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Louisville HC Jeff Brohm Previews Georgia Tech (8/28/23)

Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

The Cardinals kick off the 2023 season against the Yellow Jackets as part of the Aflac Kickoff Classic.
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Louisville Cardinals
Louisville Cardinals
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Louisville Cardinals (0-0, 0-0 ACC) vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (0-0, 0-0 ACC)

- Kickoff: Friday, September 1 at 7:30 p.m. EST
- Location: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga.
- Weather Conditions: Cloudy skies. Low near 65F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
- How To Watch: ESPN
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -7.5
- All-Time Series: Georgia Tech leads 2-0
- Last Meeting: Georgia Tech won 46-27 on Oct. 9, 2020 (Bobby Dodd Stadium - Atlanta, Ga.)

Game Notes

Louisville

  • The University of Louisville begins its 128th season of varsity football when it opens Atlantic Coast Conference action when it travels to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech in the Aflac Kickoff Classic.
  • Friday’s game will mark the first game for former UofL quarterback Jeff Brohm at Louisville, who returns to his hometown and alma mater to coach the Cardinals. Brohm was hired by UofL on Dec. 5 after spending the last six years as the head coach at Purdue, where he posted a 36-34 mark and guided the Boilermakers to a Big Ten West title in 2022.
  • Louisville is 56-42-6 all-time in season openers but have dropped four of its last five on the road, including a 31-7 on the road at Syracuse in last season’s ACC opener. The Cardinals last victory in a season opener came in 2020 in a 35-21 win at home against Western Kentucky.
  • Friday’s contest will mark the 1,051st game in Louisville history. The Cards are 540-493-17 all-time and are 15-15-1 all-time in neutral-site contests, including a 2-3 mark in September. Overall, the Cardinals are 144-106-6 during the month of September.
  • Louisville is set to begin its 10th season in the ACC since joining the league in 2014. Louisville is 4-5 in ACC conference openers and are 29-29 all-time in league openers. The Cards have dropped four of their last five league opening games after a 31-7 loss at Syracuse. Their last win was a 31-23 victory at Florida State in 2021.
  • Head coach Jeff Brohm is set to begin his 10th season as a head coach, posting a 66-44 overall mark. The Louisville native is 5-4 all-time in season openers, recording a 3-0 record as the head coach at Western Kentucky and a 2-4 ledger during his time at Purdue. Brohm has won two of his last three opening games after defeating Oregon State in 2021 and falling to Penn State in 2022. Brohm’s teams have averaged 32.7 points per game in season openers and have scored over 30 points in five games. This is the second time his teams have opened at a neutral site — the first coming in 2017 when his Purdue team lost to Louisville 35-27 at Lucas Oil Field.
  • After being led the last four seasons by Scott Satterfield and his 25-24 mark, Jeff Brohm takes over the reins of the Louisville program. Brohm brings an impressive 66-44 lifetime record to the Cards after three seasons (30-10) at Western Kentucky and six years at Purdue (36-34), which included a Big Ten West title last season. Brohm, who played for the Cards from 1989-93, has won at least eight games five times and captured double-digit win totals on a pair of occasions.
  • Brohm is set to begin his 10th season as a head coach and owns a winning record in season openers. The Louisville native owns a 5-4 mark in season openers, going 3-0 at Western Kentucky and 2-4 at Purdue. This will be the first neutral site opener for Brohm since Purdue dropped a 35-28 decision to Louisville in 2017.
  • One of the top returning cornerbacks in the country, Jarvis Brownlee is one of four starters back in the secondary joining Josh Minkins, and Quincy Riley. Brownlee registered a pair of interceptions, while Riley led the squad with three interceptions, returning one for a touchdown against Wake Forest. M.J. Griffin was lost for the season with a lower leg injury in the fall.
  • The Cardinals will have a new quarterback to open the season for the first time since the 2019 season. Malik Cunningham was a four-year starter for the Cardinals but Jack Plummer, a starter at California last season, will take over the reins this season. Plummer threw for 3,095 yards and 21 touchdowns in his lone season with the Golden Bears. Prior to that, he played in 21 games with 13 starts over the final three seasons of his four campaigns at Purdue with head coach Jeff Brohm and completed 319-of-492 passes (64.8%) for 3,405yards with 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions for a 136.35 quarterback rating.

Georgia Tech

  • Georgia Tech opens its 131st season of football on Friday when it hosts Atlantic Coast Conference foe Louisville in the 2023 Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
  • In addition to being the first game of the 2023 season, Friday's contest marks several additional "firsts" for Georgia Tech. Most notably, it is the first game since Brent Key was named the Yellow Jackets' permanent head coach on Nov. 29, 2022. Key served as Georgia Tech's interim head coach for the final eight games of the 2022 season and led the Jackets to a 4-4 record (4-3 in ACC play), which included notable road wins at No. 24 Pitt (26-21 on Oct. 1) and No. 13 North Carolina (21-17 on Nov. 19). Key is the 21st head coach in Georgia Tech history and the fifth Tech alumnus to hold the role.
  • While Georgia Tech returns 15 starters from last season, one new starter for the Yellow Jackets that will garner a lot of attention is r-So. QB Haynes King, who will make his first start for the White and Gold. A graduate transfer from Texas A&M, King threw for 1,579 yards and 10 touchdowns over 10 games (seven starts) for the Aggies from 2020-22.
  • This is also the first game of the ACC's new 3-5-5 scheduling model, which eliminated football divisions from conference play and sees Georgia Tech and Louisville paired as annual opponents. In addition to Louisville, the Yellow Jackets will play Clemson and Wake Forest annually, while playing their other 10 ACC opponents on a rotating basis, with each team appearing on the Jackets' schedule both home and away over a four-year span.
  • Friday's game is Georgia Tech's third in a six-year agreement to play one home game each season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta, which is located less than a mile from Tech's midtown Atlanta campus. The Yellow Jackets are 1-2 all-time at MBS, with a 45-22 win over No. 20 North Carolina in 2021 and defeats to No. 24 Tennessee (42-41 in 2OT) and No. 6 Clemson in the 2017 and 2022 Aflac Kickoff Games.
  • Although Louisville has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 2014, Friday's game marks only the third all-time football meeting between Georgia Tech and Louisville. Georgia Tech is 2-0 in the previous two matchups, with a 66-31 win at Louisville in 2018 and a 46-27 home win over the Cardinals in 2020. Both of the previous two GT-UL games were also played on Friday nights
  • Friday's game also marks the third time that Georgia Tech will appear in the prestigious Aflac Kickoff Game. On Labor Day night in 2017 (Sept. 4), the Yellow Jackets dropped a heartbreaking 42-41 double-overtime decision to No. 25/24 Tennessee, despite outgaining the Vols by a whopping 655-359 margin. The Jackets also appeared in the game on Labor Day night of last year, a 41-10 defeat to No. 6 Clemson.
  • Georgia Tech ranked among the top 20 nationally in turnover margin (sixth — plus-11), turnovers gained (14th — 24) and fewest turnovers lost (17th — 13) last season.
  • Georgia Tech is opening the season with a conference game for only the 10th time since beginning play in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1983, but the fourth time in the last five seasons. Tech is 5-4 all-time when opening the season with an ACC game.

Depth Charts

Both Louisville and Georgia Tech elected not to release depth charts for the season opener.

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Yellow Jackets, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of the Tape, Predictions: Louisville vs. Georgia Tech

Uniform Report

Louisville will be wearing white helmets and jerseys with red pants, Georgia Tech will be wearing gold helmets and jersey with white pants.

Additional Coverage

(Photo via the Courier Journal)

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