Louisville's Cracks ESPN's Early 2025 College Football Playoff Projection

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - We're not even a full week removed from Ohio State's win over Notre Dame in the national championship game, but some outlets are starting to project who could make next season's College Football Playoff field.

The folks over at ESPN are firmly entrenched in this camp. They published their own Way-Too-Early Top 25 Poll as soon as the Buckeyes' 34-23 win over the Fighting Irish went final, and now they have posted their own projection for the 12-team 2025 CFP field.

Not only did the Louisville football program make their Way-Too-Early Top 25 for the 2025 season, they cracked their first CFP projection for next season.

Instead of going with straight chalk from the Way-Too-Early Top 25, written by Mark Schlabach, staff writer (and SP+ founder) Bill Connelly went a slightly different route. Given the chaotic nature of college football, he used a set of rules for each conference title race and for at-large bids "to guide us through precisely how this CFP race will play out."

When determining the auto-bid given to the ACC's winner, Connelly said that the league "has to be won by either Clemson or a team that beat Clemson in the regular season."

But instead of choosing the Tigers here, based partially on CU's tough schedule, Connelly tabbed the Cardinals to not only beat Clemson for a second straight year, but win the ACC.

"It would make more sense to choose Clemson, but I already chose chalk when given a similar choice with Georgia," Connelly wrote. "So we'll say Louisville's regular-season win over Clemson keeps the Tigers out of Charlotte, and the Cardinals lock up their first league title since taking a share of the 2012 Big East crown."

In Connelly's CFP projection, Louisville locks up the No. 4 seed in the playoff, and get their CFP run started in the Orange Bowl. Unfortunately, it's also their lone game in the projection after getting matched up with fifth-seeded Alabama.

Louisville has a good combination of returning talent and incoming playmakers for the 2025 season. Among some of the top players are running back duo Isaac Brown and Duke Watson, wide receiver duo Caullin Lacy and Chris Bell, plus linebacker duo T.J. Quinn and Stanquan Clark.

While the Cardinals have lost 18 players to the transfer portal so far, they countered that with a 21-player haul in the winter portal window, bringing in several impact players. This includes USC quarterback Miller Moss, Coastal Carolina edge rusher Clev Lubin, and FIU safety JoJo Evans.

Louisville finished the 2024 season, their second under head coach Jeff Brohm, with a 9-4 overall record including a 35-34 win over Washington in the Sun Bowl. The Cardinals have posted back-to-back seasons of nine-plus wins for the first time in a decade.

(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Clare Grant - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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