Jeff Brohm opens up on what Notre Dame win means to him in first year back at Louisville

Perhaps no man is better suited for the Louisville football job than Jeff Brohm, and that was made clear on Saturday. The former Cardinals quarterback and assistant coach returned to the city after this offseason after 15 years away, and led his alma mater to a 33-20 victory against No. 10 Notre Dame in Week 6.

Not only was it a win against a top 10 opponent, but Brohm has Louisville off to a 6-0 start in his inaugural season. The coach joined ESPN for a postgame interview to try and put into words what the moment means as fans rushed the field in the background.

“It requires a lot of hard work, but I couldn’t be happier for our football team, happier for these fans, happier for this university,” he said. “These guys want to win here. This is a tremendous city. Championships need to be won here. We just need to keep working one week at a time to keep getting better.”

The Cardinals earned the win thanks to a dominant defensive performance. They forced five turnovers — including three interceptions from Sam Hartman — and also recorded five sacks. Twice they stopped the Fighting Irish on fourth down, including forcing a fumble from Hartman with 3:34 remaining.

Notre Dame bounced back from that play to score a touchdown with 1:35 remaining and then recovered an onside kick. However, Devin Neal came away with his second interception of the evening to seal the game for good only three plays later.

The Cardinals defense was in the backfield all evening to hold Notre Dame to just 44 yards rushing on 1.6 yards per carry.

“That’s why we won the game,” Brohm said. “Any time you win the turnover battle, that’s why you’re gonna win. I think we were very efficient taking care of the ball on offense other than one fumble. We got to the quarterback. We effected him like we wanted to and that’s why we won the game.”

The game wasn’t always in hand for Louisville. The Cardinals were tied at 7 at halftime after missing a potential go-ahead field goal near the end of the second quarter. They then fumbled on their first drive of the second half as Notre Dame took a 10-7 lead.

Louisville responded to score either a touchdown or a field goal on its next six drives to pull away for good. Running back Jawhar Jordan had a massive second half to finish the game with 143 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 21 carries.

“We came out in the second half and we executed, so it was great to see,” Brohm said. “Our fans played a huge role into it. It was a sold-out crowd. It was packed. I think we just really were efficient in the second half. Defense was outstanding. Offense played well as well.”

Coming off of Saturday’s big win, Jeff Brohm will hope Louisville can carry the momentum over as it will look to compete for an ACC Championship. The Cardinals are one of only four remaining undefeated teams in conference play, and next face Pittsburgh at 6:30 p.m. ET next Saturday.