LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – With his University of Louisville football team trailing 20-7 and the wheels, if not falling off, then certainly appearing to wobble after a mistake-filled start, Jeff Brohm came into the locker room at halftime against Boston College with a couple of ways to go.
He could tear the paint off the walls with a fiery pep talk urging his team to get it together – he has taken that route in the past, especially when he felt the problem was a lack of effort or focus -- or he could take a more rational look at what had just happened in the first half.
In the end, his message was the latter – keep calm and play football. The result was a 31-27 victory, and the fourth-biggest comeback in school history.
“Believe it or not, the conversation we had was kind of calm,” Brohm said. “I mean, you can sit there and think, ‘My gosh, what more could go wrong?’ But it did. It went wrong, so you just kind of have to hang in there. We've had some adversity already that's helped us along the way. We've had some things not go our way, but we played to the end in those games we lost. So, I just think that carries over. The mentality of the team is exactly what you want. Our coaches aren't perfect either, but they coach to the end. Our players gave us great effort. And anytime you can come back like that on the road against a good team, it's a great job. So, I'm very, very proud of that performance.”
Picking up the pace
What got Louisville into a 20-0 hole was turnovers, penalties, a dropped pass, several defensive breakdowns. But Louisville was able to move the ball. A late scoring drive before halftime to cut the deficit to 20-7 was a big key. And though the defense had a few mistakes, its play on balance was improved.
In the second half, Brohm had his offense pick up the pace a bit.
“We sped up the pace of play. I thought that played in our favor,” Brohm said. “We kind of gun sling it around a little bit, just kind of let those guys play. And they responded.”
Quarterback Tyler Shough bounced back from a tough first half. From late in the first quarter until 4:03 remained in the game, he completed 24 of 28 passes, including streaks of 10 and seven in a row without an incompletion. His interception late in the game came when officials flagged a Boston College defender for pass interference against Chris Bell, then waved the flag off. But Bell, if not interfered with, likely would’ve gotten back to the underthrown ball to at least make a play on it.
Filling the holes
One key, though, for Louisville’s comeback, was role-players who stepped in to contribute after some significant injuries or departures. Wideout Caullin Lacy opted out of the rest of the season forcing Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, who returned to the team in the preaseason after transferring to South Carolina, into extended duty. He had a costly drop in the first quarter and fumbled a reception in the second, but made some big plays in the second half. Kris Hughes, a walk-on, came in to make three catches for 32 yards
Nate Kurisky, filling in for injured tight end Jamari Johnson, who is out for the season, caught two touchdown passes, and also filled in at fullback.
“You know, we've lost some guys in some key positions,” Brohm said. “But other guys that practice a lot and work hard, they’ve got to just step up and make plays for us, and that's how it's going to have to be moving forward.”
And, too, Brohm had to ride his best players with the game on the line. After trying to spell wideout Ja’Corey Brooks and running back Isaac Brown early, he elected to use both extensively in the second half where possible.
“We tried to spread around ball around early because we don't want to wear those guys out,” Brohm said. “We don't want to get them injured. We've had some people get injured for us, and we're getting depleted as we go on, so we're trying to keep those guys healthy as we can. But when push came to shove, we needed to start to target them a lot, and that's what we started doing. It was target our main players and let the others feed off of it, which a lot of times works. But, you know, Ja’Corey took a lot of big hits and to withstand those and catch the ball -- that's a tough young man. And of course, Isaac runs well and tough. I mean, those are just tough guys that compete every day, and we’ve got to keep them healthy, because they've been big playmakers for us.”
Defensive improvement
Twice in the final minutes, Louisville’s maligned defense had to hold Boston College out of the end zone after it moved quickly into Louisville territory, including on a final drive in which it had to defend a couple of Hail Mary attempts in the end zone. At a place where Doug Flutie made the Hail Mary famous, and with Flutie on the Boston College sidelines, Brohm couldn’t exhale until time expired.
“They have a lot of history here,” Brohm said. “We saw Doug Flutie at the hotel earlier today. We were all in awe of him. Actually, I still remember that pass. I watched it on TV when I was a young kid, and he was a special player. So, you know, this is a place, a lot of history, a lot of tradition, and I'm aware of it for sure. Being a Catholic boy, this is one of the places that I visited on an official visit when I was coming out of high school, so I still remember that. So, we respect this program. They've had a great year at this point, a lot of close losses they've had, as well. It's a big win for us. We’ve just got to build on this and continue to try to improve going forward.”
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