Louisville Cardinals

5 games that could significantly help Louisville football's playoff chances in week 7

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

We take a look at which games this weekend would help Louisville football’s playoff chances this season.

Louisville football needs a little bit of help if they want to make it to the College Football Playoff this season. The easiest and most concrete way of making the big dance would have been by beating Clemson and going on to win the ACC Championship. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it looks as though that route is not going to happen this season.

It doesn’t mean that the season is over for Louisville. There are still many scenarios where the Cardinals could sneak their way into being the fourth team in the playoff. It won’t be easy and they can’t do anything but just win for themselves.

It’s nice as fans to worry and obsess over these things, but the football team needs to focus on just playing and winning. If they can do those things, everything else will fall into place. They just need to control what they are able to control. I’m confident that head coach Bobby Petrino has his team focused on one game at a time.

Louisville currently sits at number seven in the country and should have more than enough time to move up in the polls this season. You never know, maybe because they lost in early September will be a blessing, whereas the teams that lose late in the year could be penalized.

Either way, here are five games this weekend that could help Louisville football’s chances of making the playoffs.

Oct 7, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Clemson Tigers quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) throws a pass against Boston College during the first quarter at Alumni Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stew Milne-USA TODAY Sports

(4-1) NC State Wolfpack at (6-0) Clemson Tigers

Date: October 15th, 2016

Time: 12:00pm

Location: Memorial Stadium, South Carolina

TV: ABC

How it could help Louisville: This could make for a very interesting game between the Clemson Tigers and the NC State Wolfpack. In order for Louisville to have the most legit chance to make the playoff, they will need to win the ACC Championship. The simple fact is that they cannot do that unless Clemson loses two ACC games this season. NC State has gotten off to a very fast start and if they could beat Clemson, Louisville would still have a chance since the Tigers still have to play Florida State this season.

It’s not likely that the Tigers will lose at home to the Wolfpack, but if they did, it would help the Louisville football team greatly.

Oct 8, 2016; College Station, TX, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) rolls out to pass against the Texas A&M Aggies during the second half at Kyle Field. The Aggies defeated the Volunteers 45-38 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

(6-0) Alabama Crimson Tide at (5-1) Tennessee Volunteers

Date: October 15th, 2016

Time: 3:30pm

Location: Neyland Stadium, Tennessee

TV: CBS

How it could help Louisville: Louisville football fans need to be rooting for Alabama for the rest of the season. I have a feeling that a one-loss Alabama team would make it into the playoff over a one-loss Louisville team. Therefore, Alabama needs to beat the Volunteers to ensure that there won’t be any problems of two SEC schools making the playoff this season.

The worst thing that could happen is Alabama losing to a one-loss SEC team in the conference championship game. The good news is that we don’t have to consider that for another month and a half. However, Alabama still needs to beat Tennessee to keep the Volunteers out of the mix.

Oct 8, 2016; Annapolis, MD, USA; Houston Cougars quarterback Greg Ward Jr. (1) passes during the third quarter against the Navy Midshipmen at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Navy defeated Houston 46-40. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

(4-1) Tulsa Golden Hurricanes at (5-1) Houston Cougars

Date: October 15th, 2016

Time: 7:00pm

Location: TDECU Stadium, Texas

TV: ESPN2

How it could help Louisville: You have to be kidding me. How does Houston lose to Navy? Well, what’s done is done and Louisville and Houston fans will need to move on. The good news is that Houston only dropped to the 13th ranked team in the country. It could have been much worse than that, trust me. Houston needs to keep winning so that they can find themselves back into the top ten this year.

Louisville needs their road game at Houston to be a top ten match-up and that won’t happen if Houston loses to Tulsa. I don’t foresee them losing, therefore look for Houston to bounce back in a big way this season and help Louisville’s strength of schedule.

Oct 8, 2016; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles quarterback Deondre Francois (12) throws a pass during the first half against Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

(5-1) Wake Forest Demon Deacons at (4-2) Florida State Seminoles

Date: October 15th, 2016

Time: 3:30pm

Location: Doak Campbell Stadium, Florida

TV: ESPN

How it could help Louisville: Everyone was so worried and worked up last weekend when all these teams that Louisville needed to win, actually lost. However, there was one team that helped the Cardinals out big time and that was Florida State. Narrowly beating Miami was probably the best thing that has happened to the Seminoles this season. If they would have lost, they may have been kicked out of the top 25. Now that they won, Florida State has an opportunity to keep winning and moving up in the polls.

This would do nothing but give the Louisville football team another credible win this season. You never really know what the committee will be looking at, but I can garuntee you that a highly ranked Florida State squad will be a bonus for Louisville at the end of the season.

Oct 8, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett (16) drops back to throw early in the first quarter against the Indiana Hoosiers at Ohio Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

(5-0) Ohio State Buckeyes at (4-1) Wisconsin Badgers

Date: October 15th, 2016

Time: 8:00pm

Location: Camp Randall Stadium, Wisconsin

TV: ABC

How it could help Louisville: Louisville needs Ohio State or Michigan to lose two games this season to avoid the committee choosing two Big-Ten teams this year. You may not agree that those two are worthy, but they are. Therefore, Louisville needs Wisconsin to hand the Buckeyes their first loss of the season on Saturday. Ohio State still has many tough games on their schedule and it would really help the Cardinals if they took a loss this week.

If they lost, Louisville would surely make it back into the top five or six and be in better playoff positioning than they were a week ago.

Hope is not all lost Cardinals fans. Louisville still has a chance, but they need Ohio State to lose a few games this season.