Jeff Brohm Pleased With Louisville's Various Improvements Shown at Virginia

The Cardinals snapped a two-game skid with their win at the Cavaliers.

Oct 12, 2024; Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; Louisville Cardinals tight end Jamari Johnson (11) celebrates with Cardinals tight end Jaleel Skinner (88) after scoring the game winning touchdown against the Virginia Cavaliers during the second half at Scott Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images / Amber Searls-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program was far from perfect this past weekend, but as the saying goes, "a win is a win."

In their most recent outing at Virginia, the Cardinals were able to mount a fourth quarterback comeback on the road, eventually escaping Charlottesville with a 24-20 win over the Cavaliers.

As previously mentioned, Louisville didn't exactly played their cleanest football against Virginia. They were out-gained 449 yards to 408, went just 3-of-10 on third down to the Cavs' 8-of-19, and committed eight penalties - several of which killed drives and left points on the table.

That being said, Louisville still made necessary plays to take down Virginia, snapping a two-skid in the process. As imperfect as they were, the Cardinals did show aspects of improvement in Charlottesville, and Brohm is pleased with that aspect.

One of the first areas of improvement mentioned was the play of a couple new pieces on the offensive line. Trevonte Sylvester earned the starting left tackle spot after Monroe Mills suffered an injury that will keep him sidelined indefinitely, while Rasheed Miller saw snaps at both left and right tackle against the Hoos. In 41 combined pass block snaps, the duo allowed just two pressures.

"We did have some new pieces on the offensive line," Brohm said. "I thought for the most part, they played hard. There were a couple times we got exposed, but we found a way to overcome it."

Sticking on the offensive side of the ball, offensive coordinator Brian Brohm also added that in the week leading up to the Virginia game, a large emphasis was placed on playing with a heightened sense of urgency. While there were a few times this past Saturday where's Louisville's offensive focus dipped some, overall, Brian Brohm believes that the urgency was at a higher level than in game's past.

"The big thing we talked about throughout the week was just improving our sense of urgency," he said. "Tempo in and out of the huddle, to the line of scrimmage, those type of things kind of in between plays. Just being a little more urgent and intentional about what we were doing, and I think the guys responded. We had a good week of practice. I did see them making an effort to increase their tempo and urgency, play in and play out. So I did appreciate that."

However, the largest area of improvement came on defense. In an effort to help correct the communications issues between the coaches and players, Brohm had defensive coordinator Ron English come down from the booth and make his calls on the sideline.

It was a minor adjustment, but it proved to have notable positive repercussions.

"I thought the ability to see that and have a feel for that on the field was a was better than being upstairs, I think having a general pulse of the defense and what they need to hear and what emotions need to be displayed," Brohm said. "Being on the field, you can have a better feel there, so I thought that was beneficial. There's still some things we got to get better at, but for the most part, I think we're moving in the right direction."

Unlike in the two previous games against Notre Dame and SMU, both of which were losses, Louisville seldom looked like they were confused defensively or caught out of position simply because calls weren't coming in fast enough.

The execution might have still been in flux, but there weren't any plays where Virginia was able to catch Louisville off guards simply because they were still waiting on the play. That, in turn, helped Louisville takes needed steps forward in terms of their push on the defensive and their efforts in coverage.

"I think on defense, we got better at some things we need to get better at," Brohm said. "Is there still a ways to go? Yes, but we got better, and we've got to continue to push the envelope there, and get as sharp and as crisp as we can. We have to make sure that we're making the offense beat us one on one, and we're not having miscommunication, or misalignments, or people thinking one thing and playing something else. Everything has to be on the same page. So we've got to continue to get that as sharp as we can."

Louisville will have to keep making improvements in a handful of areas if they are to come away with a win this upcoming weekend. They'll be returning home to play at L&N Stadium, but undefeated and No. 6 ranked Miami will be waiting on them.

"It's going to be a great test for us," Brohm said. "I know we have a lot of guys fired up to get to work this week and try to improve and get better, and to see if we can go out there and figure out a way to win."

Kickoff against the Hurricanes is set for 12:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, Oct. 19.

(Photo of Jamari Johnson, Jaleel Skinner: Amber Searls - Imagn Images)

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