CBS: Teams with the best shot at perfect regular seasons. Louisville

The hype keeps on coming for the Cardinals.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...ar-seasons

1. Louisville: Charlie Strong's team is coming off a great performance in the Sugar Bowl win over Florida and has star QB Teddy Bridgewater back with a gifted receiving corps, and almost the entire starting D returning from 2012. The schedule, as has been pointed out about 1,000 times already, is cushy. Louisville will be a double-digit favorite in its first 11 games before visiting Tommy Tuberville's Cincinnati team in its finale on Dec. 5. If anyone will trip up Louisville before the bowl game, it's probably up to Tub, who does have a rep for upsetting top teams.

Considering the OOC and AAC schedule that Louisville plays this season I wonder if a perfect season even gets them a crack at the national championship.

(08-14-2013 10:00 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  Considering the OOC and AAC schedule that Louisville plays this season I wonder if a perfect season even gets them a crack at the national championship.

Yes and no.

Teams from the Big East (2005-2012) were always going to need help from the outside to make the national championship game. UC went 12-0 in 2009 but failed to make the game due to Texas beating Nebraska 13-12 in the B12 Championship Game.

The same is true for Louisville this year. If the Cards go undefeated (something that isn't likely), they'll need help from the other BCS leagues to make the title game. IMO, here is what would need to happen at the bare minimum for UofL to make a title run:

- UofL starts off in the Top 10 (they are #9 in the USA today poll).
- UofL goes undefeated and wins the vast majority (10 or 11) of its game by at least two touchdowns.
- Every BCS team plus Notre Dame must have at least 1 loss with most of those losses coming later in the year.
- There are some upsets in conference championship games and/or most BCS conference champions finish the season 10-2

I'd say that the chances that all of those things happen are less than 5% (and I only put it that high due to UofL's starting position in the polls). There is a chance, but it is going to take a very large amount of lucky breaks for it to happen so I wouldn't bet on it.

I'll be so glad when a playoff system is in place and we don't have to ponder issues like this which should never be a factor in the first place.

The only game that matters right now is Ohio....

In the words of Wilkie: JUST WIN BABY!

Louisville sure is getting a lot of mileage out of a win over Florida considering how much they struggled to win games last year in the Big East.

(08-14-2013 10:38 AM)UofLgrad07 Wrote:  

(08-14-2013 10:00 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  Considering the OOC and AAC schedule that Louisville plays this season I wonder if a perfect season even gets them a crack at the national championship.

Yes and no.

Teams from the Big East (2005-2012) were always going to need help from the outside to make the national championship game. UC went 12-0 in 2009 but failed to make the game due to Texas beating Nebraska 13-12 in the B12 Championship Game.

The same is true for Louisville this year. If the Cards go undefeated (something that isn't likely), they'll need help from the other BCS leagues to make the title game. IMO, here is what would need to happen at the bare minimum for UofL to make a title run:

- UofL starts off in the Top 10 (they are #9 in the USA today poll).
- UofL goes undefeated and wins the vast majority (10 or 11) of its game by at least two touchdowns.- Every BCS team plus Notre Dame must have at least 1 loss with most of those losses coming later in the year.
- There are some upsets in conference championship games and/or most BCS conference champions finish the season 10-2

I'd say that the chances that all of those things happen are less than 5% (and I only put it that high due to UofL's starting position in the polls). There is a chance, but it is going to take a very large amount of lucky breaks for it to happen so I wouldn't bet on it.

Extremely unlikely. One thing about the old Big East was that it was knocked for not having a dominant team because the league was so competitive week in and week out. I suspect that will continue this year in the American.

Since Louisville will begin the season ranked higher, I think an undefeated Louisville probably has a better chance at the national championship game than an undefeated Boise, even though I'd wager that Boise plays more top 25 teams on their schedule. Yes, that's one sentence.

(08-14-2013 11:58 AM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  Louisville sure is getting a lot of mileage out of a win over Florida considering how much they struggled to win games last year in the Big East.

1....BIG EAST Football is/was always underrated.
2....In the words of Wilkie/Al Davis....Just Win Baby!

(08-14-2013 10:38 AM)UofLgrad07 Wrote:  

(08-14-2013 10:00 AM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  Considering the OOC and AAC schedule that Louisville plays this season I wonder if a perfect season even gets them a crack at the national championship.

Yes and no.

Teams from the Big East (2005-2012) were always going to need help from the outside to make the national championship game. UC went 12-0 in 2009 but failed to make the game due to Texas beating Nebraska 13-12 in the B12 Championship Game.

The same is true for Louisville this year. If the Cards go undefeated (something that isn't likely), they'll need help from the other BCS leagues to make the title game. IMO, here is what would need to happen at the bare minimum for UofL to make a title run:

- UofL starts off in the Top 10 (they are #9 in the USA today poll).
- UofL goes undefeated and wins the vast majority (10 or 11) of its game by at least two touchdowns.
- Every BCS team plus Notre Dame must have at least 1 loss with most of those losses coming later in the year.
- There are some upsets in conference championship games and/or most BCS conference champions finish the season 10-2

I'd say that the chances that all of those things happen are less than 5% (and I only put it that high due to UofL's starting position in the polls). There is a chance, but it is going to take a very large amount of lucky breaks for it to happen so I wouldn't bet on it.

(08-14-2013 11:58 AM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  Louisville sure is getting a lot of mileage out of a win over Florida considering how much they struggled to win games last year in the Big East.

both of these are spot on.

Good thing they don't have Southern Miss this year! Squeaker!

(08-14-2013 12:07 PM)Tigers2B1 Wrote:  Since Louisville will begin the season ranked higher, I think an undefeated Louisville probably has a better chance at the national championship game than an undefeated Boise, even though I'd wager that Boise plays more top 25 teams on their schedule. Yes, that's one sentence.

Going by the USA Today poll (link), here is how each schedule stacks up based on ranking in week #1

Louisville
- 0 opponents in Top 25
- 4 opponents receiving votes (Ohio, UC, UCF, Rutgers)

Boise State
- 0 opponents in Top 25
- 4 opponents receiving votes (Fresno St, Utah State, BYU, Washington)

There isn't a huge discrepancy in either team's schedule at the moment although that can change as the season plays out. One thing to note is that the teams receiving votes on Boise's schedule are "ranked" higher than those on UofL's schedule so they very well could play more Top 25 teams depending on how the season plays out.