Brohm has Louisville in national championship picture

	Louisville fans wanted a piece of quarterback Brian Brohm after the team's landmark win against West Virginia. Andy Lyons/Getty Images
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- They told him he was crazy -- and at the time, he probably was. Hometown boy or not, how could the Sports Illustrated cover boy/USA Today player of the year/all-around quarterback phenom pass up the opportunity to play at a perennial power like Tennessee or Notre Dame and attend a then-Conference USA school and regular GMAC Bowl participant?

Didn't he want to be part of the pageantry and spectacle of big-time college football?

Didn't he want to play for a national championship?

On Thursday night, at a stadium 10 minutes from his childhood home, on the same campus where his father and two brothers once achieved their own gridiron glory, Brian Brohm emerged from a mosh pit of black-clad fans celebrating at midfield and posed for a picture with his girlfriend. He'd just played in as big a game as the Vols or Irish will play this season. And, thanks in large part to his 354-yard performance, the school he chose now has a far better chance of playing for this season's national championship than Tennessee, Notre Dame or any number of other more established powers.

"It's been a dream of mine since I was little kid to have Louisville on this stage," said Brohm after his fifth-ranked Cardinals team knocked off No. 3 West Virginia 44-34 here Thursday night. "If we win out, I think we deserve to play [for the national championship]."

"Louisville" and "national championship" in the same sentence? It wasn't that long ago such a statement would have seemed like a pipe dream. About two years ago, actually. Suddenly, it's as realistic a goal for this so-called "basketball school" as it is for No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan. That's because the Cardinals -- barring an unforeseen backlash from the pollsters -- will likely be sitting at No. 3 when the new BCS standings are released Sunday night.

As to whether Louisville turned in a national-championship performance ... that will likely be a matter of much debate around the country -- particularly SEC country -- over the next seven days.

In many ways, this much-anticipated battle of powerful Big East offenses was exactly as advertised. In other ways, it was a tremendous disappointment. Just as expected, West Virginia stars Pat White (347 total yards) and Steve Slaton (156 rushing yards) showed off their track-star speed. Just as expected, Louisville's Brohm (19-of-26, 354 yards, one touchdown) and receivers Harry Douglas (six catches, 116 yards) and Mario Urrutia (six catches, 113 yards, one TD) showed off the explosiveness for which head coach Bobby Petrino's teams have become synonymous.

And yet the game was decided as much by a pair of fumbles and the defensive/special-teams touchdowns that followed them as it was the teams' combined 1,008 yards of offense.

After a back-and-forth first half that started with the first of numerous picturesque downfield completions by Brohm, contained an electrifying Slaton 42-yard touchdown run and ended shortly after Louisville kicker Art Carmody's third field goal, the Cardinals went to the locker room clinging to a 16-14 lead. The only certainty at that point was that there would be plenty more points scored before the night was done.