Louisville's Defense Starting to Limit Explosive Big Plays

Over the last two games, the Cardinals have really started to cut down on the amount of game-breaking big plays that they give up.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It might have taken until just past the halfway point of the season, but the Louisville football program finally has a little bit of sustained momentum on their side.

After starting the year with a 2-3 mark, alternating wins and losses with each game, the Cardinals are now on their first win streak of the 2022 season. They took down Virginia 34-17 on the road just before their bye week, then Louisville followed that up with a gritty 24-10 victory against Pitt at Cardinal Stadium.

The primary catalyst for the momentum has been a pair of dominant performance by the defense, as they were able to hold the Cavaliers to 319 total yards of offense, and the Panthers to 326. Even more specifically, they have started to limit the amount of back-breaking big plays that they allow the opposing offense to break off.

"I think (pressuring the quarterback) was huge for us and then not giving up the big plays that went for six (points)," head coach Scott Satterfield said. "We've been talking about that and that was another difference in that game. Their running back (Israel Abanikanda) ended up having some yards, but I think we contained him for most of the day. It's three or four runs where he got out but for most of the day, it was really hard, tough running for him."

Over the first five games of the season, with all issues that have beleaguered Louisville at various points of the year, you could have made an argument that the single-biggest reason their 2-3 start was because they struggled mightily to contain big plays. The only game during this stretch that the Cardinals did not give up at least 12 plays that went for either 15 yards passing or 10 yards rushing was their blowout win over lowly USF. In fact, Louisville was giving up 271.8 yards per game on these type of chunk plays alone even when you do take into account said game against USF.

Sure, both Virginia and Pitt have their issues when it comes to offense, but in their matchups against these two squads, Louisville has started to make very noticeable improvements in this department. They gave up just 10 chunk plays for 197 yards against the Cavaliers, then only eight plays for 176 yards against the Panthers.

The latter performance is far more impressive given who they were stacked up against. Pitt running back Israel Abanikanda was fresh off of a monster performance against Virginia Tech, rushing for 320 yards and six scores, both of which set school records.

Abanikanda was still able to rush for 129 yards and touchdown, but he certainly had to work for it. He just two plays from scrimmage longer than 15 yards - a 37-yard reception and 36-yard reception - and Pitt's lone trip to the end zone was only from 12 yards out on a wildcat play from Abanikanda.

Defensive coordinator Bryan Brown believes that the turnaround in the big play department can be chalked up to both players and coaches making an extra effort to "paying attention to detail."

"Just understanding down and distance situations, when there's a throwaway down, when it's a passing situations, or splits, or formations and things of that nature," he said. "The guys are playing at a high level right now, being able to pay attention to detail. It's great to see. They're excited, man, and hopefully we can keep that trend going on of not giving the big play. ... I'm doing a little bit of it as well. Being able to help those guys, put them in some situations to help them be a little bit more successful as well."

Another reason for this turnaround could be because of the more direct involvement from head coach himself. After their stunning loss to Boston College, Satterfield announced that he would be spending a lot more time with Brown when it came to crafting the defensive game plan.

Satterfield doesn't want to give himself too much credit, instead citing collective buy-in from both players and the defensive coaches.

"Just looking at the whole overall situation there and just trying to, as I’ve mentioned the last few weeks, saying here's some things that maybe I would try to attack that with a certain look so maybe don't do that," he said. "Let's give up this and not that, I think that's the big thing. If you go back to the last two weeks, it's really those big plays. That's really what it comes down to. ... I think our coaches have done a really nice job the last three weeks on that side of the ball and our players have bought into it. So, you know, I just think we've had a good plan, as we've had that last two weeks.”

Louisville's defense will certainly get put to the test in this regard when they host Wake Forest this upcoming weekend. The Demon Deacons sport one of the most prolific offenses in the ACC, averaging 438.7 yards and 41.4 points per game.

"Coach (Dave) Clawson has done an unbelievable job there," Satterfield said. "I feel like they’ve had Sam Hartman for five or six years, and I think he's still got a year left incredibly. He's a great player, runs that offense to a T. The slow read with the running back and then the RPOs (run-pass options) off of that. They have outstanding receivers with length out there that can catch the football. They make a lot of contested catches, it’s incredible the contested catches they make."

Kickoff between the Cardinals and Demon Deacons is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 29 at 3:30 p.m. EST. at Cardinal Stadium.

(Photo via Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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