Louisville football without two key defensive stars in Boca Raton Bowl

Louisville football is set to take on Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl on Dec. 23 in Boca Raton, FL. The Cardinals are coming off a dominant 41-0 win over Kentucky and snapped their three-game losing streak. They will look to earn nine wins for the third straight season under Jeff Brohm, but they learned Tuesday that they will be undermanned.

The Cardinals are used to playing undermanned at this point, as their offense has been without star running backs Isaac Brown, Duke Watson, and Keyjuan Brown for multiple games this season.  They also learned Chris Bell tore his ACL and will miss the bowl game, and now, just one week from the game, Brohm announced two defensive stars, Rene Konga and Wes Bailey, have decided to opt out of the Cards' bowl game.

Louisville without two key defensive pieces for Boca Raton Bowl

Konga and Bailey have been two dominant forces on this Cardinals defensive line. Konga had his best collegiate season this year, skyrocketing his draft stock. In his final season in college football, the Rutgers transfer was named Second Team All-ACC after recording 29 tackles, five pass deflections, and 1.5 sacks.

As for Bailey, he earned 39 tackles and six sacks, which were second on the team. These two defensive stars will likely hear their names called at the 2026 NFL Draft and will be playing football on Sundays next year.

It stings to hear these two stars opting out of the bowl game, but a lot of NFL Draft prospects now skip these bowl games to stay healthy and get ready for the Draft Combine. Louisville's defense will now be undermanned like its offense, but Brohm has shown in the past that he knows how to win in these situations.

Louisville opens up as 7.5 point favorites against Toledo, but it is going to be worth watching who opts out as the week progresses. For all the latest Boca Raton Bowl news and updates for Louisville football, stay tuned.