2017 Louisville Cardinals football team

The 2017 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the sport of American football during the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cardinals competed in the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference and were led by fourth-year head coach Bobby Petrino, who began his second stint at Louisville in 2014 after eight years away. Home games were played at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. They finished the season 8–5, 4–4 in ACC play to finish in a three-way tie for third place in the Atlantic Division. They were invited to the TaxSlayer Bowl where they lost to Mississippi State.

2017 Louisville Cardinals football
TaxSlayer Bowl, L 27–31 vs. Mississippi State
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Division	Atlantic Division
Record	8–5 (4–4 ACC)
Head coach	Bobby Petrino (8th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Lonnie Galloway (2nd season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Mike Summers (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Peter Sirmon (1st season)
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Uniform
Seasons ← 2016 2018 →

2017 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Atlantic Division
No. 4 Clemson xy$^		7	–	1					12	–	2
No. 23 NC State		6	–	2					9	–	4
Boston College		4	–	4					7	–	6
Louisville		4	–	4					8	–	5
Wake Forest		4	–	4					8	–	5
Florida State		3	–	5					7	–	6
Syracuse		2	–	6					4	–	8
Coastal Division
No. 13 Miami (FL) xy		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 24 Virginia Tech		5	–	3					9	–	4
Georgia Tech		4	–	4					5	–	6
Duke		3	–	5					7	–	6
Pittsburgh		3	–	5					5	–	7
Virginia		3	–	5					6	–	7
North Carolina		1	–	7					3	–	9
Championship: Clemson 38, Miami 3
^ – College Football Playoff participant $ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	7:30 p.m.	vs. Purdue*	No. 16	Lucas Oil Stadium Indianapolis, IN (Ally Classic)	FOX	W 35–28	37,394
September 9	12:00 p.m.	at North Carolina	No. 17	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	ESPN	W 47–35	47,000
September 16	8:00 p.m.	No. 3 Clemson	No. 14	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY (College GameDay)	ABC	L 21–47	55,588
September 23	12:00 p.m.	Kent State*	No. 19	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ACCRSN	W 42–3	47,812
September 30	3:30 p.m.	Murray State*	No. 17	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ACCRSN	W 55–10	47,826
October 5	8:00 p.m.	at No. 24 NC State	No. 17	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC	ESPN	L 25–39	56,107
October 14	12:20 p.m	Boston College		Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ACCN	L 42–45	44,679
October 21	12:00 p.m.	at Florida State		Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN	W 31–28	72,764
October 28	12:20 p.m.	at Wake Forest		BB&T Field Winston-Salem, NC	ACCN	L 32–42	29,593
November 11	3:30 p.m.	Virginia		Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ESPNU	W 38–21	46,787
November 18	3:30 p.m.	Syracuse		Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ESPNU	W 56–10	34,265
November 25	12:00 p.m.	at Kentucky*		Kroger Field Lexington, KY (rivalry)	SECN	W 44–17	56,186
December 30	12:00 p.m.	vs. No. 24 Mississippi State*		EverBank Field Jacksonville, FL (TaxSlayer Bowl)	ESPN	L 27–31	41,310
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

vs Purdue

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Cardinals	7	3	15	10	35
Boilermakers	7	7	7	7	28

See also: 2017 Purdue Boilermakers football team

At North Carolina

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Cardinals	10	10	7	20	47
Tar Heels	7	7	14	7	35

See also: 2017 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

Clemson

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Tigers	7	12	14	14	47
No. 14 Cardinals	7	0	0	14	21

See also: 2017 Clemson Tigers football team

Kent State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	0	3	0	0	3
No. 19 Cardinals	21	7	14	0	42

See also: 2017 Kent State Golden Flashes football team

Murray State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Racers	3	0	7	0	10
No. 17 Cardinals	14	21	10	10	55

See also: 2017 Murray State Racers football team

At NC State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Cardinals	0	10	3	12	25
No. 24 Wolfpack	0	17	7	15	39

See also: 2017 NC State Wolfpack football team

Boston College

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	7	7	14	17	45
Cardinals	14	7	0	21	42

See also: 2017 Boston College Eagles football team

At Florida State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	7	7	14	3	31
Seminoles	7	7	0	14	28

See also: 2017 Florida State Seminoles football team

At Wake Forest

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	3	7	7	15	32
Demon Deacons	14	14	7	7	42

See also: 2017 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team

Virginia

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cavaliers	7	7	0	7	21
Cardinals	7	10	14	7	38

See also: 2017 Virginia Cavaliers football team

Syracuse

	1	2	3	4	Total
Orange	3	0	0	7	10
Cardinals	7	28	14	7	56

See also: 2017 Syracuse Orange football team

At Kentucky

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	17	14	3	10	44
Wildcats	7	3	0	7	17

See also: 2017 Kentucky Wildcats football team

vs Mississippi State–Tax Slayer Bowl

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	7	14	3	3	27
Bulldogs	14	3	0	14	31

See also: 2017 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team and 2017 TaxSlayer Bowl

Rankings

Further information: 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	16	17	14	19	17	17	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	RV	RV	—
Coaches	17	16	14	20	18	17	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	RV	RV	—
CFP	Not released									—	—	—	—	—	—	Not released

Roster

2017 Louisville Cardinals football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 1 Traveon Samuel  Jr WR 2 Corey Reed Fr QB 3 Malik Cunningham Fr WR 3 Cornelius Sturghill  So QB 4 Jawon Pass  Fr WR 5 Seth Dawkins So RB 7 Reggie Bonnafon Sr QB 8 Lamar Jackson Jr WR 9 Jaylen Smith Jr WR 10 Rodjay Burns So TE 11 Kemari Averett Fr RB 12 Trey Smith  So QB 15 Clay Bolin  Fr QB 15 Sean McCormack  Fr WR 18 Justin Marshall Fr RB 22 Harry Trotter So WR 23 Jovel Smith So RB 25 Dae Williams  So WR 26 Chris Taylor-Yamanoha  Fr WR 27 Collin Miller Fr RB 29 Malik Williams Sr WR 30 Jeffrey Banks So WR 31 Jack Duane Sr RB 33 Colin Wilson Fr RB 34 Jeremy Smith Sr RB 36 Maurice Burkley Fr FB 38 Vince Lococo  Fr TE 42 Tyler Polston Sr RB 43 Jovan Smith Fr FB 49 Tobias Little  So OL 60 Tyler Haycraft Jr OL 61 Caleb Chandler Fr OL 63 Nate Scheler Jr OL 65 Ronald Rudd Jr OL 66 Cole Bentley Fr OL 67 Thomas Nauert Jr OL 68 Danny Burns  Jr OL 69 Chaz Ray Jr OL 70 Toriano Roundtrree  Jr OL 71 Toryque Bateman Fr OL 72 Lukayus McNeil  Jr OL 73 Mekhi Becton Fr OL 74 Geron Christian Jr OL 75 Robbie Bell  Fr OL 77 Linwood Foy  Jr OL 78 Max Martin  Fr OL 79 Kenny Thomas Jr TE 80 Charles Stanberry Sr WR 81 Emonee Spence  So WR 82 Keion Wakefield  Fr TE 83 Micky Crum  Jr WR 84 Josh Johnson Fr TE 85 Jordan Davis  So WR 86 Devantee Peete Jr WR 87 Dez Fitzpatrick  Fr WR 88 Javonte Bagley  Sr WR 89 Jordan Thomas Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 1 P. J. Mbanasor So S 4 TreSean Smith Fr CB 5 Russ Yeast Fr S 9 C. J. Avery Fr CB 10 Jaire Alexander Jr CB 10 Rodjay Burns So S 11 Dee Smith Jr S 12 Rodney Owens Fr S 13 P. J. Blue  Fr DL 14 Drew Bailey Sr CB 15 Trumaine Washington Sr LB 17 Dorian Etheridge Fr CB 20 Ronald Walker Sr LB 21 London Iakopo  Jr S 22 Chucky Williams  Sr S 23 Lyn Strange Fr DB 24 Zykiese Cannon Sr CB 27 Anthonoy Johnson Fr LB 31 Malik Staples So LB 32 Stacy Thomas  Sr DB 35 Lamarques Thomas So S 38 Jack Fagot Fr CB 39 Aaron Floyd Jr S 40 Kaheem Roach Fr LB 42 Issac Stewart  Jr LB 43 Damien Smith So LB 48 Colin Demetrakis Fr DL 49 Boosie Whitlow So DL 50 Jacob Pierce Fr LB 53 Amonte Caban  So LB 55 Isaac Martin Fr LB 56 Kam Jones Fr DE 57 Dayna Overton Fr LB 58 Jon Greenard  So DL 59 Caleb Tillman  Fr DL 62 Derek Dorsey  Fr DL 64 Tyler Robertson So LB 76 Luke Massad So DE 90 De'Asian Richardson Sr LB 91 Trevon Young Sr LB 92 Malik Clark Fr LB 93 Gary McCrae Jr DT 94 G. G. Robinson  So DL 96 Henry Famurewa  Jr LB 97 Nick Okeke Fr LB 98 Tabarius Peterson  Fr LB 99 James Hearns  Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 28 Mason King  So K 36 Evan O'Hara  So LS 41 Ryan Betlach Sr K 45 Blanton Creque  So LS 46 Brendan Lowery  So P 47 Austin Johnson  Fr LS 52 Mitch Hall Fr	Head coach Bobby Petrino Coordinators/assistant coaches Lorenzo Ward (Associate head coach/secondary) Lonnie Galloway (Co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers) Mike Summers (Co-offensive coordinator/offensive line) Peter Sirmon (defensive coordinator) Cort Dennison (Inside Linebackers/recruiting coordinator) Chris Klenakis (Tight Ends) Nick Petrino (quarterbacks) L. D. Scott (defensive line) Kolby Smith (running backs) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: October 2, 2017

2018 NFL Draft

Main article: 2018 NFL draft

The Cardinals had four players selected in the 2018 NFL draft.

Player	Team	Round	Pick #	Position
Jaire Alexander	Green Bay Packers	1st	18th	CB
Lamar Jackson	Baltimore Ravens	1st	32nd	QB
Geron Christian	Washington Redskins	3rd	74th	OT
Trevon Young	Los Angeles Rams	6th	205th	DE

References