Points of Emphasis: Louisville vs. Florida State

 The Louisville football program might have ended the regular season on a low note, but they have a chance to make history before their bowl game, as they are set to face Florida State in their first ever appearance in the ACC Championship Game.

Here are some of the more notable storylines heading into Saturday's game:

Louisville Using Kentucky Loss as Motivation Ahead of ACC Championship

While Louisville has a chance to make program history this Saturday, they're not heading into the matchup with as much momentum as they could be. In their regular season and home finale last Saturday, the Cardinals were unable to capture a victory against their in-state rivals, falling 38-31 to Kentucky for their fifth-straight Governor's Cup loss.

With as much of a gut punch as the loss was, Brohm wants the result to serve as a motivational tool for his players and coaches as they look to rebound and regroup ahead of their matchup with Florida State.

"Well, they're not happy," head coach Jeff Brohm said. "I'm probably as unhappy as any of us. I think that's why it's no fun. It's healthy to be angry and unhappy for at least 24 hours. We still want to let that sink in us a little bit, and sting us, and really digest the plays we ran and what we could have done better, and how and why. That is the focus throughout the rest of today. We're going to go through every detail, and nook and cranny of it."

Being able to lock back in following the emotional loss to Kentucky will be of utmost importance for Louisville, in part because of what it would mean for the program if they were able to pull off the upset against the Seminoles. Brohm says that the ACC Championship Game will be the latest, and biggest, opportunity for Louisville to "prove their value" to the college football world.

"Without question, it's a huge football game for us," he said. "We're now in the national spotlight against an undefeated opponent, that has a great chance of making the playoff.

"For us, we've got to prove our value. We've got to go out there and you'll make us a competitive game, give it our best shot, come ready to play, prove that we're a capable team, and do it for four quarters. Anything can happen if you come prepared, and you play your best for four quarters. That's what we want to try to do."

Cardinals Aiming to Correct Recent Defensive Efforts

If Louisville has any shot at being competitive against Florida State, let alone outright winning, they'll need make some major corrections to their defense, which has been on major slide downwards over the last few weeks.

"To be quite honest, I think the last three games on defense have been subpar and we need to do better than that," Brohm said immediately following last Saturday's loss to Kentucky. "So, it will start with me and our coaches first, we need to have a better plan."

In their first nine games, they were allowing just 285.2 yards and 16.3 points per game, which came in at 12th and 13th in the FBS, respectively. But in their last three matchups to end the regular season - vs. Virginia, at Miami and vs. Kentucky - the Cardinals gave up and average of 31.0 points and 403.0 yards per game.

If Louisville is to have a bounce back game on defense against Florida State, Brohm believes it will come as a result of analyzing in the film room why the defense has struggled so much as of late, and getting him and his coaching staff to make the necessary adjustments either in the game plan itself or how the communicate it.

"I think we've got to make some corrections as coaches," Brohm said during the ACC Championship Game conference call on Sunday. "Myself and our defensive coaches got to take some ownership, and put our players in the best position to succeed. I don't think that has happened fully, because we've made some critical mistakes.

"I'm not going put it on the players, I'm going put it on us. We've got to get that fixed. Whether that's simplifying things, or understanding and teaching the details of the plan in more detail, or being more aggressive, less aggressive. I don't want to give away everything that we're going to try to do, but we've got to get it fixed. 

FSU's Tate Rodemaker Stepping In for Injured Jordan Travis

Quarterback Jordan Travis has played a huge role in helping Florida State get to the ACC Championship Game, but he won't be taking part in it after suffering a season-ending leg injury in the Seminoles' penultimate game against North Alabama.

Instead, career backup Tate Rodemaker will be suiting up under center against the Cardinals. In FSU's last game at Florida, the Noles had to overcome a 12-0 hole to eventually win 24-15 in The Swamp, compiled only 224 yards of offense in the process. Rodemaker went just 12-of-25 for 134 yards against the Gators.

That being said, head coach Jeff Brohm knows that Rodemaker will still provide a worthy challenge to the Cardinals.

"He's been able to sit back and watch Jordan play, and also absorb the offense and get in there and play himself," he said. "He feels confident in his weapons, you can tell. He knows how to throw the ball. He knows how to move when he has to. He gets it to his playmakers. You can tell he's smart and understands exactly what the plan is."

This season in nine games, Rodemaker has completed 57.1 percent of his passes for 510 yards and five touchdowns. In 23 career games over four seasons at Florida State, he has a 57.6 completion percentage for 901 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions.

That being said, Rodemaker does have some experience against Louisville. In last season's UofL/FSU matchup, he was forced to step in for an injured Travis in the second half, where he went 6-of-10 for 109 yards and two touchdowns plus an interception, leading the Noles to a 35-31 win.

Brohm Drawing on Lessons from Big Ten Championship at Purdue

While it might be the first appearance in a conference championship game for the Louisville football program, it's not the first appearance for their head coach. Last season while at Purdue, Brohm helped lead the Boilermakers to their first ever appearance in the Big Ten Championship Game, a 43-22 loss to Michigan.

As Brohm and his staff help to prepare his alma mater to play in their conference championship, he's drawing on the lessons he learned this time last season.

"We learned a lot of lessons last year playing at Purdue and going into the Big Ten Championship Game," he said. "If I'm not mistaken, it was 14-13 at half, and we played some really good football. Unfortunately, we came out in the second half, we turned the ball over, and then they hit some big plays on us. That kind of sent the game in the other direction."

The main lesson that Brohm and Co. are applying from last year's Big Ten title game is how small the margin for error is, and how even a single mistake can doom you. It's a similar lesson the Cardinals have learned this year, as both of their losses featured a multitude of mistakes, mainly in the form of turnovers.

"When you play really good football teams, you can't have those type of errors, or it's going to cost you," Brohm said. "We have to understand that it's gonna be very hard to overcome anything like that when you're playing this type of team. We're gonna have to really be sharp."