3 reasons Louisville football will win ACC title

08/24/2024 06:28 PM

Louisville football wasn’t expected to be a major player in the ACC last season, but the program shocked the college football world by going 10-4 (6-1 ACC) and qualifying for the ACC title game, falling 16-6 to an undefeated Florida State team. Now, head coach Jeff Brohm and company will have their work cut out for them, as opponents won’t underestimate them this time around.

Considering that the Cardinals went winless in the conference under Bobby Petrino in 2018, the school’s brass should be proud of their progress. However, the job isn’t finished. Louisville brought in 31 transfers this season, so there’s no shortage of new talent on the roster. While the expectations are now heightened there’s still no excuse to not challenge for the conference title.

There are three core reasons why the Cardinals can win their first ACC championship, though.

Tyler Shough is a capable quarterback 

Shough is a centerpiece of Louisville’s transfer class, and he’s looked the part in practice thus far, via Sports Illustrated’s Matthew McGavic.

“I think Tyler has a really good grasp of what we’re trying to do on offense,” offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Brohm said. “From day one, he’s come in and he’s been a leader. He’s just dove right in to try to learn everything. Right now, I think he feels really comfortable with the system. He’s had a really good camp, had a really good off-season. He’s able to go out there and generate some big plays, which has been exciting to watch.”

Shough has slowly built up a respectable resume through stints with both Oregon and Texas Tech. The 24-year-old has completed 355 of 562 passes (8.2 yards per attempt) for a 63.2 completion percentage, with 4,625 yards, 36 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He also can run the ball, totaling 714 yards on 204 carries (3.5 yards a carry) with 10 scores

“He has a big arm,” Brohm said. “He can he can push the ball down the field. He’s not scared to let it go, which, I actually think that’s a big positive. When you’re trying to push the ball downfield and put yards and put points up, you want a quarterback that’s going to be aggressive and going to go for it.”

With that being said, Shough needs to balance his aggressiveness while also taking care of the ball when the season begins.

“Now, in practice, that might result in sometimes going forward and not working. Then hopefully realizing, ‘Okay, in this case, maybe I shouldn’t try to make that throw,'” Bohm continued. “But that’s what practice is for. We want to limit those turnovers in game-time situations, but we also want to take advantage of those big plays. He’s done a good job of going for it in camp when the situation presents itself, and we want to keep continuing to do that.”

Shough may not be perfect, but he’ll have plenty of support thanks to the Cardinals’ 15th-ranked transfer class, via 247 Sports. The group includes multiple four-star offensive players.

Jeff Brohm is a good leader for Louisville football

In his first year on the job, Brohm led Louisville to its best season since 2016. One of his best traits is the way he holds players accountable, as he showed in his comments after the team held a scrimmage last Saturday, via WDRB’s Eric Crawford.

“For some reason, we’re not throwing the ball well and making plays,” Brohm said. “The running game has to pick us up. For some reason, they’re stoning us and they’re loading the box. So we’ve got to be good enough to pass the ball. That’s not all on the players. It’s coaching, too. You have to have a plan for looks you get that give your players an opportunity to do the best against the look and not just call plays to call plays. There has to be a rhyme and a reason. It has to be the ability to get from one to the other quickly so that you put yourself in a better chance to make plays. I think it was total blame by myself, all the way down where things need to be planned more strategically to give our players a chance.”

Even with the Cardinals’ success last season, Brohm isn’t satisfied. Complacency is an enemy of progress, so the former Purdue boss’s attitude is a promising sign.

Other ACC teams are vulnerable

The Seminoles are the highest-ranked ACC squad in the AP Top 25 preseason poll, but they already lost to unranked Georgia Tech in the first game of the season on Saturday. No. 14 Clemson and No. 19 Miami will be in the mix as well, but those squads are far from bulletproof.

Louisville received the most votes out of all unranked teams with 111. However, don’t be surprised if the Cardinals sneak their way back into the rankings after a couple of games pass.

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