BOZICH | Brohms, Louisville celebrate happy homecoming, beating Murray State, 56-0

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Sleep has never been an issue for Oscar Brohm.

It wasn’t when his three sons, Greg, Jeff and Brian, played football for Trinity High School or the University of Louisville. It wasn’t when Jeff and Brian played in the NFL. It wasn’t after all three boys started their coaching careers.

You plan. You prepare. You play with passion. No reason to fret about sleep.

You’re ready to perform — and win, the way Louisville won against Murray State, 56-0, Thursday at L&N Cardinal Stadium, a night when the Cardinals played nine quarterbacks and out-gained the visitors by 524 yards. 

Wednesday night was different.

On Wednesday night Oscar said sleep was elusive. He was up and down several times, rarely resting for more than an hour at a time.

“He had too much food at dinner last night and that is why he couldn’t sleep," U of L head coach Jeff Brohm said in his finest deadpan delivery of the night.

Then, the truth.

"My family wants everything to go well as well," Jeff Brohm said. "They feel the pressure as well."

After Oscar woke up Wednesday morning, Brohm drove to the Cardinals’ team hotel to share a pre-game message with Jeff — just as he had before the Cards’ season opener last Friday in Atlanta.

“I just said, ‘Go get ‘em,’" Brohm said. “You’re ready. That’s all I think I needed to say. He’s back where he belongs.”

The game that the University of Louisville won against the Racers was more than just another football moment for the Brohm Family.

It was the realization of a dream. Oscar believed in U of L football more than 50 years ago when he committed to play quarterback out of Flaget High School.

Greg, Jeff and Brian all followed from Trinity High School. When Greg and Jeff committed to the Cardinals in the late 1980s, it wasn’t that many snaps after U of L lost games to these Murray State Racers in 1980 and 1984.

The second Murray defeat led to a coaching change — and a change of ambition for the program. Howard Schnellenberger swept in from Miami with his national championship ring.

Greg and Jeff Brohm were two of his early signature recruits. They invested in the Schnellenberger vision — as bombastic as it was at the time.

Like Oscar Brohm, Schnellenberger played at Flaget High School. The connection between the Brohms and Schnellenberger was powerful. Now the Brohms have returned to continue what Schnellenberger started.

"Let’s put the work in and cut this thing loose," Jeff Brohm said. "That is what they have me and my staff and that is what they are here for.

"We will work as hard as we can at it. We will enjoy the good moments and try to correct the bad moments along the way and see what we can get done here.”

As Oscar and his wife, Donna, walked outside the stadium and then tailgated before the game, they sensed the love that Louisville fans showed them was similar to the love the Brohm Family has invested in the program since the 1960s.

University president Dr. Kim Schatzel was there to meet the players when the team bus brought them to the stadium for their march through the parking lot two hours before kickoff.

Oscar Brohms voice caught, once, twice, three times talking about the joy that the family felt in their happy homecoming.

‘I think we’ve made a lot of friends,” Brohm said. “People knew what we wanted to play hard for our school and our city.

“They knew that if we’re back (on the coaching staff), it’s special to us. And that they’re going to give it every ounce of their energy to make sure that we do well.”

The Cardinals did well Thursday night. They backed up their season-opening win against Georgia Tech by dominating Murray State the way that a Power 5 program is supposed to dominate an outmanned FCS opponent.

They hung one touchdown on the Racers in the first quarter and three more in the second. They added two more in the third.

The rout was on, which allowed Brohm the opportunity to work in a string of second- and third-teamers, including Brock Domann, Evan Conley, Harrison Bailey, Pierce Clarkson, Brady Allen and three other quarterbacks. 

“Well my father was mad at me because he wanted to get 10 in, but I told him that his eligibility had run out," Jeff Brohm said.

A dozen guys caught passes for 346 yards. Ten guys ran 44 times for 344 yards.

Halfback Jawhar Jordan ran with the intensity of a blast furnace. Jordan delivered runs of 39, 72 and 15 yards while rushing for 135 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The Cards positioned themselves to chase a 3-0 start when the Cardinals play Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis next Saturday at noon.

They won in a determined manner that allowed the Brohm Family, as well as the announced crowd of 45,273, to exhale and enjoy the moment.

“It's just a spectacular day for us,” Oscar Brohm said. “We're super happy. They're all back where they started and where they belong.”

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