Post Game Recap: Louisville Vs Georgia Tech (Coach Jeff Brohm’s Debut)

Pregame Notes:

Good morning Card Nation. The Jeff Brohm Era in Louisville has officially begun. Much has been said about the Prodigal son and first family of University Of Louisville football since his hiring in December, so we won’t double or triple-talk about all that has been said since then. Tonight is game 1, like Coach Brohm said “Lets play football.” The Cards won the toss, but elected to defer to the 2nd half.

1st Quarter:

On the first 3rd down of the season, Ashton Gillette came blazing off the edge to force an errant pass that was intercepted by DL Ramon Puryear. However, Louisville wasn’t able to punch it in for six, but did get 3 points thanks to a 33-yard FG by Brock Travelstead. After a few possessions of great defense by the Cards, the offense was finally able to get an explosive play, thanks to a 40-yard completion to Kevin Coleman. The Cards again fail to hit pay dirt and had to settle for another Travelstead field goal. UofL led 6-0 heading into quarter 2.

2nd Quarter:

The 2nd quarter was extremely cruel for the Cards, as Georgia Tech scored touchdowns on 4 consecutive possessions. Tech scored on a 2-yard pass, a 1-yard run by former UofL RB Trey Cooley, a 23-yard run (by Cooley), and a 48-yard pass to Chase Lane. Louisville was able squeeze a 9-yard touchdown pass from Plummer to Coleman in there, but by-and-large the 2nd quarter was all Yellow Jackets. On Louisville’s final possession of the half, Plummer was picked off on a pass over the middle. The Cards trailed 13-28 going into intermission.

Halftime Stats:

T.O.P: 14:28

Passing Yards: 90 yards

Rushing Yards: 82

Sacks:

T.Os: 1 INtT

3rd Quarter:

Louisville received the halftime kickoff and marched right down the field, but as had been the case in the first half, Travelstead had to provide the points. The Cards defense came out aggressively like they did in the first quarter and made life difficult for the Tech offense. Plummer started to find his rhythm and he also found highly-touted WR Jamari Thrash in the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown pass. UofL cut the Yellow Jackets lead to 5 heading into the 4th quarter, down 23-28.

4th Quarter:

The Cards defense pitched a shutout in the 3rd quarter and continued to stonewall the GT offense. The Louisville offense kept rolling and started looking like the offense everyone expected when Coach Brohm was hired. UofL took a 29-28 lead on yet another Thrash touchdown, but failed to connect on the 2-pt conversion. The defense stepped up again and Dez Tell had a sack fumble that was recovered by Kam Wilson. Then the offense and Jawhar Jordan scored on the very next play with a 74-yard touchdown run. With a 36-28 lead, the Cards held their target lead of the game. Travelstead added another field goal to extend the Cards lead to 39-28 with under 3 minutes remaining. Georgia Tech added a late touchdown to cut into the lead, but Louisville recovered the onside kick and came away with a 39-34 victory.

Post Game Notes:

Last night’s game was one that probably had you go through every emotion known, and some might have experienced a brand new set of emotions. The first half didn’t go as anticipated, but Coach Brohm, the staff, and the players executed the halftime adjustments to come away with a huge win. The Cards are 1-0 on the season and 1-0 in the ACC as well. Jamari Thrash was very quiet in the first half, but so was Plummer. Outside of the second quarter, the Cards defense was really solid. They only gave up 6 points the rest of the game and those 6 points came while the Cards were playing conservative and GT was in a hurry up offense. Plummer and Thrash were huge for the Cards in the 2nd half and it appears they will be a dangerous duo for the rest of the Cards 2023 opponents. Louisville will now head back home and prepare for their home opener against Murray State on Thursday, September 7th with kickoff set for 7:30 pm.

Highlights:

Below are highlights from the game you can view by clicking the link below

Recap & highlights from the Cards 39-34 win over Georgia Tech.

Recap: https://t.co/WS7SniRuz7#GoCards pic.twitter.com/KZDTYW9BBV

— Louisville Football (@LouisvilleFB) September 2, 2023