Louisville assembling many new parts as Cardinals entertain Eastern Kentucky

Louisville made a name for itself as a football program known for producing offense.

Coach Jeff Brohm's team opens the season Saturday afternoon against visiting Eastern Kentucky with designs on flexing as a first-rate scoring machine. With a lot of new parts to assemble, results might not come instantly.

"The first (game) sometimes has a lot of turnovers, a lot of fumbles, a lot of miscues, lot of penalties," Brohm said. "We have to try to be as clean as we possibly can Week 1 and not allow that to happen."

Louisville returns just four primary starters from last season's 9-4 Sun Bowl-winning team. Still, the Cardinals are heavy favorites over a Colonels team that fell in the first round of the FCS playoffs in 2024.

Isaac Brown, a sophomore running back for the Cardinals, earned second-team All-America preseason honors. He was among the Atlantic Coast Conference leaders with a 7.1-yard rushing average as a freshman and ranked third in yards with 1,173.

For the third straight season, Brohm went into the transfer portal to land a starting quarterback. This time, it's Miller Moss, who played nine games for Southern California last season, throwing for 2,555 yards and 18 touchdowns, with nine interceptions.

Moss will have experienced receivers Chris Bell and Caullin Lacy as targets. In addition, running back Duke Watson ran for 597 yards and an average of 8.9 yards a carry as a sophomore as Brown's backup last year.

Brohm said the season opener is about identifying which players are best at staying focused, especially on a revamped offensive line and a defense that lost several key players from last season.

The Colonels have several players with FBS experience. Those include starting quarterback Myles Burkett, who played at Wisconsin before going to Albany in 2024. He passed for 1,840 yards and 10 TDs with the Great Danes.

However, Eastern Kentucky coach Walt Wells said Tuesday that Louisville will present a challenge for his "inexperienced" team. He said his players cannot let the situation overwhelm them, or Louisville will beat them for big plays.

"You have to go in there and play each play like a life of its own and own that one," Wells said. "If you have great success, that's good. If you have not great success, then you gotta flush it ... and move on."

--Field Level Media