The college football preseason AP Top 25 was released on Monday, and it didn’t include Jeff Brohm’s Louisville Cardinals. Just three ACC teams were included in the AP voters’ initial rankings: No. 4 Clemson, No. 10 Miami, and No. 16 SMU. All three are on the Cardinals' schedule.
Heading into Year 3, Brohm’s program found itself in the “others receiving votes” section, and while preseason rankings don’t necessarily mean anything, especially with the expanded College Football Playoff allowing more off-the-radar teams a shot at playing for the national championship, it’s a sign that Brohm remains one of the most underrated coaches in the country.
Quarterback turnover shouldn’t scare AP voters off Louisville
The biggest argument against Louisville is that, despite heading into Year 3, Brohm hasn’t constructed continuity in the program. Tyler Shough’s departure for the NFL after exhausting his final year of eligibility with the Cardinals meant a third new starting QB in as many years, and another reclamation project for Brohm.
It’s old news by now, but Brohm plucked Miller Moss, who was benched by Lincoln Riley at USC last season, from the transfer portal. It’s understandable for AP voters to question Moss based on his performance last year under another QB-friendly head coach, but hasn’t Brohm proven enough with Shough and Jack Plummer to earn the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the position that he played for the Cardinals once upon a time?
2025 will be Jeff Brohm’s 12th season as a head coach, and despite spending nine of his previous 11 seasons at Western Kentucky and Purdue, he has a career record of 85-52. He led the Boilermakers to 17 wins across his final two years in West Lafayette, and since his departure for Louisville, Purdue has managed just five wins and only three in Big Ten play.
The program has moved on from Ryan Walters for Barry Odom, and is largely considered an almost unwinnable situation. A lot has changed in the landscape of college football in two years, but Brohm’s success at Purdue already looks even more impressive.
Before Brohm arrived in 2023, Louisville hadn’t won 10 games in a season since 2013, its lone year in the American. Brohm accomplished that in Year 1 and finished just shy in 2024, a year that included a statement win over Clemson.
It doesn’t matter who his quarterback is, Jeff Brohm will construct a hyper-efficient offense that takes advantage of that player’s strengths and minimizes his exposure to the weaknesses of his game. This year, that may mean leaning on the ground game and his star running backs, Isaac Brown and Duke Watson. Whatever the case, Brohm will find a way to win games and drag Louisville into the Top 25.
Boise State, with Ashton Jeanty, and Tennessee, without Nico Iamaleava and last year’s SEC offensive player of the year, Dylan Sampson, claimed the final two spots in the Top 25. Those programs have even bigger question marks than Louisville and don’t have Jeff Brohm. Mistakes were made, but the Cardinals have the schedule to catapult themselves into the CFP conversation.