Predicting ceiling, floor for Louisville in 2024 season

Louisville is coming off of an impressive first season under head coach Jeff Brohm. The Cardinals finished 10-4 (7-1) and reached the ACC Championship Game in 2023.

On3’s Andy Staples was recently joined by Roddy Jones of the ACC Network to preview what to expect from Louisville this year.

Staples and Jones discussed the ceiling and floor for Louisville in Year 2 under Brohm.

“Another team with a pretty wide spread between ceiling and floor,” Staples said of the Cardinals. “Louisville we saw in the ACC Championship Game last year. Last year it was Jeff Brohm coming in, bringing in a lot of guys from the portal. This year they lost a lot of the older guys that Jeff Brohm had brought in. Now they had to replace a lot of those guys through the portal.

“This is a team that could look entirely different but be probably just as good as last year.”

Breaking down ceiling for Louisville football

Staples and Jones both believe this year’s Louisville team can be just as good as last year’s, but they don’t necessarily expect the Cardinals’ record to be as good.

The schedule this year is much more difficult than the one Louisville played in 2023.

“Jeff Brohm has sort of acknowledged that they’re going to have to be just as good or better than last year to get close to that win total, because the schedule’s much tougher,” Jones said. “Louisville is super interesting to me, because when you get Notre Dame, you go to Clemson, you get Miami, and they can’t beat Kentucky right now, so you probably put that in the loss column until proven otherwise. Like I think from a ceiling standpoint, you hope to get one of those four and you run the table the rest of the way and you end up at 9-3.”

Jones feels good about the defense with EDGE Ashton Gillotte, defensive back MJ Griffin and other pieces around those two. He also like Brohm’s system and quarterback Tyler Shough‘s talent.

“Injuries have prevented Tyler Shough from reaching his ceiling. He’s in his seventh year of football. He has been around forever,” Jones said. “If he can stay healthy, and if [former Miami running back] Donald Chaney, who has also struggled with injuries, if they can stay healthy, then you’ve got a really good backfield.”

Sharing floor

Jones and Staples didn’t reveal an exact record as far as the floor, but they do believe there is a way where things could break badly for the Cardinals.

If Shough gets hurt or if some of the transfer pieces don’t come together, Year 2 could be tough for Brohm’s squad.

“I like the potential of Louisville. I really do. But I kind of feel like I did last year. I don’t know exactly what to do with them,” Jones said. “I know a little more than I did last year. But there’s so many changes that you can’t be sure.”