purposes (and maybe a very small chance of making the College Football Playoff overall) or cheering for Miami and SMU Chaos scenario with a tiebreaker with two losses in ACC. The first seems much more possible.

– Channel: CW at 12pm EST
– Future Date/Past Result: Louisville defeated Boston College 31-27 on Friday, October 25

This might not be the big game of the weekend in the ACC, but it’s an interesting game if you ask me. Chestnut Hill may not be the Valley of Death, but it can be a tough place to play for good teams.

It’s hard to determine how good Syracuse really is. Sure, they have a winning record and a good one at UNLV, but they lost to Pitt and had a very bad home loss to Stanford.

In the meantime, Boston College needs all the positive momentum it can get. They suffered a major slump in the middle of the season, losing three games in a row after starting 4-1. Perhaps the bye week will serve them well.

– Channel: ESPN at 3:30pm EST
– Future Date/Past Result: Louisville defeated Clemson 33-21 on Saturday, November 2nd.

This right ear is the best play the ACC has to offer this weekend. This may not be a night game, but Lane Stadium has top-five (perhaps top-three) home-field advantage in the league and has helped spring upsets in the past.

Clemson had been overwhelming teams since their opener, but that was likely due to their relatively easy schedule in ACC play, as they last got punched in the mouth at home against Louisville. Virginia Tech, meanwhile, appeared to have found its footing before losing the lead at Syracuse last week.

A Clemson win would undoubtedly boost Louisville’s SOS, but a Virginia Tech win would keep the Tigers from potentially leapfrogging Louisville in the CFP poll. Time will tell which outcome will favor the Cards this week.

– Channel: NBC at 7:30pm EST
– Future Date/Past Result: Notre Dame defeated Louisville 31-24 on Saturday, September 28.

I won’t spend too much time here because the records of the two teams competing speaks for itself. While Notre Dame has truly begun to reach peak efficiency as a CFP contender over the past month, Florida State has been a complete and utter disaster in every sense of the word.

On paper, this game shouldn’t even be close; especially when in South Bend. Then again… Notre Dame should have wiped the floor with NIU, and we all know what happened there.

– Channel: NBC at 7:30pm EST
– Future Date/Past Result: Louisville defeated Virginia 24-20 on Saturday, October 12; Louisville will host Pitt on Saturday, November 23

While Miami and SMU are in the driver’s seat for the ACC title game, Pitt still has a small chance of taking on Charlotte. The Panthers will definitely be looking to make a statement considering how hard SMU makes them work on both sides of the ball.

Meanwhile, Virginia is looking for ways to get back in the right direction. They promised to start the new year, but now they’re starting off with three straight losses and an incredibly difficult end to their regular season.

Normally, Louisville fans would want Virginia to win the hearing for SOS purposes. But if Pitt comes out on top, that guarantees a top-25 finish next weekend. Looking at the rest of the college football rankings, this could even mean an appearance from College GameDay.

(Photo of Louie: Jamie Rhodes – Imagn Images)

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