Louisville’s potent offensive attack goes on the road this week to Atlanta, where the Cardinals will try to stay in the race for an Atlantic Coast Conference championship as they take on Georgia Tech.
The third-place Cardinals (5-3, 4-2) are seeking their first in-season four-game winning streak since 2023, the first season for coach Jeff Brohm at his alma mater.
On th e other sideline, the Yellow Jackets (2-6, 1-4) are trying to avoid their first losing season since 2022, when current coach Brent Key took over after the school dismissed Geoff Collins following a 1-3 start.
Brohm’s offense leads the nation with 7.8 yards per play and 58 plays of at least 20 yards. The Cardinals have scored 12 touchdowns of 50 or more yards, also tops among Football Bowl Subdivision schools, with at least one in each game.
Running back Isaac Brown has led the offense over the past month. Eight of his nine touchdowns this season have come in the last four games. That includes scoring runs of 23, 68, 70, 75 and 97 yards and a 46-yard reception off a screen pass from Lincoln Kienholz.
“When he gets that ball, great things are going to happen, and it just makes you want to go so hard for him,” Cardinals offensive lineman Johnnie Brown III said.
Louisville will face a team that’s prone to giving up big plays. According to StatRankings.com, the Yellow Jackets have yielded 70 explosive plays, defined as passing plays of 20 or more yards and rushing plays of at least 10 yards. That’s tied for 12th most in the country.
Georgia Tech, tied with Florida State for last place in the ACC, ranks 11th in the 17-team league in total offense, averaging 361.1 yards per game. The unit struggled in losses to Boston College and Pitt the past two weeks, leading Key to replace quarterback Alberto Mendoza with Grady Adamson in both contests.
Key did not deny speculation that Adamson could get the start on Saturday.
“It’s always a lot easier coming off the bench as the guy, but we’ll sit down on Thursday evening as a staff and make a decision … on who goes out and gives us the best opportunity to win this football game,” Key said. “That’s at all positions.”
Mendoza has completed 70.4 percent of his passes and thrown 10 touchdown passes to six interceptions. Against Pitt, he was 16 of 25 but threw for just 81 yards in the Yellow Jackets’ 34-11 loss.