College Football

Louisville Football: Pro Football Focus' Early Take At The Top 25 In 2017

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:18 p.m. ET

Fansided, Derek Snyder/FanSided via Big Red Louie

We take a look at where the Louisville football team landed in Pro Football Focus’ early take at the top 25 for the 2017 season.

This is the time of the year where every sports media outlet is releasing their “early” rankings for the 2017 college football season. The good news is that the Louisville football team is being highly respected in every preseason ranking I have seen, but Pro Football Focus has the Cards ranked a little lower than most.

However, It’s not like they are disrespecting Louisville. It’s actually a pretty spot-on analysis of where the Cards are, at least as of right now.

Take a look at where Pro Football Focus has the Louisville football team in next season’s top 25:

12. Louisville Cardinals

“A poor final three games take the shine off an otherwise-excellent season for the Cardinals, and lowers expectations for 2017. They do return Lamar Jackson, the most exciting quarterback in football, and that will ensure they get their share of the spotlight. Jackson finished 2016 with an 87.8 overall grade, a 96.2 grade as a rusher and averaged a ridiculous 9.4 yards per designed carry. The bad news for Louisville is their schedule; an out-of-conference slate of Purdue, Kent State, Murray State and Kentucky doesn’t set the pulse racing, which means they need to achieve perfection to challenge for a playoff place.”

Pro Football Focus released their “Early Top 25 for 2017” just a day or so after 247 Sports released their polling of AP Voters. The Cardinals actually came in at number nine in their rankings, but 12th isn’t too far off from nine.