College Football Rankings 2020: Projected preseason Top 25 sans Pac-12, Big Ten

19. Louisville Cardinals

• Where they were ranked in the 2019 preseason: unranked (0 points)
• Where they were ranked at the end of 2019: unranked (0 points)
• Where they were in our way-too-early Top 25: 20th
• Where they ranked in the preseason Coaches Poll: 33rd (62 points)

Louisville was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the updated ACC schedule once the league decided to go to a 10-game conference slate with one non-conference game allowed. The Cardinals lost their traditional rivalry game against Kentucky when the SEC went conference-only, but they still have a matchup in state against Western Kentucky from Conference USA. Also working in Louisville’s favor is the absence of Clemson in a season without divisional play.

While taking the bulk of the snaps under center, Micale Cunningham managed to throw for over 2000 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2019 and finished with a passer efficiency rating of 194.8 — which, had he had enough qualifying pass attempts, would have ranked Cunningham second behind only Joe Burrow in the entire FBS and fifth on the all-time record of pass efficiency season records. That provides one hell of a building block for the Cardinals in 2020.

But the experience hardly begins and ends with Cunningham. Only Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech have more returning experience in the ACC than Louisville, and neither has nearly as much balance in terms of returning production on both sides of the ball. Topping the eight wins of last season could be tough, but Louisville might still finish with a better overall winning percentage.

Look for Scott Satterfield’s Cardinals to slot in right around No. 19 in the preseason AP Top 25, though they could end up a few spots higher in the high teens or somewhere into the low 20s.