Louisville's Coaches Not Overlooking Rich Rodriguez, Jacksonville State

The Gamecocks might be 0-1 to start the season, but the Cardinals know to take JSU seriously because of their head coach's established success.

Nov 18, 2023; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Jeff Brohm looks on from the sideline against the Miami Hurricanes during the second quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. / sam navarro-usa today sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program's 2024 season couldn't have gotten off to a better start.

While a handful of power conference teams across the nation struggled some with week one FCS opponents, the Cardinals did not play with their food. Welcoming Austin Peat to L&N Stadium, Louisville put their foot on the gas from start to finish, eventually coming out on top with a 62-0 win.

On paper, many would be led to believe that a somewhat similar result could be in line this weekend. Jacksonville State is marching into L&N Stadium this Saturday, and Louisville opened up as 25.5-point favorite.

That being said, the Cardinals' coaching staff knows better than to overlook the Gamecocks, and that's primarily because of their head coach: Rich Rodriguez.

Yes, *that* Rich Rodriguez.

"He's the forefather of that system," defensive coordinator Ron English said. "He's proven over years and years to be successful. So he's going to challenge you in a lot of ways. Your discipline, are you sound? Did you put your guys in the right position? They're going to be conflicted at times where they have to do exactly what they're told to do. The coaches have to spend a lot of time making sure that we are telling them the appropriate things in terms of assignment and alignment."

Rodriguez might be at Jacksonville State, but at one point in time, he was one of the top up-and-coming coaches in the sport. As English noted, Rodriguez is considered the grandfather of the run-heavy and zone read-based version of the no huddle spread offense, and he has seen a lot of success with this system.

"In that type of offense, you are always going to have to count for the quarterback as a runner, which does make things harder," head coach Jeff Brohm said. "They gain an extra blocker, they are taking out extra defender, a lot of times in your defense you are trying to plus-one in what you are doing in the run game to make sure you have a extra hat. When he is running the ball, you don’t have that extra hat. You have to be really good, you mix in the play action off of it, mix in the tempo of them trying to get plays in and snap before you are ready and set, and get your calls in. It's always has been beneficial for them. The speed of the game can throw you off guard, and that’s challenging."

As the head coach at his alma mater of West Virginia from 2001 to 2007, Rodriguez turned the Mountaineers into a national championship contender. In fact, with an overall head coaching record of 181-126-2, he entered the 2024 season seventh among active FBS head coaches in career wins.

Louisville fans are certainly familiar with the man known as "Rich Rod," facing the Cardinals three times from 2005 to 2007 while at West Virginia. Their 2005 matchup in Morgantown saw Louisville blow a 24-7 lead en route to a 46-44 triple overtime loss, thanks in part to the emergence of QB Pat White and RB Steve Slaton. The 2006 matchup in Louisville is quite possibly the best regular season game in program history, with the Cardinals claiming the top-five Thursday night blackout game to the tune of 44-34. Louisville came close to upsetting West Virginia on the road for the 2007 matchup, but fell 38-31.

Rodriguez eventually left West Virginia for Michigan, but was fired after three disappointing seasons in addition to getting the Wolverines hammered by NCAA sanctions. He then spent a year as an analyst for CBS Sports before being hired to coach Arizona. While he spent six years with the Wildcats and even guided them to a Fiesta Bowl appearance in 2014, he was dismissed following the 2017 season. After taking on coordinator roles at Ole Miss and ULM, Jax State hired Rodriguez as their head coach ahead of the 2022 season.

Like Louisville fans, Brohm is also very familiar with Rodriguez. He was on Louisville's sideline as an assistant coach during all three of their matchups against a Rodriguez-led WVU team, and even coached against him. Rich Rod's final game at UA came in the Foster Farms Bowl against Brohm's first year Purdue team. The Boilermakers won 38-35.

"Coach Rodriguez has been coaching a long time, and was really one of the main ones to perfect the spread offense, and the ability to use the quarterback as a runner and passer with great tempo," Brohm said. "To hit some plays on you before you lined up, and he's been really good at it."

Rodriguez experienced a great amount of success in his first two years at Jax State. During the 2022 season, the Gamecocks' final year at the FCS level, he guided them to a 9-2 overall record and an ASUN championship. Last season, JSU had a smooth transition to the FBS level, posting a 9-4 record and finishing third in the Conference USA standings.

As for their 2024 season, things could have gone better for Jacksonville State. Thanks primarily to three turnovers - two of which came in the first quarter - the Gamecocks were blown out at home to Coastal Carolina to the tune of 55-27.

Even with that lackluster first performance by JSU, Brohm knows better than to overlook Jax State because of Rich Rod's prowess as a head coach.

"He knows how to take players and maximize their talent level, so we'll have our hands full, "This is going to be a well coached team. It's going to be a hungry team coming off a loss at home that they weren’t happy with. They just turned the ball over quite a bit, and got down and couldn't overcome it. If the games close, and they are able to do what they want, which is utilize the quarterback in the run game, then they are very dangerous. It's important to try to find a way to get a lead and make them throw the ball more than they want."

Heading into their matchup with Louisville this weekend, Rodriguez noted on his radio show that he will continue to utilize a two quarterback system between Furman transfer Tyler Huff and Nebraska transfer Logan Smothers. Huff went 7-of-14 for 173 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions, while Smothers was 7-of-13 for 61 yards.

While these two signal callers combined to rush for just 28 yards last week against the Chanticleers, they have shown in the past to be dangerous runners. Regardless of who is in the game, Brohm and his staff have worked hard all summer to game plan against the QB run to get them out of their comfort zone.

"We've worked, really all offseason, for the first two games to defend the quarterback run," he said. "It's important we put it to use this week, because they will take advantage if you don’t. Coach Rodriguez has been doing this for a long time. If he can get in a flow, and get things going the way they want, and get a lead, then they are at the advantage. He is very comfortable calling games that way.”

(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Sam Navarro - USA TODAY Sports)

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