College Football Rankings 2016: Projected AP Top 25 after Week 12
By Zach Bigalke
The Cardinals no longer have to worry about being snubbed by the College Football Playoff after they suffered a 26-point loss on the road against Group of Five heavyweight Houston on Thursday night. Lamar Jackson coughed up a fumble and failed to reach even 300 combined rushing and passing yards for the first time this year. Louisville’s defense held Houston to just 362 total yards of offense, but the team beat itself with 15 costly penalties that were integral in preventing the Cardinals from gaining any momentum.
Louisville can still reach 10 wins by knocking off state rival Kentucky at home two days after Thanksgiving, but Bobby Petrino’s crew eliminated itself from playoff contention this weekend. A New Year’s Six spot isn’t entirely out of the cards for the Cardinals, with no other ACC teams distinguishing themselves and spots in the Sugar and Orange Bowls needed to be filled. But at this point Louisville is going to drop heavily in this week’s Top 25 and will likely be outside the top 10 according to both the AP voters and the CFP selection committee.