Is Success In The Cards For Louisville Football This Season?

Is Success In The Cards For Louisville Football This Season?
Fact Checked by Nate Hamilton

The college football season starts in less than two weeks, and there’s a buzz in Louisville about the hometown team and Kentucky sportsbooks are getting ready for it.

The Cardinals are coming off an 8-5 season last year that was capped off by a win in the Fenway Bowl. While coach Scott Satterfield ended up leaving to take the job at Cincinnati, Louisville Athletics Director Josh Heird quickly found his replacement in Purdue coach Jeff Brohm, who starred at quarterback for the Cardinals in the early 1990s and served as the team’s offensive coordinator a decade later.

Brohm, technically, won’t be a new face on the Cardinals sidelines this season, but there are a lot of other changes besides him, too. Louisville was one of the busiest teams in the transfer portal in the offseason, with former Purdue and California quarterback Jack Plummer among the 26 arrivals this season.

Odds Point To A Winning Season

So, with all those new faces, what kind of year can Louisville fans expect from Brohm and the Cardinals this season? BetKentucky.com believes it will be a modestly successful one.

We compiled hypothetical odds – you won't find on Kentucky betting apps – on the Cardinals’ 2023 regular season record.

Record Odds % Chance
7-5 +185 35%
8-4 +300 25%
6-6 +400 20%
9-3 +400 20%
5-7 +600 14.3%
Other +1500 6.3%

Judging by the schedule, Louisville has a chance to get off to a very strong start, and they may very easily begin the season 4-0, but the Cardinals then face a tough stretch at North Carolina State, at home against Notre Dame, at Pittsburgh and then home after a bye week to host Duke. Notre Dame was ranked No. 13 in the Associated Press preseason poll, and ACC media ranked NC State, Pitt and Duke ahead of the Cards in their preseason poll.

The end of the regular season will be another gauntlet as the Cardinals will travel to Miami and finish off the docket at home against a Kentucky team that has easily beaten its rival the last four times they’ve played.

While there are a slew of challenging games for Louisville this season, our odds give them a 25% chance of winning eight and a 20% chance for a 9-3 record.

Louisville’s season starts in Atlanta on Sept. 1 against Georgia Tech. The Cards home opener is six days later on Sept. 7 when they face Murray State. That's the same day Kentucky retail sportsbooks can open and BetKentucky will have the best Kentucky sportsbook promo codes in preparation. 

More Louisville Football: Louisville Cardinals Bowl Projections

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Author

Steve Bittenbender

Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.

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