CRAWFORD | Short week, short leash? Brohm stands by Moss as Louisville preps for Clemson | U of L Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Short week. Short press conference. Jeff Brohm met with the media Monday morning, still stung by Louisville's overtime loss to California but with little time to dwell on it.

The Cardinals face Clemson on Friday night, giving Brohm and his staff only a few days to clean up what went wrong. And there was plenty. Brohm spoke for just over 10 minutes — about half his usual time — but made clear Sunday was a long day behind the scenes.

"We spent all day yesterday dissecting it," he said. "Just small things here and there. I could've coached better. We could've been a little more focused on the details. And those little things cost us."

There were "mental busts," Brohm said. Costly penalties. Pass protection issues. Mistakes on both sides of the ball.

Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford

"I'd have to get a notebook to go through all of them," he said. "We go back and say, 'OK, how can we get more points? How can we move the ball?'"

Louisville nearly saw its nation's-longest 21-game streak of scoring at least 24 points come to an end, saved only by a field goal in overtime. And for a Brohm-coached offense, the passing struggles were unfamiliar territory.

Much of the postgame conversation centered on quarterback Miller Moss. The USC transfer has been at the center of both of Louisville's losses, not a surprise, given the position he plays, but not without reason either.

Over his last three games, Moss has averaged just 175 passing yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. He has more rushing touchdowns (three) than passing scores in that span. Louisville's 6.8 yards per passing attempt are its lowest average since the 2-10 season in 2018.

Asked Monday whether he could see a scenario where Moss is replaced, Brohm didn't lean into the idea, but didn't explicitly rule it out.

"We believe in Miller," Brohm said. "And we believe in all of our quarterbacks. We'll always have a plan ready for for all of them at some point, in different aspects, which we've done before. At the same time, you know, we've just got to continue to to work through these things and be as effective as we can."

Statistically, Louisville is actually throwing for more yards per game this season than it did two years ago — though only slightly. But Brohm's offense has adapted. With stronger running backs in recent seasons, the pass game hasn't had to carry the load. Before coming to Louisville, Brohm had never experienced back-to-back season with a passing average below 300 yards. At Louisville, he's yet to have a team average 300 yards in the air.

But the needs are changing.

Star back Isaac Brown remains sidelined. And with defenses stacking up the run, the pressure to spark the offense now falls back on the quarterback.

"There's a lot of things that happened in the passing game," against Cal, Brohm said. "You know, I think obviously your work on keeping your eyes up the field going through the progressions. We've got to be able to firm up the protection a little bit and keep the pass rush away."

It was enough of a problem Saturday that batted balls were a major issue. Moss actually caught two of his own batted passes.

"When there's batted balls, it's not just because they're being batted -- there's some push in the backfield on that," Brohm said. "I think we always work on ways to get (Moss) easy completions and get him in a rhythm and get him feeling good. We've got to work on getting open versus press and tight coverage. We've got to be able to throw the ball over their head more. All those things come into play."

The defense, meanwhile, allowed more than 350 passing yards and 400 total yards for the first time this season.

Again, Brohm pointed to focus, and to over-complication.

"Some mental busts that cost us," he said. "Sometimes we can simplify some calls to help. How can we cover better? How can we get after the quarterback better? It's just a lot — a lot — of things."

And the road won't get any easier. Brohm noted that the final stretch of the season features "the four best quarterbacks we'll play."

While he said his postgame comments questioning the team's toughness may have been exaggerated in the moment, he didn't walk them back entirely. Focus and discipline remain concerns.

"Could we have been a little more focused on some details? Yes," he said. "Sometimes when that focus isn't there, we look at ourselves as coaches and say, 'OK, we've got to simplify this.'"

It's a short week. But there's no shortcut to fixing it.