Louisville Took Advantage of Early Bye, Confident in Capabilities Moving Forward

The Cardinals had a week off before kicking off their slate of power conference competition this weekend.

Louisville Cardinals wide receiver Ahmari Huggins-Bruce (24) warms up ahead of their game against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024 at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium in Louisville, Ky. / Clare Grant/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It was another exciting week of college football this past weekend - unless you're the Louisville football program.

No, the Cardinals didn't drop their first game of the year, they just didn't have one. Just three weeks into the young 2024 season, Louisville already found themselves on a bye week - their first of two this season, with the second not coming until early November.

If you don't like this scheduling quirk, well, you're not alone. Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm also wasn't a fan of that fact that his program was sitting idly on the sideline after two dominant weeks to start the season. He's also gone on record saying that he doesn't like bye weeks in general, but that's besides the point.

Of course, while having a bye week this early in the season seems counterintuitive to the reason bye weeks exist in the first place, Louisville still took full advantage of the week off from the gridiron.

"It's important that they know we got a really good stretch of games coming up that we got to be really good at," Brohm said. "If we want to continue to progress and reach our ultimate goal, you've got to be sharp week after week after week. I think getting guys fresh and healthy, and getting them rejuvenated back ready to go was important, while we continue to work on certain things and continue to work with our young players. So that's kind of what we did."

While resting up and getting healthy is undoubtedly the biggest goal for any team when entering a bye week, Louisville's coaching staff also took this time to correct some of the mistakes that came up on film over their first two games of the season.

Now you might think that when a team out-scores their first two opponents 111-to-14, as Louisville did against Austin Peay and Jacksonville State, there's not a lot that needs to be corrected. While they were only a handful of miscues to start the season, Brohm and Co. wanted to try and nip them in the bud now before they become bigger problems down the line. The staff drew inspiration from their coaching adjustments made in the offseason, where they worked tirelessly to correct the flare-ups that came up during the Cardinals' three-game losing streak to end last season.

"I think anytime you make mistakes in games, especially those that are glaring, you don't want to repeat them," Brohm said. "After our stretch in the last season, losing three in a row, there were a lot of things to correct. So we worked hard in the off season to correct those, and rep those, and make sure that we try not to allow that to repeat again. With the mistakes we made the first two games, it's the same thing. You try to practice against those a little bit more than you than you have, just to make sure that you try not to repeat those mistakes."

Louisville feels really good about their depth and personnel, but during the bye, the coaches also gave extended run to some of the younger and less experienced players on their roster. Many of these guys got some serious in-game reps during the blowouts over the Governors and Gamecocks, and Brohm wanted to see them carry this momentum into bye week practices.

"We played quite a few guys the first two weeks," he said. "We've got a chance to see some of those guys play, which is very beneficial, and it's very good for the young players to get in a real game. In this bye week, we worked the younger players more than the older ones, and kept them out a little bit longer, and made sure that we're continuing to progress their development, and getting them ready to go whenever that may be. Whether it's this week, or weeks down the road. or next year. So all those things you take into account."

Now, the rubber is starting to hit the road in terms of Louisville's schedule. This upcoming weekend, the Cardinals have their ACC opener when they host Georgia Tech, who was briefly in the AP Top 25 after upsetting Florida State in their season opener. After that, Louisville travels to South Bend to face a top-25 squad in Notre Dame.

Louisville's competition hasn't been stout to begin the year, but Brohm is confident in his team's capabilities against power conference competition. More importantly, the players know the importance of looking strong this weekend vs. the Yellow Jackets in what will be their first true test of the season.

"Obviously, conference play is everything," center Pete Nygra said. "This is one of the games towards our conference record, and obviously the goals of is to make it the ACC championship. We just try to keep it about us, though. Just proving it to us every week, getting better and playing the best ball we can."

(Photo of Ahmari Huggins-Bruce: Clare Grant - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

You can follow Louisville Cardinals On SI for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter/X - @LouisvilleOnSI
Instagram - @louisvilleonsi

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter/X