Athlon College Football Preseason Top 25 - Louisville Ranked #23

For the first time since the summer entering the 2007 college football season, Louisville is ranked in the Top 25 by a preseason publication. Athlon, one of the oldest and most respected preseason college football publication, began its countdown of Top 25 teams on Tuesday and Louisville checks in today at #23. While it's no guarantee of success this season, the ranking is at least a symbolic recognition of the job third year coach Charlie Strong has done in making over the Louisville program since he took over in December of 2009.

You can read the Athlon preview of Louisville here. The publication says that Teddy Bridgewater, the receiving corps of Michaelee Harris, Eli Rogers, and DeVante Parker, and the defensive line will be the main reason Louisville wins the Big East and possibly 10+ games in 2012. Having all of the toughest games outside of Rutgers at home and having West Virginia drop off the schedule also increases Louisville's odds of returning to a BCS bowl for the first time since 2007.