Louisville Eager to Return to ACC Championship Game, Avenge Last Season's Loss

The Cardinals made their first ever appearance in the league's title game in 2023.

The Louisville defense celebrated after sacking FSU punter Alex Mastromanno (29) as the Louisville Cardinals faced off against the Florida State Seminoles at Bank of America Field in Charlotte, NC. / Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal / USA

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - College football's long offseason always seems to drag out during the summer months in between spring ball and fall camp, but "talkin' season" is always a good indicator that the sport is just around the corner.

Earlier this week, the ACC held their annual ACC Football Kickoff, with the four-day media event concluding on Thursday. All 17 members of the conference were represented, including Louisville, with head coach Jeff Brohm and three of his players making to the Hilton Uptown hotel in downtown Charlotte, N.C.

Roughly seven-and-a-half months earlier, just a few blocks away, the Cardinals were busy making program history. Back on Dec. 2, Louisville was squaring off against Florida State in the ACC Championship Game, which was held at Bank of America Stadium. It marked the Cards' first ever appearance in the league's title game since joining the conference in 2014.

Seeing the stadium again while en route to the ACC Football Kickoff invoked a plethora of emotions for the returning Cardinals in attendance - cornerback Quincy Riley and defensive end Ashton Gillotte. Primarily, it instilled a desire and belief that they can make another run for the conference championship.

"We're gonna be back next year," Riley said. "It was a good feeling when we went there. The result weren't what we wanted last year, but this year, we're gonna be there again."

As many Louisville fans remember, last year's ACC title game was certainly one to forget. Defensively, the 14th-ranked Cardinals had no problem holding up their end of the bargain, holding the fourth-ranked Seminoles to just 220 yards.

But on the other side of the line of scrimmage, Louisville's offense was an absolute mess, putting up just 188 yards. This paltry showing wound up serving as the primary catalyst for a 16-6 loss.

While seeing Bank of America Stadium certainly stoked belief that they can return, it also brought back some not so great memories, and instilled motivation to want to avenge their defeat.

"Just driving by- Not saying it gives bad feelings, obviously it's a cool experience to be there," Gillotte said. "But losing's not fun. The stadium's just a reminder of that. To me, it kind of gets me fired up and pumped."

But before Louisville can have another crack at winning the ACC title, they first have to get back to game itself. Well, on paper, it seems like the Cardinals certainly has a shot.

For starters, Louisville was able to bring back several impact playmakers from that 2023 squad, such as Riley, Gillotte, and multiple others. Additionally, Brohm and Co. did another masterful job with the portal, limiting the amount of impact defections while adding a plethora of transfers who are expected to be high-impact assets immediately. While their schedule does get a little bit more difficult than last season's, Louisville is still viewed as one of the favorites to make a return trip to the ACC Championship Game.

As far as if he has a team that can make a return appearance, Brohm is optimistic that he does. He also taken lessons from the game, their three-game losing streak to end the 2023 season plus the year as a whole, and will be applying them to the upcoming season.

"While we had some good success last year, 10-1 at one point, we lost our last three games," Brohm said. "I think because of that, there's a lot of things to learn, a lot of areas to improve. I think it's caused the hunger to get back in right away and understand if you want to be really good, you have to beat big-time opponents and find a way to win close games."

(Photo via Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal / USA)

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