Big East Football Preview: Louisville

Let's continue down our path of Big East football teams today with Louisville. In new head coach Charlie Strong's first year, the Cardinals finished 7-6 with a win over their old Conference-USA rival, Southern Mississippi. Since then, Strong has hit the recruiting trail hard and has been pulling some major commitments from some of the top high school players in the nation.

2010 Record: 7-6

Much of Louisville's quick turnaround can be credited to the defensive play that Charlie Strong brought from his days as defensive coordinator at Florida. Offensively, Louisville was consistent, but nothing really stood out. Led by QB Adam Froman and RB Bilal Powell, Louisville didn't have too hard of a time putting points on the board, and four of their five losses were within a touchdown, including their overtime loss to USF, which was a thriller up until the very end. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, those two star players that led the team to their success have now left. Powell got drafted by the Jets (yay!) and Froman is waiting for the lockout to subside. As of now, the season appears unclear for Louisville, as their passing game may very well rest on the shoulders of freshman Teddy Bridgewater is junior Will Stein can't produce. Their non-conference schedule is manageable, but they'll have a rough time getting prepared for conference play afterward. FIU is their first FBS opponent, and they shouldn't be taken lightly. After that, they travel across the state to rival Kentucky, and they close out their non-conference schedule with North Carolina. They also have to play away from home against two of the three toughest teams in the conference.

This year will be successful if: Louisville can get above .500 in conference play. They'll get a good shot at that, with likely chances at victories over Cincinnati and Rutgers to open their conference schedule. I consider their games against Syracuse and Pittsburgh both toss-ups. I don't see them beating West Virginia, and they'll have a lot of trouble with USF. If they can win one of those toss-up games, they can finish with a 4-3 conference record and a good standing going into the postseason.

2011 Record: 8-5. I think they'll get those four Big East wins, and win four of their five non-conference games. As long as they can get one of those two BCS wins, Louisville will be on their way to a decent bowl game with an 8-4 record, but I think their lack of seniority will cost them the bowl win. An 8-5 season is an improvement on last year, and I'd consider that a success at this point in Louisville's building process.