LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jeff Brohm and Mark Stoops are pretty different in football philosophies, but on this they’re aligned — they say they want Louisville and Kentucky to keep playing each other.
Brohm went a step further this week. Asked if he’s for the ACC moving to a nine-game schedule, like the SEC and Big Ten have done, he said he’s “100 percent in favor of it, and have been for a while.”
He also said he hopes Louisville can still keep its scheduled marquee non-league games against Kentucky, Georgia and Texas A&M.
The problem? With the SEC’s shift to nine games, the space for non-conference heavyweights is shrinking. Kentucky has to fit one Power Four opponent into its slate, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Louisville. Georgia and Texas A&M may not have the same wiggle room either.
Let’s state the obvious, those non-conference forays are a lot easier for ACC schools to throw in than for SEC programs.
The short-term slate
For Louisville, this season is on the lighter side when it comes to non-conference games. The Cardinals open with Eastern Kentucky, host James Madison (who, like Louisville, is receiving votes in the AP preseason Top 25), and add Bowling Green. Indiana was supposed to be on the schedule, but bought out. Tennessee and Ole Miss had openings, but looked elsewhere despite calls from Louisville.
The coming years are a different story (assuming Kentucky stays on the schedule):
- 2026: Host Georgia, visit Kentucky
- 2027: At Georgia, host Kentucky
- 2028: At Texas A&M, at Kentucky
- 2029: Host Texas A&M, host Kentucky
- 2030: Host Notre Dame, at Kentucky
That’s the kind of non-conference lineup Brohm says is good for the game, good for fans, and good for his team.
What the coaches said
Jeff Brohm said this: “I think college football, in my opinion, should, for the good of the game, try to go to where you're scheduling the best opponents every week and however many games that is, of course, I'm for the as many as we possibly can,” he said. “But I think it's important to play good competition every week for a lot of reasons. I think it's better for your team, and I think it's more enjoyable for the fans, and I think it's better for the game of football. … I would hope that we could continue to play all those games that are on our schedule, Kentucky, Georgia, Texas A&M, all those.”
Nick Roush of Kentucky Sports Radio asked Stoops on Monday, “Keeping the mandate to preserve the Louisville game. Are you excited to know that that series didn't go away?”
Stoops replied, “Yeah, I think I said that. I think I was on the record, again, the last time we talked about it and said that, you know, I was for that.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but enough to keep the rivalry flame lit.
Why it matters
Non-conference scheduling is one of the next big battlegrounds in college football. More league games mean fewer chances for high-profile crossovers. And for a program like Louisville, which wants to prove itself nationally, losing Georgia, A&M or even the Kentucky rivalry would be a blow – depending on the strength of the ACC in a given year.
For those SEC programs, the schedule strength is built in.
For now, the games remain on the books. But with the sport’s tectonic plates shifting, it’s worth asking: which contracts make the cut, and which get shredded?
Quick Sips
• Mondays are busy. I wrote seven stories yesterday. I won’t link them all here. Particularly worth noting, Stoops’ comments on Toledo, which is the toughest of the openers for the local teams. Read about it here.
• Some developments with Louisville basketball. We knew the marquee games the Cards would be playing in the non-conference, but the program announced its complete non-conference slate on Monday, including the two games it will play before facing Kentucky on Nov. 11. One thing the program won’t be doing this season is staging a Louisville Live event. The school confirmed yesterday afternoon that it would pause the event for this season and wasn’t yet sure about any kind of preseason scrimmage. With some real tests in exhibition games, and an early start for the women against UConn in Germany, the hype kind of handles itself, with or without Louisville Live.
The Last Drop
“I was prepared for (the 9-game SEC schedule) to come. I think that's where it was headed for a long time. And I think the last official quote on that I had was, I was tired of talking about it. I was like, bring it on, whatever it is, it is. I mean, look at our schedule this year. It's pretty hard to get more difficult than that.”
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops
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