USAToday Football Coaches Poll Released: Cards Check in at #9

Mark BlankenbakerAugust 1, 2013

The University of Louisville will begin the 2013 season ranked the #9 team in the nation, the highest ever pre-season ranking in school history.

The Cards being in the Top 10 gives them a legitimate shot at a national championship game berth. The last 5 seasons here are the pre-season rankings of the two teams playing in the national championship:

2012: Alabama #2, Notre Dame #24

2011: Alabama #2, LSU #4

2010: Oregon #11, Auburn #22

2009: Texas #2, Alabama #5

2008: Oklahoma #4, Florida #5

Louisville is ranked behind, Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Stanford, Georgia, Texas A&M, South Carolina, and Clemson to start the season.

Complete Poll

From UofL:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville football team received its highest preseason ranking in school history as the ESPN/USA Coaches Poll voted the Cardinals at No. 9 to start the year. The Cardinals are the only team from the American Athletic Conference in the top 25.
The ranking is the best since the Cardinals opened the 2007 season ranked 11th in the coaches and 10th in Associated Press polls.
Tabbed as the preseason American Athletic favorite by the media, the Cardinals return 19 starters from last year’s team, which won the BIG EAST title for the second-consecutive year and trampled fourth-ranked Florida 33-23 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Key returnees include the BIG EAST’s Offensive Player of the Year, Teddy Bridgewater, first team All-BIG EAST wide receiver DeVante Parker and three-time All-BIG EAST award winner Hakeem Smith at safety.

Louisville’s preseason ranking in the ESPN Coaches poll is the first time they appeared in the initial poll since the 2007 campaign.

ESPN/USA Coaches Preseason Poll
1. Alabama – 1545
2. Ohio State – 1427
3. Oregon – 1397
4. Stanford – 1262
5. Georgia – 1250
6. Texas A&M – 1215
7. South Carolina – 1136
8. Clemson – 1047
9. Louisville – 1010
10. Florida – 930
11. Notre Dame – 872
12. Florida State – 844
13. LSU – 797
14. Oklahoma State – 726
15. Texas – 622
16. Oklahoma – 620
17. Michigan – 589
18. Nebraska – 426
19. Boise State – 420
20. TCU – 400
21. UCLA – 202
22. Northwestern – 186
23. Wisconsin – 172
24. USC – 165
25. Oregon State – 135