Previewing the Enemy: Five Questions with Matt McGavic of Louisville Report

To preview Saturday's football game between Indiana and Louisville, HoosiersNow.com spoke with Matt McGavic of Louisville Report, asking him five questions relevant to the Week 3 game, and to the Indiana-Louisville "rivalry" as a whole.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Coach Tom Allen and the Indiana Hoosiers have a matchup against coach Jeff Brohm and the Louisville Cardinals this Saturday inside Lucas Oil Stadium. 

With this Week 3 matchup of the 2023 college football season soon approaching, HoosiersNow.com spoke with Matt McGavic, the deputy editor of Louisville Report on Sports Illustrated/FanNation. 

Here are McGavic's answers to five big questions on every Indiana fan's mind entering Saturday's game. 

Five Questions to Preview Indiana vs Louisville 

Hoosiers Now: "Obviously the game on Saturday is what's most important right now, but the big news this week was the official cancellation of the Indiana-Louisville series, where originally IU would be playing at Louisville in 2024, and the Cardinals would be traveling to Bloomington in 2025. How does Louisville as a program, and Louisville fans overall, feel about that? Are they upset at the loss of a close proximity regional matchup, or do they just want two easy non-conference games against non-Power 5 teams each year, given that Kentucky is already an annual matchup?"

McGavic: "As you can imagine, the news of the cancellation has elicited the typical fanbase-on-fanbase banter. Many Louisville fans have opted to go the “IU is scared” route, although from IU’s standpoint, I can understand wanting to switch out Louisville for an FCS school given how tough their schedule already is. In fact, while not all Louisville fans feel this way, I get the vibe that a large portion of fans want the schedule to have as much quality competition as they can get, but aren’t really sad to lose Indiana specifically. Many would actually like to see Cincinnati added to the schedule, although I doubt this is the case."

Hoosiers Now: "While Indiana fans probably don't have a lot of familiarity with this current Louisville team, they're very familiar with coach Jeff Brohm. Does this Louisville squad already look like a Brohm era Purdue team, in terms of how often they pass the ball and the overall identity of the program?"

McGavic: "Honestly, in terms of what I expected this team to look like given Brohm’s history as a pass-heavy coach, this team’s style through the first two games hasn’t really reflected that. Normally, Brohm is all about passing the ball with regularity, but so far, the Cardinals have logged 79 rushing attempts to 65 passing attempts. Now, part of that is because the passing game has looked disjointed at times with the inconsistencies of quarterback Jack Plummer. But that being said, the offensive line has (mostly) dominated at the line of scrimmaged early on, and the running backs have collectively performed very well. Louisville currently has the No. 4 offense in college football at 582.0 yards per game, and that’s in large part because they have the No. 3 rushing attack at 285.5 rushing yards per game."

Hoosiers Now: "When Indiana coaches have talked about Louisville, they don't really mention the quarterback Plummer all too much. It's a lot more talk about their running backs and wide receivers, and how explosive they are on the outside. Who are Louisville's best skill position players and how do they threaten defenses?"

McGavic: "Without a doubt, the conversation at the skill positions starts with running back Jawhar Jordan and wide receiver Jamari Thrash. Stretching back to the end of last season, Jordan has shown an elite level of explosiveness on the ground, and is the definition of a home run hitter. Despite being a running back with a slightly smaller frame, he has been completely comfortable running in between the tackles, and not just on the outside. He's shown at times that he isn’t afraid to take contact. As a result, he has collected 231 yards and three touchdowns this season on just 14 carries. In fact, he’s currently the FBS leader in yards per attempt at 16.5. As for Thrash, the Georgia State transfer has shown early that the transition from the Group of Five to the ACC has been a seamless one. He has great open field speed, an elite catch radius and fantastic body control. While he has been limited at times due to the aforementioned inconsistencies with Plummer’s accuracy, he still has 10 catches for 170 yards and three touchdowns."

Tight window throw by Jack Plummer to Jamari Thrash for the 73-yard TD. Louisville leads 21-0 on Murray State.

pic.twitter.com/KIIbYjf4mN

— Brendan Moore (@bmoorecfb) September 8, 2023

Hoosiers Now: "Conversely on defense, at what positions is Louisville the strongest, and at what parts of the 11-man unit are they the weakest?"

McGavic: "Their biggest strength right now is probably on the defensive line or at cornerback. The coaching staff likes where the line is at in terms of impact starters and quality depth, not to mention that arguably Louisville’s best defender is defensive end Ashton Gillotte. They won’t be nearly as disruptive as they were last season, but they have game-wreckers for sure. At corner, it’s a bit of the same story. Jarvis Brownlee Jr. is a physical corner who prides on being a nuisance, Quincy Riley has arguably the best cover skills on the team and Storm Duck gives the position All-ACC experience. As for the weakest, it’s probably safety just because of the numbers. Starter M.J. Griffin was lost for the season in fall camp, fellow starter Josh Minkins is questionable due to a hamstring injury and reserve D’Angelo Hutchinson will also miss extended time. The only scholarship safeties left now are Devin Neal and Cam’Ron Kelly. Both are very capable guys, and while Louisville can rotate some other defensive backs into the safety rotation, depth is a massive question mark there."

Hoosiers Now: "What's your final score prediction for this game and why?"

McGavic: "I'm picking Louisville to win this one, 31-17. I do really like Indiana’s defense and think it’s one of the more underrated units in the Big Ten, but I don’t think their offense can keep up. I believe IU will make this close for about three quarters before Louisville is able to pull away late."

Related Stories on Indiana Football:

• HOOSIER ROUNDTABLE PODCAST: Matt McGavic of Louisville Report joined the Hoosier Roundtable Podcast on Wednesday to help preview Indiana's next football game this Saturday. CLICK HERE
• IU USED WRONG PROCESS TO MAKE RIGHT CHOICE AT QB: Indiana named Tayven Jackson as its starting quarterback, and that was probably the correct decision. But the process coach Tom Allen took to reach that decision — using a run-heavy approach vs Ohio State, and playing both quarterbacks against a bad FCS team — was flawed. CLICK HERE
• HOW IU CHOSE TAYVEN JACKSON: Coach Tom Allen said on Monday that Tayven Jackson has been chosen as the Indiana's full-time starting quarterback, and said that the redshirt freshman plays better than he practices. CLICK HERE
• STOCK UP, STOCK DOWN: Coach Tom Allen and the Indiana Hoosiers absolutely dominated their FCS opponents on Friday night to the tune of a 41-7 win. Here's whose stock is on the rise following the Week 2 win, and whose stock took a downturn. CLICK HERE