LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The University of Louisville football team has won 24 consecutive games against FCS competition.

The last FCS team to topple the Cards was Marshall (no longer an FCS program) in front of 21,658 fans in old Cardinal Stadium (no longer a stadium) in 1987, two seasons before Howard Schnellenberger convinced Jeff Brohm to join his program from Trinity High School.

Austin Peay, U of L's opponent Saturday at noon in the Cards' season opener at L&N Cardinal Stadium, is an FCS program.

The wise guys in Las Vegas do not believe that the Governors can do to Louisville what the Thundering Herd achieved 37 years ago.

As of Monday afternoon, the Cardinal were listed as a strong 36.5-point favorite against Austin Peay, which has a first-year coach and returns only two starters from a 9-3 team.

Here are five takeaways from Jeff Brohm's Monday news conference as he tries to build upon his 10-4 first-year performance as the Cards' head coach.

1. Receiver Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, who was rumored to be returning to the U of L squad after transferring to South Carolina last winter, is not on the Louisville roster.

Brohm: "Right now, I probably could just talk about people that are on our roster. So we'll just have to leave it at that for this current moment."

Meaning Huggins-Bruce is not on the roster?

Brohm: "Not as of right now."

2. With a new coaching staff and 20 new starters, is Austin Peay a mystery team?

Brohm: "Coach (Jeff) Faris is a new coach who came from UCLA. Before that, he had been at Duke for a while. You don't know for sure what you're going to see with a new offensive coordinator, new head coach and a new defensive coordinator.

"We've studied the history and the past of the people that are supposedly calling the offense and the defense and what they've done in the past.

"Do we know for sure if that is what they're going to do? No, we do not. We have prepared a lot. When we go against ourselves, we go against a lot of different looks and things. Do you're hopeful that you can just adjust to what you see along the way and get an idea. But no, we do not know for sure exactly what we'll see."

3. Tyler Shough replaces Jack Plummer at quarterback. This is his seventh year as a college football player: three at Oregon and three at Texas Tech. Injuries have hampered his development but also extended his career.

What do you expect from Shough this season?

BROHM: "Tyler has had a great camp. Every day, he continues to go out there and make plays. He has great command of the offense and the pocket. He knows how to deliver the ball up the field to our playmakers.

"We want him to play well, we want to help him play well and we want our guys around him to play well, which will help him look even better. We're very confident going into the game that he's battle tested, he's played a lot of football, he's handled adversity and he'll do a great job."

4. Georgia Tech was a 10.5-point underdog against Florida State and won by three. Nevada was a 27.5-point underdog against SMU and led nearly the entire game before losing by five. Has Brohm mentioned that to his guys?

BROHM: "You had two upsets last weekend, so it just goes to show the parity in college football. When you step on the field and you don't play your best game, you're going to lose.

"That happened to us last year where we were fortunate enough to win some close games. We showed the toughness and fortitude needed to hang there and get it done.

"On the flip side of that, there were games that weren't good to us and we didn't do the small things and we got exposed. You realize that it's part of the game, so you stress to each player and each unit that you have to play your best game every time you step on the field."

5. With Jawhar Jordan and Isaac Guerendo in NFL training camps, the Cards are looking for guys who can break tackles and juice the running game. Brohm has been complimentary of Isaac Brown, a true freshman Homestead, Florida.

BROHM: "Isaac has great speed. He's got really good quickness. He can shake and break people in the hole very quickly and naturally, and just has that running style that, you know, you don't really coach.

"He's got it, and we just got to put him in the right position to get it done. We got to teach ball security. We got to make sure he knows how to protect when he when he has to.

"He's got to be able to understand the nuances of all the different looks he can get, and sometimes with young freshmen, one of the reasons you don't play him as much is because the turnovers that can happen if they really don't understand the importance of 'No, you cannot let this ball hit the ground.'

"And he's gotten better throughout the entire camp at doing that, but at the same time, game speed's a little bit different. But he definitely just has a lot of natural ability that shows up in practice, because he does work hard, and he's studied hard, and for a young freshman, he's really come a long way, and we expect him to play well. every time he gets out there."

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