When the season started, many pundits knew Louisville, despite having a Heisman Trophy-caliber quarterback, would have a tough time making its way into the national title game because of the Cardinals weak schedule.

And Louisville coach Charlie Strong acknowledged Monday he had no allusions of playing in the title game either.

Charlie Strong on BCS standings: We were never goign to get where we needed to b/c of our schedule, so it doesn't bother me. — Steve Jones (@SteveJones_CJ) October 21, 2013

Louisville would have had to go undefeated to have an outside chance at a national championship and last Friday’s 38-35 upset loss to Central Florida crushed that dream. While the AAC is the weakest of all the Big Six conferences, Louisville didn’t do itself many favors with a nonconference schedule that included Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, Kentucky and Florida International, which are a combined 11-15 this season. Hope the release of the first BCS standings, which have Louisville ranked No. 20, doesn’t cause the Cardinals to give up on the season.

Charlie STrong says he's still believing and still telling Cards they are the "best football team in the country" — Steve Jones (@SteveJones_CJ) October 21, 2013

Missing out on the national championship – or even the slim hope of a national championship – is unfortunate, but Louisville could still play in a BCS bowl and Bridgewater is still widely considered a candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!

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