Jeff Brohm on Georgia Tech: "They're gonna play to win and play confident and we have to match that"

Georgia Tech vs. Louisville kicks off on Friday night on ESPN

Author:
Jackson Caudell
Publish date:
Aug 28, 2023 5:51 PM EDT

In this story:

It is officially game week for Georgia Tech and Louisville.

The Yellow Jackets and Cardinals are set to face each other for only the third time ever on Friday night and this game is going to be one of the biggest of the weekend. Georgia Tech and Louisville are trying to start the season 1-0 under their new head coaches and gain momentum for the rest of the season. Georgia Tech is trying to make it back to a bowl game for the first time since 2018, while Louisville is thought of as a dark-horse to make the ACC Championship game.

Like Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key, Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm is coaching his first game for his alma mater. Brohm spoke to the media on Monday ahead of the matchup on Friday and talked about how he expects Georgia Tech to play under Key and how his team needs to be prepared in Atlanta on Friday night:

"Well last year they were No. 6 in the country in turnover margin, which means that they are going to give you a lot of different looks, they are going to try to get the ball out and go for the big play and we have to make sure that we don't let that happen. Nowadays with the clock rule changes, there are going to be less possessions, so if you are giving up the ball then you are going to be in trouble.

I think they want to have a sound running game and get the ball to their playmakers and keep the game close and get it to the 4th quarter and find a way to win. Coach Key is a former offensive lineman, he is going to work his guys hard and have them tough in the trenches and we have to find a way to gain an advantage of that and any time that you go on the road, you have to be prepared for that.

They are going to play aggressive and they are going to play to win and they are going to play confident and we have to figure it out and try to pull out the win in the end."

Georgia Tech interim head coach Brent Key — Can Brent Key guide Georgia Tech to a win over Louisville?
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Brohm touches on one of the things that will pop out to you if you go back and watch any Georgia Tech game where Key was the coach. They play hard and try to limit their mistakes and that is what led them to wins over Duke, Pitt, and North Carolina, teams that each won nine games last season and they played eventual national champion Georgia tough in the first half.

Key spoke about Brohm and Louisville earlier this week and he has a lot of respect for the Cardinals head coach:

"Jeff has coached a lot of football and called a lot of plays in his career so it is no secret as to what he is going to do and what kind of offense they are going to run, whether it was the last couple of years at Purdue or going back to Western Kentucky. He has come up in a system and it is a system that he believes in and it is a system that works and it is a system that has answers and he does a tremendous job calling plays.

Now, like any good football coach, he is also going to tailor that to the personnel that he has so you are not going to try and put a square peg in a round hole if it does not fit so there is the part of bringing your scheme in but also being diverse enough in your scheme and multiple enough within your scheme and that is, they brought I think 26 transfers in so you might look at Louisville film for personnel but there is also 18, 19, 20 different schools that these guys have been at so you are also making cut ups from different schools to make sure you are looking at player tendencies and individual strengths and weaknesses of different players as well as the schematic part as well."

I think this is going to be a closer game than most think and either team could come out on top. The Cardinals have more proven playmakers on offense, but questions around the defense make me think Georgia Tech can score enough to stay in it. This is going to be a good matchup and the Yellow Jackets are going to have to play an all-around sound game to win.