Jeff Brohm 'Excited' to Kick Off New Season at Louisville

The offseason has been dragging on for weeks and months, but at long last, game week is finally here.

This past weekend, college football officially made its return with the annual slate of "week zero" games. 10 teams were in action last Saturday, and the other 126 FBS teams will kick off their 2025 season this upcoming weekend. We'll get five straight days of college football, lasting from Thursday through through Labor Day.

As for Louisville, their return to action will come right here at home, with in-state FCS foe Eastern Kentucky making the trek up to L&N Stadium. Kick-off between the Cardinals and Colonels is slated for Saturday, Aug. 30 at 3:00 p.m. EST.

After weeks and months of preparation for the new season, head coach Jeff Brohm is more than ready to kick off year three at his alma mater.

"We're definitely excited to get the season started this upcoming Saturday at home," he said Monday during his weekly pregame press conference. "I think we've had a good camp to this point. Our team understands what's at stake every week, and that is trying to prove yourself, play your best brand of football. We got to do that, starting week one."

Primarily, Brohm is excited to see his team line up against someone else for the first time in nine months, especially on the heels of fall camp. Louisville's set of 15 preseason fall camp practices lasted form July 30 to Aug. 16, and since last week when UofL's fall semester started, they have since shifted to their normal pre-game practice schedule.

While he and his staff have a good idea of what to expect for the upcoming season based on what they have seen in practice, some questions still remain. Mainly, this has to do with how his players will perform when entering in a game setting as opposed to a controlled practice, and making corrections where necessary.

"I think when you get in a game setting, you got to see what guys are going to be able to concentrate, go out there and do the small things correctly, and perform come game day. It's time to take the test, you got to show up, and you got to ace the test.

"Really, seeing what guys can do that and keep their composure, stay controlled, stay focused and locked in and do it all games. ... With all that said, the first week, sometimes you have a lot of turnovers, a lot of fumbles, a lot of miscues, a lot of penalties. We have to try to be as clean as we possibly can week one, and not allow that to happen."

Fortunately, Louisville has a fairly manageable opponent right out of the gates in Eastern Kentucky. Sure, the Colonels went 8-4 during the regular season to clinch a spot in the FCS Playoffs (only to lose in the first round to Villanova), but EKU has a lot of moving pieces from last year's squad. Not to mention that Eastern Kentucky's two FBS opponents from last season, Mississippi State and Western Kentucky, beat them by a combined score of 87-7.

That being said, Brohm is not sleepwalking into the start of the 2025 season. While he feels very confident in his team, he knows that as soon as he lets his guard down, other teams can take advantage of it.

"As soon as you, in my opinion, start feeling great about where you're at, someone will sneak up on you, and things will go back the other direction," he said. "I just think you gotta all do your part. It's got to mean something to you. It's got to matter. Winning is not easy, so taking all the necessary steps to get there is vital to success for myself, our coaches, our players. If you think you can take a shortcut, or if you think you can take a deep breath, that's when teams sneak up on you and beat you. You can't allow that to happen.

"It's a long season, and every week, you got to step up to the plate, whether you've had a good week the week before or whether you've had a bad week that's really not been fun to be a part of a couple days after. You've got to continue to get back up and go work, because anything can happen. This is a competitive game. If you coach well, if you work hard, if you come ready to play on game day, you can beat anybody. At the same time, anybody can beat us."