For me, it's mostly just bad luck that we're not playing in the ACC championship game. Of course there were mistakes and inconsistent coaching, but if just a handful of things hadn't happened, we would have overcame them to win.
Notre Dame: Louisville is the best team the Irish faced this season and if it weren't for at least two decisively horrible officiating calls, the Irish would have lost.
Had the Cards won this game, it would have propelled them into the top 10.
SMU: We all saw how this game ended. The replay review reversal was bullshit and it directly led to the SMU win. Now maybe Louisville would have lost anyway, in overtime? Who knows? But everyone knows the reversal is what cost the Cards the game.
Now think where Louisville would have been if their luck was good and not bad. Top 5?
Everything would have been different when we played Miami. It would have been a top 10 matchup. GameDay would have most likely came to Louisville.
Now maybe the game would have ended the same way it did, but with all that energy and momentum and ESPN there, I believe Louisville would have won. A loss however wouldn't have knocked the Cards out of the ACC title game.
That would be determined against Clemson. Now would the Cards have still laid an egg at Stanford? I can't believe they would have but who really knows? Brohm hasn't been upset every single time after upsetting a ranked team the game before.
Louisville would be in control of its ACC title game appearance. Even with one loss to Miami, they would be in by winning out, so the Stanford game would have had a more urgent attention than he did.
Louisville should be 11 and 1 and probably playing Clemson in a rematch. They would have been a playoff lock. However, those two early losses that could have easily been wins, left us with once again, disappointing what ifs?
