The 2018 season has not been a kind one for Louisville. The 2-7 Cardinals are already well out of the running to go to a bowl game and questions about the future of head coach Bobby Petrino only grow louder with every loss. On Friday night, Louisville is on the road at No. 13 Syracuse where Louisville will look to do something it has never done since joining the ACC; win a conference road game against a ranked opponent.
Louisville joined the ACC from the American Athletic Conference in 2014. In that time, Louisville is 1-12 against ranked opponents, including a record of 0-10 in games against ranked opponents when playing on the road or on a neutral field (bowl games or season-openers). The Cardinals are 0-5 against ranked opponents from the ACC when on the road.
A handful of those matchups, of course, have come against Clemson at a time when Clemson is playing some of the best collective football in program history as a national championship contender the past three years and looking like one again this season. But the games against Clemson the past three years have shown just how far different these two programs have gone from each other. The woeful record against ranked competition also includes a blowout loss to No. 1 Alabama this season.
Don’t look now, but Louisville’s record against ranked opponents could get worse in these last few weeks of the regular season. In addition to playing at Syracuse on Friday night, Louisville also closes out the year at home against Kentucky, ranked No. 11 in the College Football Playoff ranking and No. 12 in the AP poll.
The only win against a ranked opponent Petrino has recorded in his second time around with Louisville was a 63-20 blasting of No. 2 Florida State on September 17, 2016. What a time that was. Shortly after that game, Petrino had to fend off rumors about his potential interest in a job opening at LSU. A lot has changed over the past two years.