Breaking Down Louisville's Updated 2020 Football Schedule

Louisville's schedule looks a lot different than it did 24 hours ago.

Less than a week after speculation arose that the ACC would be altering their 2020 football schedule, on Wednesday it came to fruition. The league's Board of Directors voted to move to a scheduling model consisting of 10 conference games & one non-conference game.

The season's first games will now take place the week of Sept. 7-12, and the 11 games will be played over at least 13 weeks with each team having two open dates.

As you can imagine with such a change, there are several implications specifically affecting the Cardinals. The season-opener that was originally rescheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 2 will obviously have to be pushed back at least a week.

However it will not be against NC State as the Wolfpack has been scratched off Louisville's schedule, as have the Clemson Tigers. To fill out the remaining spots in the Cards' conference slate, the ACC added Miami, Georgia Tech and Pitt into mix.

Fortunately, if fans are indeed permitted to attend any of the five home games at Cardinal Stadium, they will not be disappointed. Louisville will now host Florida State, Miami, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest at Cardinal Stadium. Both the Hokies & Seminoles are inside ESPN's Top 30 preseason FPI, with the Hurricanes just outside the top 50 at No. 51.

Conversely the Cardinals have a fairly manageable road slate, as they will go on the road to face Boston College, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Pitt and Virginia. Outside of the game against the Fighting Irish, the other four road games are fairly winnable. BC has a new coach, the Yellow Jackets are still very much in rebuild mode, the Panthers have a pedestrian offense and the Cavaliers lost All-ACC caliber QB Bryce Perkins.

Speaking of the Fighting Irish, that game now holds a lot more weight than it previously did. In this new model, Notre Dame will also play a 10-game conference schedule and be eligible to compete in the 2020 ACC Football Championship Game. They will also be eligible for the ACC's Orange Bowl bid if not selected to the College Football Playoff. If the date of that game does not change and it remains the final conference game of the season, it has potential to be a massive showdown for both teams.

Then that leaves us with the "plus one" non-conference game. In the new model, all non-conference game opponents are selected by the respective school and must be played in the home state of the ACC institution. This means the annual rivalry game against the Kentucky Wildcats is saved right?

Well, maybe. According to Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger, the SEC is moving closer to an agreement on a conference-only schedule of 10 games, which would effectively take the Battle for the Governor's Cup off the table. Since non-conference games must come from within the state, Louisville would be left to pick from Western Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky or FCS Murray State.

Overall, Louisville has to feel fairly confident about their odds to end up in Charlotte. The Cards dodged a proverbial bullet by having Clemson nixed from the schedule and got even luckier when North Carolina did not get picked up. Of course Clemson & Notre Dame are the presumptive favorites to square off in the ACC Championship game, but Louisville has to be right there behind them.

Amidst all the questions that still linger regarding the 2020 college football season, it's relieving to finally have some answers.

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