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Under first-year coach Jeff Brohm last year, Louisville had its best season in years by finishing 10-4 and playing in the Holiday Bowl.

What to expect from the Cardinals in 2024? Probably a minor step back as they have an over-under wins total of 8.5 on the college football odds.

Expert Prediction: Under 8.5 wins, Louisville does not return to ACC title game

To reach Playoff: No -676 / Yes +450
To win ACC: +650
Regular-season win total: 8.5
Odds to Win National Title: +12000

In December 2022, Louisville was able to lure away Purdue coach Jeff Brohm to return to his alma mater as the head coach, replacing Scott Satterfield, who had left for Cincinnati.

Frankly, that worked out great for Louisville, as most would consider Brohm – a former star QB with the Cards – as an upgrade.

Last Season

The Cardinals reached their first ACC title game but lost 16-6 to unbeaten and No. 4 ranked Florida State, although the Seminoles were criminally left out of the College Football Playoff.

Trailing 10-6 in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals had a chance to take the lead after they tackled Seminoles punter Alex Mastromanno before he could get the kick away.

Louisville took over at the Seminoles 11, but three plays later, Tatum Bethune picked off Jack Plummer’s pass in the end zone.

Plummer finished 14 of 36 for 111 yards.

Holiday Bowl

Had Louisville won, it would have gone to a major bowl game but had to settle for one tier down, the Holiday Bowl.

The Cards were beaten by USC 42-28. As Trojans QB Miller, Moss went bonkers with six TD passes in his first college start.

He broke the Holiday Bowl record of four touchdown passes held by four players. Isaac Guerendo ran 23 times for 161 yards and three touchdowns for Louisville.

His three rushing touchdowns tied for the most in Louisville bowl history and tied for the most in a single game in his career. Plummer threw for 141 yards with no touchdowns.

Plummer dislocated his right pinky early in the second quarter and had it popped back in.

He finished the season with 3,204 passing yards, ranking eighth on Louisville’s single season list, and seventh on UofL’s single season list with 256 pass completions. He’s gone now.

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Louisville Quarterback

Former Texas Tech transfer Tyler Shough will be QB1 this year. Shough, 24, will be a seventh-year senior who turns 25 in September and has played at both Oregon and Texas Tech since starting his college career in 2018.

In his three seasons at Texas Tech, all of which were cut short by injuries, he started 13 games and went 9-4 as a starter.

Shough threw for 4,625 yards and 36 touchdowns in 27 career games combined at the two schools. His career completion percentage is more than 63%.

Overall, he’s 13-7 as a college starter. Shough will look to benefit from the play calling aggression of Louisville’s Brohm, who values pushing the ball down the field and an attack-based offense.

Offensive of the Cardinals

Louisville’s top two rushers from last year in Jawhar Jordan (1,128 yards, 13 TDs) and Guerendo (810 yards, 11 TDs) are both gone as well.

Miami transfer Donald Chaney Jr. likely will be the No. 1 back this year.

The 5-foot-10, 210 pound back saw action in 11 of the Hurricanes’ 12 games with a pair of starts, in 2023 rushing for 478 yards and two touchdowns on 94 attempts.

The Cardinals also bring in true freshmen Isaac Brown and Duke Watson at running back.

Brohm did well in the transfer portal overall in also landing receivers Caullin Lacy (South Alabama) and Ja’Corey Brooks (Alabama) and tight end Mark Redman (San Diego State).

Brooks played three seasons at Alabama, catching 57 passes for 896 yards and 10 touchdowns. Last year for South Alabama, Lacy had 91 catches for 1,316 yards and seven touchdowns.

He led the Sun Belt Conference in receiving yards and was first-team All-Sun Belt. Redman is coming off of the best season of his career, catching 37 passes for 394 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Aztecs in all three categories.

Defensive of the Cardinals

Louisville’s defense was tremendous last year under coordinator Ron English as that unit finished No. 1 in the ACC against the run, No. 1 in the nation in red zone defense, and 21st overall in total D.

All-ACC pass-rusher Ashton Gillette returns. He had 45 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss and 11.0 sacks last year – the sacks were tied for ninth most in school history.

Louisville opens the season at home vs. FCS school Austin Peay on Aug. 31 as a heavy favorite and certainly will win that.

The Cards also play Jacksonville State, at Notre Dame and at Kentucky out of conference. In ACC play, they do avoid Florida State but travel to Clemson and host Miami.

Louisville also plays two of the three new ACC members in hosting SMU on Oct. 5 and visiting Stanford on Nov. 16.