Brown: Louisville football can erase all doubts by beating Florida State in ACC title game

The real stakes for Louisville football start this week as it prepares to face Florida State in the ACC championship game.

Yeah, losing to Kentucky was bad locally for U of L fans who want to do things like get a haircut in peace, or now have to take a different route to an office workspace to avoid bumping into a UK fan.

It’s not a big deal nationally, although Louisville coach Jeff Brohm admitted it still stings when he joined the ACC championship game teleconference Sunday.

What the loss accomplished, though, was planting another seed of doubt as to just how good the Cardinals are.

An ACC championship can alter the narrative for those outside of the commonwealth who will see Louisville play the Seminoles.

“Without question, it's a huge football game for us,” Brohm said. “We’re now in the national spotlight against an undefeated opponent that has a great chance of making the (College Football Playoff), and we’ve got to prove our value.”

Ah, yes. Louisville’s value.

That has been questioned many times throughout the season, with some national observers wondering if U of L’s record was boosted by weak teams, so let’s tackle it right here.

The Cards played on the road three times in September, while a lot of teams never left home more than once back then and played only four road games the entire season.

Brohm did that as a first-year coach at U of L with an influx of newcomers from the transfer portal and players he’d never coached before, which left a lot of uncertainty as to how they’d handle it.

Not only did the Cards came out unscathed, that final road win of the month at N.C. State looks a lot better now than it did then. The Wolfpack finished third in the ACC.

The Cards' 13-10 win was something neither Clemson nor North Carolina — two teams that were expected to compete for the conference crown — could do in Raleigh. It was the Pack's only home loss in ACC play. Notre Dame was the only other team to beat N.C. State at home this season.

Next, there are those who keep bringing up U of L’s ACC schedule. And, yes, in the preseason, it looked as if it was easier than most because the Cards played all five of the teams that did not play in a bowl game last season.

Peek at the league standings now, though.

Only five schools finished with winning records in conference play. Louisville played and beat three (N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech) of the other four schools that finished with winning conference records. The Seminoles only played the Hokies among those four.

Louisville’s win over Notre Dame, which as a reminder snapped the 30-game regular-season win streak the Irish had over ACC opponents, also knocked it out of the CFP conversation.

While it only propelled the Cards for a week before they lost at Pitt, it still ranks as their best win of the season.

A victory over the Seminoles in Charlotte, North Carolina, would top that one.

That's undefeated and No. 4 Florida State with an ACC title on the line.

“You can have a feeling in your heart for the rest of your life that, 'Man, we did something that no one thought we could do,' so that's what the goal is,” Brohm said. “And I think these guys understand that, hey, we got one shot to win a championship.”

And one shot to erase all doubts about what a special season Louisville football put together.

U of L vs. FSU first look: ACC championship game story lines, odds, key players and more

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter atprofile.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: ACC championship game: Louisville football can erase doubts with a win