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Roundtable: Which team reminds you of this year's Louisville Cardinals?

graham watson
LOUISVILLE, KY - SEPTEMBER 17: Lamar Jackson #8 of the Louisville Cardinals runs for a touchdown during the game against the Florida State Seminoles. (Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY – SEPTEMBER 17: Lamar Jackson #8 of the Louisville Cardinals runs for a touchdown during the game against the Florida State Seminoles. (Getty Images)

For the past few years, Clemson and Florida State have been the bell cows of the ACC leaving the league’s other teams to fight for attention essentially in the shadows. However, all that changed last week when Louisville dominated Florida State in the Seminoles worst loss in their ACC history.

So, that got me thinking about teams that have come out of nowhere to make a major splash on the national stage. I took this thought to our roundtable panel and asked them to draw on their college football knowledge and pluck a team from history that has made a similar ascension.

FEAR THE BEARD

The 2010 Stanford Cardinal started the season unranked and also featured a young quarterback that would take the college football world by storm.

Stanford jumped into the rankings in Week 2 after demolishing an overmatched Sacramento State team and subsequently shut out UCLA and beat Wake Forest by 44 points. And similarly to Louisville’s Week 3 “test” vs. Florida State, Stanford’s Week 4 matchup at Notre Dame (coming off losses to Michigan and Michigan State by a combined seven points) had a chance to bring the Cardinal back to earth.

No chance. Stanford, then-ranked No. 16 in the AP poll, beat Notre Dame 37-14 and jumped to No. 9.

Louisville fans shooting for an undefeated season are hoping the parallel ends there. A trip to No. 4 Oregon followed the Notre Dame game and the Ducks won 52-31. After a visit to a Marshall team that got skunked by Akron in Week 4, Louisville faces a similar road test with a trip to Clemson on Oct. 1.

The Oregon game didn’t ruin Stanford’s season, however. With Luck totaling 35 total touchdowns, Stanford went undefeated the rest of the way and earned the program’s first BCS bowl in 10 years with a trip to the Orange Bowl. The game was no contest, either. Stanford beat No. 12 Virginia Tech 40-12 and finished the season at No. 4. (Nick Bromberg)

LUCK OF THE IRISH

This team didn’t quite storm out of the gates like Louisville has offensively, but the 2014 Notre Dame team was similarly ranked (No. 17; Louisville was No. 19) in the preseason. The Irish got off to a fast start with Everett Golson back at quarterback and moved all the way up to No. 5 with a big 17-14 win over Stanford.

Brian Kelly’s group was 6-0 headed into Tallahassee and had a chance to knock off the defending national champions, No. 2 Florida State. It looked like the Irish had FSU beat when Golson hit Corey Robinson for a touchdown on 4th & goal with under 20 seconds to go, but that controversial offensive pass interference flag was thrown on C.J. Prosise and FSU held on 31-27.

The rest of the season was a disaster. The Irish barely escaped Navy the following week. From there, Notre Dame dropped four straight to Arizona State, Northwestern, Louisville and USC. The Irish did salvage a win over LSU in a bowl game, but a season that looked like it had national championship potential ended up 8-5. (Sam Cooper)

JAYHAWK: FAKE BIRD, REAL TEAM

The 2007 Kansas team was one of the greatest in school history and no one saw the climb to the top of the national heap coming.

The Jayhawks were 6-6 the year before with a bunch of unknown players and a new offensive coordinator in Ed Warinner, who brought a fast-paced no-huddle offense to Lawrence.

Kansas picked up the scheme quickly thanks to 5-foot-11 quarterback Todd Reesing and backup quarterback Kerry Meier, who was the team’s leading receiver, who helped the Jayhakws average 42.8 points per game. Kansas won 12 games and defeated its opponents by an average of 29.3 points per game.

Kansas’ only loss that year came to rival Missouri in a matchup of the No. 1 Tigers against the No. 2 Jayhawks. The Missouri win earned the Tigers a berth in the Big 12 title game against Oklahoma while Kansas got to stay home and watch on TV. However, that loss would ultimately help the Jayhawks. Missouri lost to Oklahoma and consequently, the Orange Bowl decided to pass on the Tigers and take the Jayhawks instead. It’s the only BCS berth between the two rival schools.

[Cast your vote for Dr Saturday’s catch of the week!]

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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!