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'Back to work' | Louisville football shifts focus to Pittsburgh after big win over Notre Dame

Head coach Jeff Brohm preaches a one-game season to his players.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — University of Louisville head football coach Jeff Brohm knows what a letdown after a big win feels like.

In six seasons at Purdue, Brohm picked up a win over a top-five team on three occasions. As the coach mentioned Monday during his weekly news conference, the Boilermakers lost their next game all three times.

Brohm earned another marquee victory last Saturday when his Cardinals (6-0, 3-0 ACC) topped No. 10 Notre Dame 33-20. The largest crowd in L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium history stormed the field.

The win propelled UL to No. 14 in this week's AP Top 25 poll. Brohm knows what it will take to remain focused and unbeaten.

"We have to get back to reality and get back to work," he said. "If we don't put the work in, we're not going to win. That's just how it works. If we don't understand that, it'll bite us in the rear. I've been there before. We have to concentrate on one game at a time."

Running back Jawhar Jordan figures to play a key role in the offensive gameplan this week. The junior carried the ball 21 times Saturday for 143 yards -- both season highs.

He said he celebrated beating the Irish, but not for long.

"You celebrate Saturday night in the locker room and enjoy the moment," Jordan said. "Then we come in [the next day] and watch film and watch greatness. And you celebrate then too because you're watching yourself do great things.

"But we have a 24-hour rule. It's Pitt week now. So we're focused on Pitt."

Louisville travels to Pittsburgh (1-4, 0-2) this Saturday to take on a struggling team making big changes on offense. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi confirmed Monday that sophomore Christian Veilleux will start at quarterback this week in place of Phil Jurkovec.

Jurkovec, a Boston College transfer, is No. 13 in the ACC in passing yards per game at 163.6. Reports surfaced that he would move to tight end, although Narduzzi downplayed that possibility Monday.

UL defensive lineman Ashton Gillotte said the defense will rely on their coaches to prepare them for a new-look Panthers squad.

"We'll be upstairs with our coaches and they'll be doing their best to get ahead of that and how they're going to use their quarterback," Gillotte said. "Stuff like that you can't fully prepare for, but we're going to do our best. We know what they like to run and we're going to anticipate what they're going to run."

Brohm has familiarity with Veilleux, whom he recruited at Purdue.

"He has talent," Brohm said. "Went to Penn State to start off. I'm sure he's dying to get his shot to prove himself. This was a four-star quarterback who was talented and I'm sure they're going to rally around him."

Brohm preaches to his team about each game being a "one-game" season. He's using that tactic again this week to prepare his team after a signature win.

"I think we've handled it well to this point," Brohm said. "We've had some games that went down the wire and we hung in there. We have to expect this week will be the same deal and get ready to play for 60 minutes."

Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

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