Louisville listed at No. 25 in latest CFP rankings

For the firth time this season, Kentucky will play a current ranked team on Saturday. For the first time, the Wildcats are the betting favorites.

On Tuesday night, the College Football Playoff selection committee released its Week 13 rankings with Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, and TCU rounding out the top four. However, Louisville makes its first appearance since 2016 coming in at No. 25.

Updated College Football Playoff Rankings🚨https://t.co/doHgilRLKr pic.twitter.com/fgW0DayXXQ

— On3 (@On3sports) November 23, 2022

Things can change quickly in college football.

Back on Oct. 1, Kentucky climbed up to No. 7 in the AP Top 25 before dropping a tightly contested game with No. 14 Ole Miss in Oxford. From that point forward, its been a slow decline for the Cats who are 1-3 since the bye week.

The opposite has happened for Louisville. Scott Satterfield entered the season on a presumed hot seat and things got hairy quickly after a 31-7 loss to Syracuse in Week 1. Fast forward to Week 5, and the Cards lost as a double-digit road favorite to a bad Boston College team. At that point, it seemed like Satterfield would not be the coach at UofL in 2023. That changed very fast.

Riding a defensive resurgence, Louisville has gone 5-1 since the bye week with home wins over Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, and NC State. That has earned the Cardinals a spot in the top 25.

Now Louisville will take that record on the road where they are currently a 2.5-point underdog facing unranked Kentucky on Saturday. I’m sure we’ll hear about how the Cats attempt to use this for motivation as Mark Stoops and his program desperately need a seventh win on Saturday to help save a disappointing season.