For Louisville, a Season of Hope and Promise Sputters to the Finish Line

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There's no denying that the Louisville football program's first season under new head coach Jeff Brohm was a success.

The Cardinals were able to secure just their seventh season of 10-plus wins, and their first since 2013. Louisville punched their ticket to the ACC Championship Game for the first time since joining the league in 2014, making their program debut in a conference title game in the process. Given how UofL's roster was constructed, especially after former head coach Scott Satterfield's sudden departure this time last season, Brohm came very close to fully maximizing their potential.

However, Louisville finds themselves in the rare position in that while they did overachieve given how the roster and schedule shook out, they also had a disappointing finish that left fans thinking what could have been.

Heading into their final three games of the season, the Cardinals found themselves sporting a 10-1 record. They had just clinched a berth in the ACC Championship Game after taking down Miami, had been ranked as high as the No. 9 in the AP Poll, and were still clinging to the hope of a potential last second run.

Instead, Louisville's season came spiraling back down to Earth and crashed in a fiery blaze, as the Cardinals now head into the offseason on a three-game losing streak. They fell to Kentucky in the regular season finale, dropped a defensive slugfest against Florida State in the ACC Championship Game, then most recently suffered a 42-28 defeat by the hands of USC in the Holiday Bowl on Wednesday night.

"Disappointing loss for our football team," Brohm said after the game. "Not the way you want to end the season, so I give credit to University of Southern California. They came ready to play. They made more plays than we did, and they won the football game. ... It's disappointing, but that's football. So you've got to be able to learn from the mistakes we made as coaches and as players and figure out if we want to put in the work in the off-season to come back hungrier than ever knowing all the work that it takes to win."

While Brohm has long established a reputation as one of the top offensive minds in college football, for the majority of the season, Louisville's defense had been their calling card. They entered the matchup with the Trojans averaging only 307.4 yards and 19.7 points allowed per game, which ranked 16th and 22nd in the FBS, respectively.

But even with reigning Heisman Trophy winner quarterback Caleb Williams and several other offensive weapons for USC opting out, Louisville offered little resistance. The secondary was torched all night long, and the front seven struggled to get home on pressure.

Quarterback Miller Moss, a third-year player who was making his first start at the collegiate level, threw for 23-for-33 with 372 yards plus a USC and Pac-12 bowl record six touchdowns. Louisville held them to 72 rushing yards, but also generated just three tackles for loss and no sacks on Moss.

The only Louisville defender to stand out was cornerback Quincy Riley, who had a 61-yard interception return from the goal line and three of Louisville's four pass breakups.

"Our secondary has played well all year long for the most part," Brohm said. "They had a couple match-ups of fast players on our safeties, and it just wasn't one of our better days. A lot of those guys have played well all year long; today wasn't their best day. But I'm still proud of the effort they gave us all year. It just was one of those days that they made plays.

"I just think that there's a lot to learn from it. How can we as coaches help put them in a better position needs to be researched and watched because it was disappointing that we gave up that many big plays. That was not like our defense all year, and while I give USC a lot of credit, there were a lot of little things I think we could have done better that could have helped us."

Louisville's defense wasn't the only thing that lagged behind against USC. As was the case several times in the second half of the season, their passing game struggled to get going. Quarterback Jack Plummer was inconsistent with his accuracy and decision making, while the Cardinals' wide receiving corps struggled to generate separation from the jump.

While Plummer went 21-for-25, that came with just 141 yards and no touchdowns. Part of that might have had to do with the fact that he dislocated the pinky on his throwing hand in the second quarter, but both Brohm and Plummer insist that it did not affect his throws.

"I had to get it popped back into place and then had to tape it up so it wouldn't pop out again," Plummer said. "Honestly, it felt pretty good throwing the ball. Didn't affect me a ton. It just was kind of battling through a little bit of pain, but as far as throwing the ball, I don't think it affected my accuracy or spirals or distance or anything, so it felt pretty good."

The only reason Louisville was able to score as many points as they did was almost single-handedly due to running back Isaac Guerendo, who earned the start after Jawhar Jordan opted out. He finished the night with a career-high 161 rushing yards and career-high-tying three touchdowns, with the only other UofL touchdown on the night coming from backup QB Evan Conley.

"Isaac did a great job," Brohm said. "I think when Jawhar got hurt midway through the season we were able to play him more, and he really took off. He runs physical. He runs downhill. He's got good hands. When he gets in the open field, he's got good speed. Did a great job today for us.

"I just think that he's extremely talented, and he really flourished in our offense, and was a big component to helping us score points and do some good things. He put in a lot of hard work. That's one person that has put in the work. Even though he wasn't getting the reps early on, he stayed working, and he definitely did his part."

Now, Louisville heads into the offseason with some clear work to be done. While USC did not have the season they wanted, the Trojans are still an immensely talented team, and the Cardinals saw first hand what depth all across the board looks like.

Brohm and his coaching staff have already done a good job addressing various needs in the transfer portal since the end of the regular season, and Louisville is sure to be in much better shape for 2024. Not to mention that the Cardinals are sure to continue adding over the coming weeks.

But simple talent acquisition will only get you so far. Somewhere along the way, Louisville's mental fortitude, their ability to prepare and their execution - both among the players and the coaching staff - took a step back.

If Louisville is to fully realize their potential for next season, regardless of who is on the field or on the sideline, the preparation for a rebound starts now.

"I just think sometimes when you lose, you can either use it to kick start you, to say I've got to get committed to this, or you don't," Brohm said. "But I do think we have enough young players on the team that want to win and want to do well, and our coaches need to be committed to being there year-round, early, late, whatever it takes to help.

"We've got to put the best plan together, as well, and realize things that didn't work aren't always the players' faults, it's our fault. It just takes a lot of work.

"We're sitting at 10-1, feeling pretty good about ourselves, and then we just let things slip at the end, and that's disappointing. But all three segments needed to play better for us to win, and we didn't get that done."

(Photo of Jack Plummer: Orlando Ramirez - USA TODAY Sports)

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