Scoreboard Watching: Games to Track During Louisville's Second Bye Week

Another weekend of college football is almost here! But unfortunately for fans of the Louisville football program, they'll have to wait until next weekend to see the Cardinals take the field, as they're on their second and final bye week of the season.

While the Cardinals (4-1, 1-1 ACC) are not in action this weekend, there are still plenty of games around college football involving future and past opponents. This will give fans both a glimpse into the future of what to expect, and perhaps a team to pull for in hopes of boosting Louisville's strength of schedule.

Here are a few games Louisville fans should keep tabs on this weekend:

Pitt (3-2, 1-1 ACC) at No. 25 Florida State (3-2, 0-2 ACC)

Channel: ESPN at 12:00 p.m. EST
Future Date/Past Result: Louisville defeated Pitt 34-27 on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Well now, this matchup certainly has a lot more intrigue to it than it did prior to last weekend.

On one side, Pitt looks like they're found some new life after benching Eli Holstein and rolling with true freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel, smoking Boston College to the tune of 48-7. Additionally, Florida State looks fairly vulnerable right now, dropping two in a row including 28-22 to Miami last weekend.

Considering how weak the second half of the schedule for Louisville looks, they're going to need a handful of their prior wins to look good. A win for over Florida State in Tallahassee will certainly go a long way.

Louisiana (2-3, 1-0 Sun Belt) at James Madison (4-1, 2-0 Sun Belt)

Channel: ESPN2 at 12:00 p.m. EST
Future Date/Past Result: Louisville defeated James Madison 28-14 on Friday, Sept. 5.

Speaking of teams that have a chance to make Louisville look good moving forward, James Madison also falls under this category.

The Dukes have rebounded nicely since falling at Louisville, firing off three straight wins since. On top of that JMU currently has one of the best defenses in the FBS, with their 217.2 yards allowed per game ranked fourth in the nation - behind only Oklahoma, Missouri and Ohio State.

While James Madison might not be the Group of Five's favorite to reach the College Football Playoff at the current moment, if they keep winning, they could wind up being in the mix come November.

Stanford (2-3, 1-1 ACC) at SMU (3-2, 1-0 ACC)

Channel: The CW Network at 12:00 p.m. EST
Future Date/Past Result: Louisville travels to SMU on Saturday, Nov. 22.

Before the season, SMU was perceived to be one of Louisville top challenges for the season. Of course, now, that's not exactly the case anymore.

The Mustangs have been incredibly inconsistent this season on both sides of the ball, struggling to get past Missouri State while also losing outright to both Baylor and TCU. That being said, they are coming off of a win against Syracuse - but lord knows how good the Orange actually are.

I won't call facing Stanford a "get-right game," but this is a great opportunity for SMU to get both sides of the ball going. QB Kevin Jennings is still a good quarterback, but they've had issues moving the ball, and that defense isn't nearly as ferocious as it was last season.

Virginia Tech (2-4, 1-1 ACC) at No. 13 Georgia Tech (5-0, 2-0 ACC)

Channel: ACC Network at 3:30 p.m. EST
Future Date/Past Result: Louisville travels to Virginia Tech on Saturday, Nov. 1.

This has trap game written all over it, and if I'm a Georgia Tech fan, this game would terrify me.

While the Yellow Jackets had a bye week to help smooth things over, they very nearly suffered a ghastly loss at Wake Forest. Additionally, while Virginia Tech fired head coach Brent Pry earlier in the year, few things are scarier than a team with absolutely nothing to lose.

On paper, this should be a game where Virginia Tech gets run off the field. But if they make things hairy in Atlanta, Louisville might have to take notice whenever they have to go to Blacksburg.

Clemson (2-3, 1-2, ACC) at Boston College (1-4, 0-3 ACC)

Channel: ACC Network at 7:30 p.m. EST
Future Date/Past Result: Louisville hosts Boston College on Saturday, Oct. 25; Louisville hosts Clemson on Friday, Nov. 14.

I'll be honest: objectively, this probably will not be a very good game to watch. But there are two storylines to monitor here.

On the Boston College side of things, they are in an absolute freefall, losing four straight including most recently a 41-point loss at Pitt. As for Clemson, while they are far from living up to expectations, can their 38-10 win at UNC serve as a springboard in the month of October prior to their matchup at Louisville?

While the Eagles might not have a bunch of talent, the Tigers certainly do. But what will the respective body language be for each team prior to facing Louisville?

Other Matchups to Watch

• No. 1 Ohio State at No. 17 Illinois - FOX at 12:00 p.m. EST
• No. 8 Alabama at No. 14 Missouri - ABC at 12:00 p.m. EST
• No. 7 Indiana at No. 3 Oregon - CBS at 3:30 p.m. EST
• Arkansas at No. 12 Tennessee - SEC Network at 4:15 p.m. EST
• Florida at No. 5 Texas A&M - ESPN at 7:00 p.m. EST
• No. 10 Georgia at Auburn - ABC at 7:30 p.m. EST
• No. 15 Michigan at USC - NBC at 7:30 p.m. EST
• No. 21 Arizona State at Utah - ESPN at 10:15 p.m. EST