LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- I hit the on ramp of following University of Louisville football in 1978 when blustery Vince Gibson ran the show and unbreakable Nathan Poole ran for nearly 1,400 yards.
The Cards opened with a 54-7 home victory over South Dakota State. If you were there, you were one of 21,109 folks who stretched out in old Cardinal Stadium.
They closed their 1978 home schedule with a 29-22 loss to Memphis State (yes, the State was mandatory 45 years ago) in front of 17,012.
It was a home schedule that also featured Maryland, Indiana State, NW Louisiana, Boston University and William & Mary, mostly teams that would inspire giggles if the Cardinals played them in 2023.
The arrival of Maryland, coached by University of Kentucky alumnus Jerry Claiborne, attracted more than 36,000 fans to the fairgrounds. But the Cardinals finished that season with five crowds of less than 18,000.
Understand this: The Cards have played a regular-season game against precisely one of those 11 programs on their 1978 schedule since the end of the 2013, nearly a decade ago.
Guess which school?
If you said Cincinnati, Memphis (it's OK to drop the State) or Southern Miss, schools all on the list of the 10 programs that Louisville has most frequently played, you would be incorrect.
The answer is ... Indiana State. The Sycamores lost a guarantee game at Louisville in 2018.
Schedules evolve, few more than Louisville’s schedule has changed over the last 45 seasons. Few programs have been more relentlessly upwardly mobile than Louisville.
Conference affiliations bend and (unlike a talented defense) break. If you're scoring at home, here are the conferences Louisville has competed in since 1978:
- No Conference: Until 1995
- Conference USA: 1996-2004 (a contentious decision that inspired Howard Schnellenberger take his pipe and bolt the U of L program he nurtured for an unfortunate one-season stay at Oklahoma).
- Big East: 2005-12 (including those delightful trips to West Virginia to encounter Rich Rodriguez, Steve Slaton and Pat White).
- American Athletic: 2013 (went 7-1 but finished second to Blake Bortles and Central Florida. That still rankles Charlie Strong, as it should).
- Atlantic Coast: Since 2014, Louisville has gone 37-37 during ACC league play at its latest address, still searching for its first league championship.
I pulled you through this lengthy prologue for several reasons.
The first is that conference realignment has been a way of life for Louisville. You could argue that the Cardinals have been one of the primary re-aligners.
Kentucky and Indiana have not budged. Kentucky has been in a constant state of chasing programs with larger stadiums and greater tradition. Indiana gets flattened by Michigan, Ohio State and friends every October and November.
Louisville, meanwhile, has always adapted. It has always found a new home, usually in a nicer neighborhood with better amenities.
That is my default thought when I'm asked what will happen to Louisville football in the next serving of conference realignment, which is likely to occur before this column is posted.
The Cardinals will find a seat at a reasonable table. They always have.
Bring Stanford and California into the ACC?
Louisville offensive linemen push a sled during Day 1 of Louisville football fall camp.
Why not?
It will only be a temporary situation or solution. Everybody knows the collection of teams that we'll have this season will be different from the collection of teams we'll have in 2027 or 2033. Roll with it. Have a good time with it.
The Cardinals have never played Stanford or California in football. They're due for a trip to the Bay Area. It's pricey, but they say the restaurants are wonderful.
In fact, according to my research, the only California schools that UofL has played in football are Long Beach State and San Jose State, and the Cards are 2-0-2.
The Cardinals own the Golden State. Bring it on.
What can Louisville do to hold its place in the shifting college football world?
Do the same things the program did while making the journey from playing South Dakota State and William & Mary until its arrival in the ACC.
Remain flexible and ambitious. Win. Fill the stadium. Embrace the arrival of new coach Jeff Brohm. Win. Strengthen its reputation as a fan base that travels well. Act like you belong and bring something to the discussion. Win.
Louisville is a conference realignment veteran. I ran another set of numbers on Louisville football. Of the 10 programs UofL has played most often through the years in football, Florida State (23) is the only one still in the same league with the Cardinals. UofL has left the others behind.
Programs like Cincinnati (54 games), Memphis (43 games) and Southern Miss (30) games are long gone.
The program has figured out the conference realignment gymnastics well during its multiple moves. The Cards can do it again.
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