Jeff Brohm, Louisville 'Looking Forward' to Sun Bowl Matchup vs. Washington

The Cardinals will head to El Paso to take on the Huskies to end their 2024 season.

Louisville’s coach Jeff Brohm ran out onto the field before the game against SMU this Saturday. Oct. 5, 2024 / Scott Utterback/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Now that college football's regular season is in the rear view mirror, that magical time of year is finally back: bowl season.

For Louisville, while they won't be going all the way back out to the West Coast like they did with the Holiday Bowl last season in their first year under head coach Jeff Brohm, they will be heading back out west this time around. Following an 8-4 regular season, the Cardinals have been awarded a slot in the Sun Bowl, where a matchup against Washington awaits them.

For Brohm and the rest of the program, they can't wait to get out to El Paso, Texas and square off against the Huskies.

"Without question, we're excited as a team to go to El Paso and play in the Sun Bowl," he said. "We've heard nothing but great things about the Sun Bowl and the reputation, and the great time that all of our players and people in our party will get to experience. We're excited to get down there and have a good time. We're looking forward to playing a good Washington team from the Big Ten that's had a good, successful season. I know it'll be a good football game, and all guys will enjoy it."

Washington has certainly made waves in the sport of college football as of late. Last season, the Huskies went 14-1, clinching a Pac-12 title over Oregon and a Sugar Bowl victory over Texas that punched their ticket to the CFP National Championship. However, UW fell shot of the ultimate goal, dropping a 34-13 decision to Michigan.

Following that game was a cascade of changes for the program. Head coach Kalen DeBoer left to take over Alabama following Nick Saban's retirement, with Washington bringing in Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch to replace him. Of course, given the coaching change, a large portion of UW's top contributors, such as Michael Penix Jr., Rome Odunze and Jabbar Muhammad, either left for the NFL or entered the transfer portal.

As a result, while Washington still put together a respectable season, it wasn't one that came close to what they acommplished last year. The Huskies finished the regular season at 6-6, went 4-5 in Big Ten play during their first season in the conference, and didn't win a single game away from home.

That being said, Brohm still has a ton of respect for UW - especially with how they have navigated the Big Ten following the collapse of the Pac-12.

"Of course, Washington had a tremendous year a year ago," Brohm said. "I know they have a lot of talent on their football team. They're well coached. Like I said, I've coached in the Big Ten, and that's a defensive league. It's hard to score as many points in that league. Just very good defenses, the weather's not as conducive, and you got to be really efficient.

"I think they, of course, adapted to the Big Ten and that adjustment for them. But they're a talented football teams. We're used to coaching against that, and I think you just kind of got to do what you do well: Get it to your best players' hands, try to not make mistakes, be as clean as you can, and try to find a way to score more points than they do at the end."

Washington might be sitting at .500, but like Louisville learned last season against USC in the Holiday Bowl, scouting a bowl opponent in this day and age is fairly difficult. Most bowl teams now have to deal with the reality that a big chunk of players won't play in the postseason, either due to defecting to transfer portal or declaring early for the NFL Draft.

For Brohm, while there will be of course be some scouting done on the Huskies' players themselves, there will be an even larger emphasis placed on scouting their actual scheme.

"I think in general, you got to just look at what the team has done this past year," he said. "What schemes they use, how they try to attack people, what are they good at on defense, and just kind of what their strengths are.

"Without question, I'm sure there's going to be change with both rosters to a certain degree. It's just like another game where some new guys might have to step up and play. You adjust a little bit as the game goes on and see if there is maybe some changes that have been made. But I'm sure they're going to basically do a lot of the same stuff they've done the past."

Of course, Louisville is not immune to this effect, either. As of this writing, 14 players for the Cardinal shave entered the transfer portal. While they haven't had any players declare early for the NFL Draft or opt-out of the bowl, Brohm has a suspicion that won't last long.

"I'm sure some things are going to pop up here in the next couple weeks as we get going in practice," he said. "We'll start practice officially on the field this Wednesday, and kind of get going for bowl prep there. We want to work our young guys, and continue to work hard to use these practices to improve our football team. But I'm sure some of that will happen. At this point, I'm not aware of that. But I would think, before we start practice, we might have some things pop up."

Regardless of who is playing in the Sun Bowl and who is not, coming out of El Paso with a victory would be big for the program. Primarily because it would be an about-face from last season.

In Brohm's first season last year, while Louisville went 10-4 overall, they dropped their last three games of the season, capped off by a beatdown at the hands of the Trojans. This year, they have the opportunity to pull off the opposite, as they head into the Sun Bowl having won their last two games vs. Pitt and at Kentucky in blowout fashion.

Instead of heading into the offseason with very little momentum, Brohm is fixated on making sure Louisville ends this year on a high note.

"We got to make sure that we finish the season the way we want," he said. "While we finished the regular season, the last two games, how we wanted, we have another game left. We got an opponent that is talented, and had a successful year. We want to be able to manage going on the road, and enjoying a bowl game as much as we can, but finding a way to win.

"Last year, we proved that we could not do that. We didn't do a good job. We didn't play well in the game. We got beat in a lot of facets of the game, and that was just was disappointing. So want to try to get that taste out of our mouth, but also enjoy the bowl experience. These guys have earned it. They worked hard, so we definitely want to learn how to balance that. Enjoy yourself, experience El Paso, have a good time. But we're here to win a football game."

Kickoff against the Huskies from Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 31 at 2:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Scott Utterback - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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