LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- ProFootballFocus ran the data on football schedules that Louisville and Kentucky will tackle this season.
It calculated that the gap in degree of difficulty between the program is so large that I could jog through it. And I run the 40-yard dash in slightly under two hours.
According to PFF, Kentucky’s schedule ranks No. 22 in difficulty.
Louisville’s schedule checks in at No. 105. PFF dings the Cards for the easiest overall schedule among all Power Conference programs.
Cue the Lee Corso audio: Not so fast my friend.
Phil Steele, editor and publisher of the premier college football preseason magazine, disagrees.
Steele ranked the Wildcats’ schedule at No. 24, only two spots lighter than PFF. But Steele put the Cards’ schedule at No. 27, a mere 78 spots higher than PFF.
Let’s take a closer look: Is Kentucky’s schedule actually that much more demanding than Louisville’s?
I don’t believe that it is.
As they (wisely) do every other season, the Wildcats play eight home games. Louisville plays six. That matters.
The last time Kentucky played a non-conference away game, other than the Wildcats’ bi-annual trip to Louisville, was Sept. 2, 2017 at Southern Mississippi.
The last time Kentucky played a non-conference away game against a power conference opponent other than Louisville was in 2005 when the Wildcats returned from Bloomington with a 38-14 defeat by Indiana.
That was The End of the UK-IU football series. It was also The End of Kentucky exposing itself to any risk of losing a non-SEC road game other than contractual and political demands of playing the Governor’s Cup.
The Wildcats don’t earn any points for courage but I’ll give them plenty of credit for wisdom.
Life in the Southeastern Conference can flatten you. Kentucky needed to stack every available chip to make certain the program got to six wins and bowl eligibility every season. That plan has worked.
Kentucky quarterback Devin Leary (13) is sacked by Louisville defensive lineman Kameron Wilson (15), during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
The Wildcats endured six straight seasons without a bowl game prior to the 2006 season. With non-SEC games against U of L, Texas State, Central Michigan and Louisiana-Monroe, Rich Brooks got UK to the Music City in 2006, the first of five straight bowl trips.
After Joker Phillips knocked the program into the deep rough and started a streak of five consecutive non-bowl seasons, Mark Stoops set UK on its current course of eight straight bowl trips.
The Cards have considerably more starch in their non-league schedule. They visit Kroger Field to finish the season against the Wildcats Nov. 30. They also travel to Notre Dame on Sept. 28.
The Fighting Irish are a consensus pre-season Top 15 team.
Over the last six seasons, the Fighting Irish are 34-4 at Notre Dame Stadium.
The losses?
By a field goal to No. 6 Ohio State last season. By two points to a blah Stanford team in 2022. By five points to Marshall in 2022 And by 11 to No. 7 Cincinnati in 2021.
At the DraftKings online betting site, Louisville sits as a 9.5 underdog against the Fighting Irish.
Kentucky, for the record, is certain to be an underdog in three (Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas) Southeastern Conference road games. The Wildcats might not be favored for their trip to Florida Oct. 19. The Gators start 2024 with coach Billy Napier on the Hot Seat.
According to the ProFootballFocus power ratings, UK’s four road opponents are ranked No. 2 (Texas); No. 14 (Ole Miss); No. 16 (Tennessee) and No. 34 (Florida). PFF ranks UK 18th to start the season.
These are the PFF numbers for Louisville’s six road opponents: No. 12 (ND); No. 15 (Clemson); No. 18 (UK); No. 76 (Boston College); No. 101 (Virginia) and No. 109 (Stanford).
The rankings for the last three teams screams one reason why PFF is not gaga about Louisville’s schedule.
For the record, Boston College went 3-4 at home last season and changed coaches.
Virginia went 2-4 at home, which put the Cavaliers’ coach, Tony Elliott, on the Hot Seat list for this season.
Stanford went 0-7 in home games under first year coach Troy Taylor.
If you believe travel is a factor that road teams must overcome, make a note of this: Kentucky will travel 2,429 miles to play its four road opponents this season while U of L will nearly double that total while logging 4,589 miles.
Both teams enjoy the benefit of one FCS opponent with the Cards opening against Austin Peay while UK will welcome Murray State in November.
Five teams on UK’s schedule logged losing seasons in 2023. The Cards play just three teams that lost more games than they won — Virginia, Stanford and Pitt, all coming off 3-9 campaigns.
So put me down with Phil Steele. If there’s a gap in the difficulty of the UK and U of L football schedules, it’s not as mammoth as ProFootballFocus suggests. I couldn’t run through it.
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