U of L football has one of the nation's hardest remaining schedules. Can it make a bowl?

Sitting at three wins, only one of which was in the ACC, after the first half of the season with a backloaded schedule, Louisville football’s chances of making a bowl game this season looked slim.

Even as a slim favorite against Pitt, the Cardinals’ inconsistent play made it difficult to tell whether or not a win was guaranteed. Then, the Cardinals held the Panthers to their lowest point total in almost two years and used a 17-point fourth quarter to pull off the 24-10 victory in one of their most dominant defensive performances of the season yet.

“I think in regard to how dominant it was, that was a little bit shocking, just because with Louisville, unfortunately, it's just been a little inconsistent at times,” ACC analyst Eric Mac Lain said. “I thought that the offense would be able to do enough and then defensively, if they could just limit the run — it's pretty hard to stop Izzy Abanikanda, but limit the run to where Pitt had to throw. I knew those werewolves up front would be able to get home and to really make it uncomfortable for him. And I mean, the second half — fourth quarter, especially — they just turned it up to a whole new level. It was it was really fun to watch those guys.”

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Louisville (4-3, 2-3 ACC) has a chance to get one game closer to bowl eligibility this week against No. 10 Wake Forest at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Cardinal Stadium. It’s the second time since 2020 that the Cardinals have faced a team ranked in the top 10 after losing to No. 4 Notre Dame 12-7 on Oct. 17, 2020.

“You look at that defense and there's so much star power, and I look at the offense and there's pieces that are just so explosive and fun to watch but we just couldn't get all on the same page at the beginning of the season,” Mac Lain said. “But now they're going on a win streak here and welcoming the No. 10 team in the country. You feel good about these last two games and the confidence and just the level of play, especially on the defensive side of the ball, that you're seeing.”

Where Louisville found success in shutting down Pitt’s running game, Wake Forest presents more of a challenge through the air, led by quarterback Sam Hartman. Last weekend, he moved into the third spot for career touchdown passes in the ACC with 93 after throwing five scores in a 45-13 win over Boston College.

Hartman is completing 64.3% of his passes, and he’s got a talented supporting cast of receivers, five of which have at least 200 receiving yards on the year. A.T. Perry leads the group with 524 yards and five TDs on 32 catches for an average of 16.4 yards per catch.

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Stopping the Demon Deacons’ high-powered offense will be the biggest challenge of the year. Where Mac Lain believes U of L cornerback Kei’Trel Clark is going to have to “play the best game of his life,” sticking to the defense’s strengths of getting pressure on the quarterback will be key. Cardinals defensive lineman Yaya Diaby has excelled at it, recording a team-high 5 ½ sacks and 27 tackles, 9 ½ for loss, over seven games.

“Diaby doesn't get enough credit for No. 1, what he's done to his body,” Mac Lain said. “He just looks like a monster out there, just honestly killing these guys. With Monty (Montgomery) being back healthy and (Yasir) Abdullah being as good of a player as he is, all three of those guys on the same page is problems for any team. It's so fun to finally see them healthy and be able to get after it.”

Offensively, there’s no secret Louisville goes as quarterback Malik Cunningham goes. When he was out with a concussion, however, tight end Marshon Ford and wide receiver Tyler Hudson stepped up around backup quarterback Brock Domann in a 34-17 win over Virginia. In Cunningham’s return, they’ll need to keep it up against a Wake Forest defense that is allowing 24.0 points per game.

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The Cardinals’ running backs, too, will have to step up and provide consistent threats coming out of the backfield.

“Just somebody else to take some of those hits off of Cunningham,” Mac Lain said. “As special as he is, as dangerous as he is, we can't have him getting hit 20 times a game, especially with health and seeing him come off the field a couple of times and fighting to go back in. That's something you have to pay attention to and try to protect him.”

Pulling off an upset over Wake would certainly be a turning point for the Cardinals in a season that looked bleak after the 34-33 loss at Boston College. The potential three-game conference winning streak would be the first since 2016.

It would also put U of L one win away from bowl eligibility with renewed confidence as James Madison comes to town and an NC State team that’s without starting quarterback Devin Leary arrives two weeks later. Road games at No. 5 Clemson and No. 19 Kentucky present difficult challenges to end the season.

“With the way that they've been playing these last two weeks, it certainly was better than I thought a week ago and how they were just struggling,” Mac Lain said of the Cardinals’ chance of making a bowl game, “but it's tough. This is probably one of the hardest stretches in the entire country. … There's opportunity, but it's certainly going to be one of the toughest tasks in all the country to get to bowl eligibility.”

Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Alexis_Cubit.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Can Louisville Cardinals football make a bowl game?