Jeff Brohm Details Louisville's Two Biggest Priorities Following Back-to-Back Losses

The Cardinals have seen various issues come up on both sides of the ball over the last few weeks.

Oct 5, 2024; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Jeff Brohm talks to his players during the second half against the Southern Methodist Mustangs at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. / Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For as dominant as the Louisville football program looked over their first two games of the 2024 season, ever since they started taking on power conference competition, that aforementioned dominance has disappeared.

Against Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and most recently SMU, the Cardinals have looked incredibly disorganized at times, and their execution - both with the players and coaches - has been lacking. While they were able to win over the Yellow Jackets in spite of their various miscues and mistakes, the same could not be said against the Fighting Irish and Mustangs.

As quickly as they started 3-0 to land in the top 15 of the AP Poll, Louisville is now staring at back-to-back losses. Given the self-inflicted issues at hand, this two-game skid has the very real chance to snowball into something much worse if not taken care of in a hurry.

So what can Louisville do to get back on track, both in the short term this weekend against Virginia, and in the long term over the course of the rest of the season? During his weekly press conference, head coach Jeff Brohm detailed the two biggest priorities for the Cardinals right now - one for each side of the ball.

“On defense we need to shore some things up and allow our players to play and execute and play fast," he said "There are some things that we’ve discussed, and we’re making corrections and make a better plan to make sure those things happen. We have to make sure everyone is getting the call so we can play fast.

"On offense, we have to continue to find ways to make big plays. When we’re in some passing situations we have to find ways to protect better and be firmer so we can give the quarterback some time. We have to be consistent playmakers and find ways to convert in critical situations, third and short, fourth and short, and be smart in how we create a plan and find ways to get it done.”

On the defensive side of line of scrimmage, the biggest issue - and there are a few - is actually with the coaching staff.

Against Georgia Tech and Notre Dame, there were a handful of times in which players were out of position or simply not ready for the upcoming play. While some of this is due to simple missed assignments, the primary issue is that the defensive staff has had trouble getting the calls to the players in time with the new in-helmet communication.

SMU saw this, and took full advantage of it. Not only did the Mustangs put up 482 totals yards with their up tempo offense, but quarterback Kevin Jennings finished with 394 of those yards. SMU used this to power their 34-27 victory.

“The simplest way to define it is that when the balls snapped, we need to be lined up and on the same page about the call," Brohm said. "If we get beat, let’s get beat because the other team outplayed us. That has not taken place. There needs to be less checks, or in my opinion, zero checks, so when a call is made, we can run it. Everyone needs to understand the play so certain things can’t detour us from making the play. I do think that the calls need to get in quicker. We need a plan to make sure that happens.

"Worst case scenario, if a team goes extremely fast and the calls not getting in, we have a set play where we’re lined up to play until we get the call. There are some small things with we’re going to make sure gets fixed and we’ll work hard this week to fix them, so our guys can execute and play fast.”

Over on the other side of the line of scrimmage, while Brohm's own play calling has certainly merited some criticism, arguably the biggest issue for the offense has been the play of the offensive line.

Against SMU, quarterback Tyler Shough rarely had a clean pocket, and had to scramble often to make plays. The advanced stats back this up too, as he was pressured 13 times in the game against the Mustangs. According to Pro Football Focus, Louisville finished with a 44.0 pass blocking grade, which is well below the average mark of 60.0

It's not just been a one-game performance, either. Louisville finished with pass-blocking grades below 60.0 against Austin Peay and Notre Dame as well. For the season, their 64.6 pass block grade comes in at just 88th in the FBS and 53rd at the power conference level.

"It all goes back to communication," offensive guard Michael Gonzalez said. "There's five guys, so four people can do right, and one person can do wrong, and it's messed up for everyone. Everybody taking turns having their one bad play, it affects drives. We had a few first down sacks, first down holdings, and those kill drives. You eliminate those, and we just keep pushing forward down the field. It's all about honing in on what you got to and then at the end of the day, winning your one on one battle and keeping Tyler (Shough) up in a critical situation."

While there's a big enough sample size to suggest that it could take time for Louisville to correct some of the issues currently at hand, Brohm is confident that his team can get the ship steered in the right direction.

"You got to take ownership as coaches, and we got to talk to our players honestly, and let them know that we need to be better as coaches," he said. "That we're going to get them better playing together, and then a better formula and a better way to practice that this week to get it done and change some things up. So that'll happen, and then it goes down to the players. There's some certain things we talked about that we got to get better at, and we've addressed it to this point, and now we're going to work on it throughout the week."

Louisville heads to Virginia this weekend on Saturday, Oct. 12 with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Jamie Rhodes - Imagn Images)

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