Loss to Stanford drops Louisville from top-25

The Stanford Cardinal's huge upset win over the visiting Louisville Cardinal on Saturday has had big ramifications for the visiting team. Coming in at the No. 19 ranked team in college football, Stanford's 38-35 walk-off win has dumped Louisville from the top-25, and now sees the Cardinals ranked No. 30, according to the AP Poll that was released on Sunday.

The two biggest gainers in the standings this week were the new No. 19 team, South Carolina (7-3), who jumped up four spots in the standings, and No. 20 Tulane (9-2) who vaulted five spots after a 35-0 win on the road against Navy.

The big difference in the game at Stanford, aside from the three big decisions that were made, was that Louisville committed 13 penalties for 101 yards. Of course, the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and the offsides were huge in getting Stanford into field goal range to kick the game-winner, but there were also a number of drives that were prolonged because of other mistakes from the Louisville defense.

You could argue that two interceptions were wiped out due to penalties, but it's more likely that QB Ashton Daniels took deep shots on each of those plays because of the penalty marker on the grass and took the free shot down the field.

Coming up for Louisville will be matchups against Pittsburgh at home and Kentucky on the road on November 23 and 30. They are currently 6-4 overall and 4-3 in ACC play, which means they're presumably headed for a Bowl game. How they finish out the season will determine what kind of a Bowl they end up playing in.

For Stanford, they will head up north to take on their biggest rivals in Cal on Saturday, November 23, and then San Jose State on Friday, November 29. Both games have afternoon start times, and both games will be played on the road. While Stanford is just 3-7 on the season, they are 2-5 in ACC play, which is one more win than Cal, despite the Golden Bears having the better overall record at 5-5.

Saturday's game could produce some good bragging rights for Stanford if they come out ahead, or if Cal takes home the axe, they could be on their own path to securing a Bowl game for themselves. This figures to be a good contest.