LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The most surprising result of the college football weekend was not the University of Louisville losing at Stanford as a three-touchdown favorite.
No, it was the updated computer rankings from ESPN's Football Power Index formula, which continued to rank the Cardinals as a top-20 team.
In fact, Jeff Brohm's team sits at No. 17 in the FPI, ahead of Colorado, Boise State and likely several more teams that aspire to compete in the 12-team national playoff.
The record shows that Louisville (6-4) is the highest ranked four-loss team in the country.
The record also inspires these question:
Why?
How could the Cardinals lose to a team that had lost six straight games by an average of 26 points?
Shouldn't the Cards' record be closer to 8-2 than 6-4?
And now that thoughts of competing for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game and delivering another 10-win season have been flushed, how will Brohm's staff and roster respond the rest of the way?
Do they have the grit to motivate themselves to handle a (7-3) Pittsburgh team that soiled Louisville's unbeaten season a year ago? That game, U of L's final home game, will be played Saturday at 4 p.m. in L&N Cardinal Stadium.
Can they summon the resolve to defeat Kentucky, which has handled the Cardinals five straight times? That game will be played in Lexington Nov. 30.
I'm certain there are other questions. But let's focus on four questions that Brohm handled Monday morning in his weekly media session.
Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.
Question: Penalties (13 for 101 yards) were costly in the 38-35 loss at Stanford. When you watched the video, was there a common denominator? And what must you do this week to eliminate them?
BROHM: "Well, obviously we've got to work on not jumping off sides on defense. Those (five) were costly. We've had numerous of those.
"So we've got to practice the hard count against our defense way more than we have and make sure that it doesn't happen again.
"After you get a couple in a game you need to be able to pull back and correct it. We did not. It continued. It cost us.
"You know, I think we had two interceptions (eliminated by) two off-sides. We had two sacks (eliminated by), illegal hands to the face and another off side. Excuse me, a face mask.
"We had, unfortunately, a bunch of penalties. And they hurt us and were costly. It was a bad day for penalties. Every one of them cost us. It wasn't just a small thing. They were a key component to the game."
Question: Sticking on the topic of penalties, there were two at the end of the game that allowed Stanford to advance the ball 20 yards and get in position to kick the winning field goal.
What do you say to the guys when you have penalties like that?
BROHM: "Well, we've talked about it a lot, even after the game, that focus you have has to be for all 60 minutes.
"Can't be for 50 or can't be for 55. You can't let up at all.
"I thought at times we went back and watched the film that we did some good things. And then we just had some really costly, dumb things that we inflicted on ourselves that cost us.
"Without question, the two penalties at the end (unsportsmanlike like conduct and off sides), gave them just enough yards to kick the field goal. Which shouldn't happen, 20 yards in penalties. So that was devastating to us."
Question: There's a saying that you can't let a tough loss beat you twice. What will you look for this week from your players getting ready for Pittsburgh?
BROHM: Well, we want to feel the pain of a loss, and there's a lot of pain to feel. So I think myself, the coaches and players, we feel the pain.
"You gotta (have it) motivate you to want to not let it happen again. At the same time, you can't let it get you down. You've got to respond and you got to move forward.
"And that's the great thing about sports and football. You're going to have some tough times, games you'd like to have back. But it's over with, so you've got to move on.
"We've got, like I said, two really good opponents to finish the season. Starts with Pittsburgh. They've played really well this year."
Question: You team was not able to fly home Saturday night after the game as planned because of airplane issues. You didn't get back to Louisville until around 8 p.m. Sunday.
How does that affect your preparation schedule? And did you get a sense of the mood of the team?
BROHM: "Well, unfortunately, we weren't able to make it back on time. A co-pilot got sick and they weren't able to fly. They didn't have enough crew there. So we had to spend an extra night, which we did.
"We got situated, and really had our normal Sunday meetings early in the morning. We stayed at the hotel until 11 or 12 o'clock, meeting, going over the film and trying to wash that clean.
"Then we got on the flight, took off at 12:30 (pm) Pacific Time, got back here, about a four-hour flight.
"So now we're on to a preparation day, and our guys are on the normal schedule. I think we were able to adjust and adapt and get a lot of stuff done Sunday morning at the hotel that would normally happen here."
Louisville Football Coverage:
- CRAWFORD | Video Review: What meltdown at Stanford means for Louisville's season
- BOZICH | Louisville starts slow, crumbles late in ugly 38-35 loss to Stanford
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