Beating Louisville is pretty damn important, but this team will have a lot more opportunities for resume building wins down the road if we lose. The Penn State game is huge for the program. Although the game is "meaningless" in a sense, it certainly is not meaningless to the perception and direction of the program. 10 wins for the first time in forever, beating a team that was at one point in the top 5 and is a traditional power on the rise. If we beat Penn State it'll further legitimize the program in the eyes of pollsters which can have an effect on our preseason ranking next year. We recruit against Penn State, and now more than ever with Urban Meyer gone we have a chance to really hammer Ohio. Etc...
While Louisville is always massive, the importance of it is mostly in how much redass we'll be feeling if we lose, and a decrease in momentum from the UNC win. And as everyone knows, momentum in basketball can quickly swing back the other direction. It won't be the end of the world if we lose, although a definite nut tap.
This bowl game isn't the Music City Bowl against Northwestern, this one is far more important, IMO. If we lose, it's fine and the program took a big stride forward, but a win would be incredible. The benefit of winning the bowl game has a much greater long-term effect than winning or losing to Louisville in a game that no one outside of Kentucky will be watching tomorrow.