Back when Brian Brohm was playing quarterback for Louisville football, the Miami game was a “litmus test” against “the team in college football” in the early 2000s and a chance to make a statement nationally for the Cardinals’ program.
It’s 20 years later and Friday’s game against the No. 2 Hurricanes still has big stakes for U of L, it’s just no longer a proving ground.
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The Cards and Canes are more like equals in a rivalry that is quietly one of the best in the ACC, if not the most overlooked.
“It kind of, for us at least, felt like we were being seen by the rest of the country,” said Brohm, who is now U of L’s offensive coordinator. “That we could play football here, and that we were able to compete with the big boys.”
There’s nothing but big boys all around now.
Since Brohm’s freshman season when he faced Miami in 2004, U of L has Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl wins to its credit and a Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Lamar Jackson, who has gone on to become one of the best players in the NFL.
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The programs have been on equal ground since ’04. Louisville has a better record overall; Miami has been slightly better — winning three more games — since U of L joined the ACC in 2014.
The rivalry is fueled by a shared history, as both got their modern-day foundation from former coach Howard Schnellenberger being the patriarch of both programs. (And the winner takes home the Schnellenberger Trophy.) That’s why Louisville has maintained a recruiting pipeline of players from South Florida, including sophomore running back Isaac Brown.
The games have been decided by one possession of late, with Miami taking last year’s matchup at L&N Stadium 52-45. The Cards won at Hard Rock Stadium for the first time in 2023 with their stakes at the highest: The winner earned a spot in the ACC championship game.
That’s what helps move a series from just being a conference game into a full-fledged rivalry. The ACC messed up in not continuing to keep U of L and Miami as permanent opponents when it added SMU, California and Stanford to the league and instead linked Virginia Tech with the Canes.
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Like 30 years ago, the Hokies and Canes would have mattered in the old Big East football conference. But it doesn’t compare with what Louisville and Miami have meant currently.
Miami coach Mario Cristobal is expecting another tight one Friday night.
“Number one, it’s a huge rivalry,” Cristobal told The Courier Journal in July. “Number two, I have a tremendous amount of respect for coach (Jeff) Brohm and what he does. He’s arguably one of the best playcallers in all of football — college and pro — and he runs a great program.”
The Cards are no longer in a position where they have to beat Miami to prove themselves as a worthy program nationally. But Louisville still has something to prove this season.
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The overtime loss to Virginia postponed the Cards’ chance to crack the top-25 polls. If they pull off the upset as 13.5-point underdogs Friday, they will not only be ranked but also will thrust themselves square in the middle of ACC championship conversations and College Football Playoff contenders.
“So I would hope that we can continue to practice well and improve and understand that you don’t get this many great opportunities very often,” U of L coach Jeff Brohm said. “To play a team of this caliber can really show what you can do if you’re ready to go, and at the same time if you’re not, they will expose you to a great degree.”
The Cards need to show up and show out. Canes’ ranking aside, this is a rivalry and anything can happen.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville vs Miami football ranks as most underrated rivalry in ACC
