Louisville found a strategy that worked.
After 14 years of calling plays, Cardinals head coach Jeff Brohm handed off the duties to offensive coordinator Brian Brohm so he could spend more time with the defense. While Jeff Brohm admits it was difficult to give up, the decision paid off against Florida State. Working with co-defensive coordinators Mark Ivey and Steve Ellis and having the defense wear wristbands helped the defense give up fewer big plays in the Cards' 44-20 Week 6 victory.
“Anytime he can lend his experience to us in our room, it's going to help us,” linebackers coach Adam Mueller said of Jeff Brohm. “He's right there with us in the trenches trying to work through all the issues. When somebody has an idea, he lets everybody speak and have their piece, but just making sure everybody's on the same page. His experience is second to none in our program. So, it's been great.”
The Cardinals have another game to test out the adjustments when they travel to Syracuse for a Week 7 road contest. The next two games will be crucial in ironing out the kinks and building confidence in what works before the final month of the regular season. The Cards will be on the road for most of November; their only home game is against Pitt the week before Thanksgiving. They open the month with back-to-back road games against Georgia Tech and North Carolina and finish at No. 17 Kentucky, which has two top-10 wins, for the regular season-ending Governor’s Cup game.
Pitt, which lost starting quarterback Mason Heintschel to a season-ending ACL tear, was ranked for a week before falling to the Tar Heels 21-17 on Oct. 10.
The Week 7 meeting with Syracuse is a deceptive game that was, at one point, viewed as a potential trap, and even more so now. The Orange could be down to its fourth-string quarterback Saturday and has lost 10 consecutive ACC games, though two of their three conference losses this season were by three points. Most recently, Virginia rallied from a 17-7 halftime deficit to beat visiting Syracuse 28-25 in Week 6.
But the Orange will get Louisville at JMA Wireless Dome, which hasn’t been kind to the Cards in recent years. They’re 2-3 over the past five trips to Syracuse, which included a 31-7 loss in the 2022 opener. Brohm wasn't coaching the Cards then. But two weeks after the Orange beat UofL, his Purdue squad lost to Syracuse 32-29.
“It's loud. They get into the game,” Brohm said about Syracuse fans. “It's all about momentum. Game's about momentum. When you only have 10 to 12 possessions, you’ve got to take advantage of it. ... I would like to see us play clean, efficient football on both sides and aggressive football and make plays and get better.”
Louisville did well in all the above areas against the Seminoles. The Cards had less than 40 yards in penalties and scored on seven of their 12 drives. They also limited FSU’s offense to 4.7 yards per play and held Duce Robinson – the Seminoles’ best receiver – to 14 yards on two catches while recording six quarterback hurries and four sacks.
But one game of improvement isn’t enough for a Louisville team that still has a chance to win nine games. The Cards will look to sustain the success they had against FSU and record their first win at Syracuse since 2016.
“We need to be aggressive, and that's the key is how aggressive can you be to stop the run to get after the quarterback without giving up a home run over our head,” Brohm said. “We've given up a couple home runs over our heads. So you’ve got to know when to call it. ... Without question, stopping the run and getting pressure on the quarterback, no matter who it is, will be a priority. And, we'll have to put a good plan together to do that.”
Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Brohm, Louisville football to test coaching adjustments at Syracuse