From the moment in December when Jeff Brohm was hired as Louisville’s football coach, he and his intrastate coaching archrival, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, have been making nice.
Of the new Governor’s Cup rivalry coaching dynamic, “It’s tough because I like Jeff,” Stoops said shortly after Brohm’s deal to become U of L head man was announced. “… He’ll do a really good job. … He’s a good coach and a good person.”
As for Brohm’s rivalry perspective, “We respect the school up the street,” the Cardinals coach told Louisville’s WHAS-TV recently. “Kentucky, they do a great job. They’ve had a lot of success.”
The polite talk, however, does not mask the existing reality.
When Stoops and the troops travel west on Nov. 23 to face a Brohm-coached U of L for the first time in the newly renamed L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium (nee Cardinal Stadium), the stakes will be unusually high for both coaches.
Stoops will be battling to preserve the status quo. The UK head man has led the Wildcats to their greatest run of supremacy over Louisville in the modern history (since 1994) of the Governor’s Cup rivalry.
Starting with UK’s stunning 41-38 upset of then-No. 11 Louisville in 2016 — only weeks before Cardinals quarterback Lamar Jackson won the Heisman Trophy — the Cats have won five of the past six meetings against the Cards. In winning the four most recent contests against Louisville, Kentucky has outscored the Cardinals by a whopping 179-57.
After starting his UK career 0-3 against Louisville, Stoops now stands 5-4 in the series. The Kentucky coach has joined ex-U of L head man Bobby Petrino (six straight victories spread over two separate coaching stints, 2003-06 and 2014-15) as the only coaches in modern Governor’s Cup history to win as many as four straight rivalry games.
The outright dominance Stoops and UK have asserted over Louisville seemed to play a major role in the Cardinals fan base never fully buying in on the now-ex U of L head man Scott Satterfield — who ultimately chose the exit route of becoming the Cincinnati Bearcats’ head coach.
So Brohm will be seeking to produce an instantaneous flip in the rivalry script.
“Bringing Brohm home” to the school where he starred (1989-1993) as a quarterback for Howard Schnellenberger and worked as an offensive assistant for six years (2003-2008) has energized U of L backers.
In his stints as the head coach at Western Kentucky (2014-2016) and Purdue (2017-2022), Brohm’s track record as a “rivalry coach” was strong.
Overall, Brohm is 6-2 as a college head coach against his team’s primary rival — and both his defeats came in multiple overtimes.
At WKU, Brohm went 2-1 against Middle Tennessee State, with his only loss, 50-47, coming in triple overtime in his first game against MTSU in 2014.
While patrolling the sidelines for Purdue, Brohm led the Boilermakers to four victories in five tries in the “Old Oaken Bucket” rivalry with Indiana. Brohm’s sole loss to IU, 44-41 in 2019, came in double overtime.
The only knock one can apply to Brohm as a “rivalry coach” is that he lost the only game he played against an Indiana team that finished with a winning record. After beating Purdue, the 2019 Hoosiers finished 8-5. The IU teams Brohm beat finished 5-7, 5-7, 2-10 and 4-8.
There will be some spice in the battle for the 2023 Governor’s Cup beyond the coaching matchup. New Kentucky quarterback Devin Leary has history of his own with Louisville.
The former North Carolina State star is 1-1 in two career starts against the Cardinals.
In 2019, Leary completed 24 of 44 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns with one interception in a 34-20 loss to Louisville.
Two years later, Leary hit on 25 of 36 throws for 317 yards and four TDs with no picks in a 28-13 vanquishing of U of L.
If a revamped Kentucky offensive line can keep Leary — who had two seasons at North Carolina State cut short by injury — healthy to the season’s 12th game, the QB will get a chance to take his own personal rubber match against Louisville.
Nevertheless, it is the head coaches who will have the most on the line when the Cats meet the Cards this year.
For Stoops, a victory in The Ville on Nov. 25 would send a clear message that, while U of L might have landed its dream coach, nothing has changed in the in-state balance of college football power.
For Brohm, a win over Kentucky in his first try would proclaim “there’s a new sheriff in town” and would likely give Louisville a substantial boost in recruiting within the commonwealth.
As for our state’s college football fans, a game with so much at stake for both coaches should animate the commonwealth’s pigskin conversation for the next five months.
This is going to be fun.
