Louisville Ranked No. 46 in ESPN's 2023 Preseason FPI

ESPN's Football Power Index is lower on the Cardinals than it was last offseason.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The new era of Louisville football is on the horizon. With Scott Satterfield opting to head up I-71 to Cincinnati, Jeff Brohm was brought in the guide his alma mater.

He inherits a team that, while inconsistent, did have a solid 2022 season. After starting the year at 2-3, the Cardinals fired off four straight wins and finished 8-5 overall. This included a 4-4 mark in ACC play, and a 24-7 win over Cincinnati in the Fenway Bowl.

While Louisville loses a plethora of playmakers on both sides of the ball, Brohm and Co. have done a good job retaining Louisville's incoming recruiting class and bringing in fresh talent for next season via the transfer portal.

That all being said, how well will Louisville perform in year one of the Jeff Brohm era? It is a little early to tell, considering spring practice is still ongoing and there are still transfers openly being recruited to the Cardinals, but we already have some idea thanks to the folks at ESPN.

ESPN recently released the preseason iteration of their Football Power Index rankings, and it gives Louisville a fair ranking given both a positive and negative circumstances. For those unfamiliar, FPI is a "predictive rating system designed to measure team strength and project performance going forward," vaguely similar to that of SP+.

Where does FPI place the Cards? With a rating of 5.1 - noticeably lowers than their 2022 preseason rating of 7.7 - they come in at No. 46 in all of FBS. As it pertains to the ACC, they rank No. 8 in the league, with Clemson, Florida State and North Carolina cracking the top three in the conference. Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Texas round out the top five overall.

FPI is certainly lower on Louisville than SP+ is ahead of the 2023 season, but it still is projecting a winning season. It projects their win/loss record at 6.9-5.2, and gives the Cardinals an 81.9 percent chance to reach six wins - the normal requirement to reach a bowl game.

Louisville's 2023 Schedule with FPI Ratings, Rankings and Predictions

Date	Team	FPI Rating	FPI Ranking	FPI Prediction
Sept. 1	vs. Georgia Tech	-0.6	63rd	Louisville 65.8%
Sept. 7	Murray State	N/A	N/A	Louisville 98.8%
Sept. 16	vs. Indiana	-2.9	75th	Louisville 71.2%
Sept. 23	Boston College	-2.9	74th	Louisville 78.6%
Sept. 29	at NC State	7.3	36th	NC State 67.8%
Oct. 7	Notre Dame	18.4	9th	Notre Dame 78.8%
Oct. 14	at Pitt	7.5	35th	Pitt 70.8%
Oct. 28	Duke	2.9	53rd	Louisville 67.6%
Nov. 4	Virginia Tech	-0.3	63rd	Louisville 71.5%
Nov. 9	Virginia	-2.8	72nd	Louisville 78.5%
Nov. 18	at Miami	9.1	29th	Miami 70.9%
Nov. 25	Kentucky	9.7	28th	Kentucky 58.6%

(Photo of Cardinal Stadium via University of Louisville Athletics)

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