Head football coach Charlie Strong received a new seven year contact, that extends his existing contract that ended in 2015, to now go through June 2018. As usual, that got me to thinking about how Louisville has fared under head coach Strong. Coach Strong started at the University of Louisville in 2009, so that is were I start as well with Louisville Cardinals.
In 2009, the Cardinals finished 4-8. In terms of their overall production, Louisville was the #102nd ranked team in total production, with their offense the 108th most productive team and their defense the 70th most productive team. Louisville's strength of schedule was a 52.08, which is a stronger than average schedule.
For the 2010 season Louisville finished 7-6 including their win over Southern Mississippi in the Beef O'Brady Bowl, which the NCAA FBS production model correctly predicted by the way. Louisville's final production ranking was #33 in the nation, with the #43 best productive offense and the #31 best defense in terms of production. Louisville's schedule strength is a 64.69, which is slightly weaker than an average schedule.
Note: the difference in rankings from the Beef O'Brady Bowl blog link and the information in this paragraph is that the blog was written and analyzed before the game and the ranking information is after all the bowl games last season.
To date the University of Louisville is 2-4, with wins over non-FBS Murray State and over currently #114 ranked Kentucky, and has played a strength of schedule to date of 71.67, which is a rather light schedule. According to the production model, Louisville is currently the #93rd most productive team overall, with the #115th most productive offense and the #21st most productive defense.