Jeff Brohm Calls Kentucky “The Most Important Game of The Season”
By Caleb Hall
Jeff Brohm wants to beat the Kentucky Wildcats the old school way
Jeff Brohm had his weekly presser this week previewing Kentucky, and as a local Louvillian, Brohm knows what the rivalry means to the fans. Brohm has led the Cardinals to a 10-1 start in 2023 and a finish against a middling 6-5 Kentucky team would be the icing on the cake for this Louisville team.
Here is what Brohm had to say when asked about how unhappy fans would be if they lost against Kentucky this Saturday:
"I understand that and that’s why after we let the last win sink in, we had to explain to our team yesterday in a lot of different ways that that needs to be erased for a full week and the full focus needs to be on this game, because in my opinion, this is the most important game of the rest of the season. So we can talk about it all we want, this is the most important game, and our guys need to understand that preparing and trying to win this game needs to be the complete focus. If we want to make our fans happy, and give them a good Thanksgiving, we’ve got to go win the game. We’ve got to really crank this thing up this week and understand what we’re going against and make sure that come Saturday, we’re able to execute at a high level because you know, this is an important game for everybody who’s involved. Our fans will be out here wanting to see us win a football game against a good SEC opponent and we’re going to have to play well to do it."
The “this is the most important game of the season” line sticks out to me. Brohm knows that Louisville could go undefeated but if they still lose to Kentucky, it might not be successful season, at least in the fans eyes.
The Cardinals last beat Kentucky on the road in 2017, when Bobby Petrino was still the head coach. A lot of things have changed since that game, as Kentucky has blown out Louisville in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. The only exception being in 2020, where they didn’t play because of covid.
The last time Louisville beat Kentucky at Cardinal Stadium was 2014.
The Cardinals were used to dominating the rivalry up until 2016, when Kentucky got a 41-38 win over #10 Louisville with future heisman winner Lamar Jackson. Since then it has been all Kentucky except for the Cardinals lone road win in 2017.
Jeff Brohm understands this rivalry, and he will have the Cardinals ready for this game come saturday at noon.
Brohm had a 4-1 record against Indiana while he was at Purdue (they are arch rivals) and when it comes to these type of games, he always seems to have his team ready. Not only did Brohm dominate his rivals at other schools, but he knows how deep the Louisville and Kentucky rivalry goes. Kentucky should not be on a 4 game win streak in the series, and worse than that, they have all been double digit blowouts. If there is one thing i knew Brohm would do for Cardinal football, it was that we would be much more competitive against Kentucky.
Whatever you thought about Scott Satterfield there is one thing we can all agree on:
Satterfield never understood the rivalry.
Brohm wants to beat Kentucky how Bobby Petrino wanted to beat the Wildcats. He wants to restore history and make the Cardinals the king of the bluegrass once again, and it couldn’t come at a better time.
Brohm knows what this means to everyone in the state of Kentucky, and looks to restore how this rivalry game looked back up until 2016. Everything he has done this season so far proves so.