But Can They Handle the Hangover?
I spent a good chunk of Louisville football’s upset win over No. 2 Miami on Friday night in urgent care.
Our seven-year-old took a spill when headed out the door to our game watch destination. And when a child tells you they think they need to go to the hospital, you go to the damn hospital.
What I missed on Friday, but later re-affirmed in multiple re-watches, is something that Louisville football fans should have already expected.
Jeff Brohm will always show up when the lights are the brightest.
As I sat in a sterile waiting room refreshing my phone between X-ray images and the ESPN app, Louisville was busy rewriting another chapter of Jeff Brohm’s legend; The part where his teams defy the odds when everyone’s watching
It’s what Louisville football is built on. It has staked its reputation on the big moments under the brightest lights.
As a conference-less team playing on astroturf in a minor league baseball stadium in the 80s and 90s, Louisville played anyone, anywhere, any time.
Friday night. Undefeated and No. 2 Miami. Millions of eyes on TV sets? These are the moments the Louisville football program was built on. And the moments that Brohm lives for.
Brohm Magic Strikes Again
It made zero sense on paper, which is why it made so much sense for a Jeff Brohm-coached Louisville football team.
Highest paid player in college football history under center?
No problem.
He was 28-3 as a starter.
Again, no problem.
A superior bully in the trenches?
We’ll see about that.
The opponent had beaten up on Florida, FSU, Notre Dame, and a ranked USF?
Who cares?
Jeff Brohm is now 4-0 in regular season games against AP top 5 opponents. Brohm has won 8 out of the last 12 regular season games against AP Top 25 opponents, including 4 on the road.
For the second consecutive season, he’s gone into a hostile environment and upset a playoff contending, top 11 team. Last year it was Clemson. This year, it came in front of a massive audience on Friday night at No. 2 Miami.
I’m not really sure why this surprises anyone at this point. Brohm did it regularly with average and below-average Purdue teams. Now, with a competitive arsenal of NIL funding and top end talent at skill positions, his knack for weaponizing opponents’ own strengths against them is one of the most impressive resume bullet points of anyone in his position.
Offense Made Him, But Defense Saved Him
Prior to Louisville, Brohm had a reputation for his balls to the wall, offense-first mentality.
Since hiring defensive coordinator Ron English while at Purdue in 2021, Brohm’s approach has significantly changed.
Fans may recall a specific game in 2021 at Syracuse where Brohm and Purdue literally gave the game away by throwing the ball instead of running with the ability to bleed the clock out.
Since that moment, Brohm and English-led defenses have given up three touchdowns or less in 27 of 44 games. At Louisville, English’s defenses have pitched three shutouts and have not allowed an offensive touchdown at all in five games.
The adjustments have been more than just Louisville getting out of its own way. It’s been an embracing of and trusting in English’s defensive unit and playing well together.
English has been lambasted by much of the fanbase, especially in close losses. But, you have to give props where they are due right now– Louisville’s defense has been sensational in 2025 after losing a dozen key contributors from a season ago, 8 of which started a game in ’24.
Ashton Gillotte and Quincy Riley are NFL starters right now. Jared Dawson is a starter for Notre Dame. Mason Reiger at Wisconsin. Ramon Puryear and MJ Griffin were multi-year starters who graduated.
Louisville invested more in the offense than in the defense over the offseason, replacing its entire secondary with group of five pieces. It lost star linebacker Stanquan Clark for the season in just the second game.
These numbers are skewed a bit due to the emergence of multiple prolific Louisville running backs, but time of possession has become a critical element for the Cards.
Louisville is 25th nationally in time of possession in 2025 and finished 20th in TOP back in 2023.
Keeping the defense off the field has proven a solid strategy, allowing that side of the ball to stay rested up and play with a more aggressive mentality.
At the halfway point, Louisville football allows 21.0 points per game- The second-lowest ever from a Brohm-led team.
More impressively, the Louisville defense itself has surrendered just 16.3 points per game when accounting for the offense’s three pick-sixes and fumble return TD allowed.
All told, the Louisville defense has surrendered 10 total touchdowns in regulation. Four of those opponent “drives” were 12, 53, 39, and 16 yards.
This Louisville football defense is a problem, and it’s time to give English his flowers. A nod to Brohm as well for ham and egging it well with the D when his offense just doesn’t have it.
Brohm and the Proverbial Monkey
Brohm’s penchant for upsets is only upstaged by his teams’ history of crushing defeats immediately after.
The trend started after his team’s first massive upset— A 49-20 shellacking of Ohio State in 2018. The very next game, Brohm and Purdue fell 23-13 to Michigan State.
It continued in 2021. After a shocking 24-7 dismantling of No. 2 Iowa, Brohm and the Boilermakers got thumped at Wisconsin. They then followed up a stunner vs. 5th-ranked Michigan State with another big loss vs Ohio State.
Different school, same script. Brohm’s brilliance has always come with a hangover.
After making the move to Louisville, Brohm and the Cards made a statement in a dominant victory vs. top-10 Notre Dame, catapulting 6-0 Louisville football into the playoff conversation. A week later, the Cards dropped a clunker in a blowout loss to a bad Pitt team.
A season ago, Louisville blew out Clemson on the road, notching its first win over the Tigers.
In its very next game, Louisville blew a 14-point lead to an abysmal Stanford team, losing in shocking fashion yet again on the heels of an upset win.
Both Stanford in ‘24 and Pitt in ‘23 finished the season 3-9 with their only significant wins coming over ranked Louisville squads.
So, here we are again. Brohm, with an unbelievable track record against top ranked teams. But every single time his guys pull off the upset, they drop an absolute clunker directly after.
It’s a trend that’s difficult to ignore with 1-6 Boston College headed to town.
The Cards opened as 22.5-point favorites(They opened as 20.5-point favorites last season against the Cardinal).
Surely another upset isn’t in the books, right? BC has surrendered 38 or more points in its last 3 games and hasn’t looked particularly competitive against ACC competition.
One thing is for certain— if Louisville football is going to kick the habit, there’s no better opponent to face. With the playoffs within reach, there’s no better time to do so.
If Brohm’s Louisville wants to be more than just college football’s most dangerous underdog, this is where the evolution has to show up.
It’s no longer just about beating a Miami. It’s about proving that Brohm Magic can last longer than one night.
