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Louisville coach Jeff Brohm is a Louisville native who totally understood the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry long before he became the Cardinals head football coach.
The Cardinals play Kentucky in Kroger Field Saturday at noon and Brohm didn’t try to downplay the significance of the rivalry during his weekly press conference Monday.
“I think the fans love rivalry games without question. The Louisville-Kentucky matchup in football and basketball and other sports is huge around the state, it’s huge in this city. Everybody wears their red and blue and you want bragging rights for the year,” Brohm said.
“These games are fun for fans. It’s fun for players that know each other. It doesn’t matter what your record is, you want to win the game. It’s an important game on your schedule, and you circle it, and you make sure that you come prepared and ready to play and you hope to play your best.
“Without question we haven’t been able to win the game the last so many years, so it’s time for us to step up and find a way to play better.”
Brohm admitted he hears about the rivalry “a lot” from fans and others whenever he’s out.
“They’re going to talk about this game and want this win. It means a lot to them. I’m used to it. I think that obviously it makes you prepare a little harder. It makes you put in a little extra effort to make sure that when the games are over you can look in the mirror and say, ‘I don’t know what more I could’ve done.’” Brohm said.
“You hope to come out on the winning end. That’s what it’s all about. These are great games for everyone to participate in. It’s great for fans, which is really what provides the excitement at games. I know it’ll be a packed house.
“People want to knock each other off and I’m sure Kentucky is going to play to knock us off to end their season on a great note and ours on a not-so-great note. They’re very capable of doing that. You go on the road, you’re playing in a hostile environment, and they will be into the game.”
Brohm also understands the need for players to control their emotions in a game like the one Saturday.
“We have to make sure our players are playing between the whistles and not allowing that to happen. For the most part, we’ve been pretty good on that, but we’ve had some things pop up every now and then. When they do, they’ve been costly. That’s why it cannot pop up,” Brohm said.
“The rare one you can deal with, but it can’t be a recurrence. We have to make sure that we play between the whistles, it’s clean, it’s talked about, and we’re communicating that we aren’t going to beat ourselves on this. We’re going to play with class, play in between the whistles to make sure we’re respecting the game, and respecting our opponents. Yes, we have to make sure we do the best job with that.”
