Louisville Cardinals

Just how much did Ohio State's loss help Louisville football's playoff hopes?

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

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When Ohio State lost to Penn State, we all knew it meant nothing but good things for the Louisville Football team. However, what exactly did their loss mean for the Cards?

This was a great weekend for the Louisville football team. They were able to knock off a tough NC State defense and move back into being one of the top five teams in the entire country. Probably the best news of the weekend was that Ohio State lost to Penn State and revived the Cardinals’ college football playoff hopes.

There are many people who don’t feel that the Cards have any shot at getting to the playoff this season, but those voices are nothing but chatter until the committee picks their four teams. There is however one Senior Writer at ESPN who believes the Louisville football team still has a great chance.

This is what Heather Dinich, an ESPN Senior Writer, had to say about Louisville football’s chances because of the Ohio State to Penn State on Saturday.

“3. Hello again, Louisville. While the SEC’s odds of getting two teams in the committee’s top four took a nosedive, the ACC might have boosted its chances with Louisville’s 54-13 dismantling of NC State. If Clemson runs the table and wins the ACC title, the Tigers are as close to a lock in the top four as you can get. It’s impossible not to notice, though, how thoroughly dominant Louisville looked against a team Clemson was fortunate to beat at home last week, 24-17.”

“The best-case scenario for the ACC to have two top-four teams is for Clemson to remain undefeated, which won’t be easy with a trip to Florida State looming on Saturday. The Seminoles will also be another common opponent used to measure Clemson against Louisville, as the Cardinals caught the nation’s attention when they embarrassed FSU 63-20 on Sept. 17. Louisville’s résumé could be impacted, though, by Houston’s loss to SMU. Houston was the only ranked opponent remaining on Louisville’s schedule. That game already lost its luster when Houston lost to Navy, but the loss to SMU could drop the Cougars from the Top 25 entirely.”

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The most interesting thing that she noted was that Louisville needed Clemson to win out if they wanted a shot at being the second ACC team in the playoff. Maybe NC State missing that field goal at Clemson will actually help the Cards? No one knows for sure, but she brings up an interesting point.

You have to figure that Alabama, Michigan, Clemson, and Washington will all be there at the end. What she failed to mention is that if Washington wins out this year, then the Cards’ season may be coming to an end because I don’t think they would leave out an undefeated PAC-12 champion.

The good news is that Washington has to travel to Utah this coming weekend in a match-up between two teams in the top 25. Maybe this is the weekend that the Huskies finally fall.