Louisville (13-5) (NET: 28)
3-4 (Q1), 3-1 (Q2), 3-0 (Q3), 4-0 (Q4)
Coming off a pair of atrocious seasons under Kenny Payne, new head coach Pat Kelsey has brought new life to Louisville and has this team on the right side of the bubble in mid-January. Those three Quad 1 wins help immensely, with notable performances against West Virginia at the Battle 4 Atlantis before recent road wins at Florida State and Pittsburgh. That win over the Panthers in particular stands out, especially as these teams jockey for position and seeding.
On the other side, the Cardinals have had a tough showing against elite competition. They fell by double-digits at home to elite Duke and Tennessee squads and suffered the same fate against Ole Miss. The Quad 2 loss came in the final of the Battle 4 Atlantis against Oklahoma, though that’s only because of the Sooners’ recent rough stretch.
The positive for the Cardinals is that this team is now on a 7-game winning streak and sits 6-1 in ACC play. They’ve done a world of good since their loss at rival Kentucky on December 14th and certainly have established themselves as the second-best team in the conference with those wins over Clemson, North Carolina, and Pittsburgh. The lack of a bad loss is also good news, though they’ll need to keep it that way throughout league play.
What’s unfortunate for Louisville is the lack of resume-building chances that they have remaining. Next week’s matchup at SMU is a Quad 1 opportunity, but they’ll have to wait until their rematch against Pittsburgh in March for another shot like that. They’ve done great away from home in league play but simply must keep winning those games against those bottom tiers of teams.