Action Network Includes Louisville in Early 2023 Bowl Projections

The 2023 season might be over three months away, but the Cardinals are already being projected to make a respectable bowl.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - We might have over three months until the start of of the 2023 college football season, but even in the early goings of summer, way-too-early bowl projections are beginning to surface.

Louisville is coming off of a successful 8-5 campaign in what wound up being the final year of the Scott Satterfield era, which culminated with a 24-7 win over rival Cincinnati. With the Cardinals gearing up for the first season under new head coach Jeff Brohm, Action Network's Brett McMurphy is projecting that Brohm will lead UofL to a respectable bowl in 2023.

As part of his early predictions and projected spreads, which included the College Football Playoff and New Year's Six bowls, McMurphy projecting that Louisville will face Auburn in the Gator Bowl. Dates for the 2023-24 Bowl Season have not yet been released.

Related: Louisville Football Receives Favorable Odds to Win ACC

First played on New Year's Day in 1946, the Gator Bowl is one of the more prestigious non-New Year's Six bowls. It is the sixth-oldest college football bowl game still in existence, only behind the Rose, Orange, Sugar, Sun and Cotton Bowls. The bowl is held at TIAA Bank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida - which is the home of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars - and has tie-ins with the ACC, Big Ten and SEC. Notre Dame took down South Carolina, 45-38, in last season's Gator Bowl.

Louisville has twice played in the Gator Bowl. They lost 35-24 to Virginia Tech on Jan. 2, 2006 and fell 31-27 to Mississippi State on Dec. 30, 2017.

The two teams have faced each other twice before, both of which were Auburn victories. The Tigers captured a 16-3 home win on Sept. 14, 1974, as well as a 31-34 victory on Sept. 5, 2015 in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Georgia Dome. Auburn is coming off of a 5-7 campaign in which they fired head coach Bryan Harsin and brought in former Ole Miss and Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze.

The Cardinals will kick off their 2023 season against Georgia Tech in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. on Friday, Sept. 1.

(Photo of L&N Stadium: Matt McGavic - Louisville Report)

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