Louisville Defense Preaching Discipline Ahead of Wake Forest Matchup

The Demon Deacons' offense is one of the more efficient and hard to scheme against in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - During their current three-game win streak, the Louisville football program has been slowly generating a ton of momentum on the defensive side fo the ball. Eastern Kentucky scored just a field goal, UCF was held to roughly 10 points and 130 yards under their current averages, and the Cardinals tallied six sacks and 11 tackles for loss against Florida State.

When Louisville puts their winning streak on the line this weekend down at Wake Forest, all of that positive defensive momentum will certainly be put to the test. The No. 24 Demon Deacons might not be the flashiest team in the ACC, but they are without a doubt one of the most efficient.

"What they do, you have to be very, very disciplined, have great eyes, and you just have to do your job," defensive coordinator BryanBrown said. "You have to stay in your gap, because they will find that hole if you don't. You have to be really, really disciplined within that aspect of the game, and you have to do a really good job in coverage."

The Deacs are averaging 430.5 yards of offense per game, good for 45th in FBS, but they have the 20th-best scoring offense at 38.8 points per game. That is partially because they take extremely good care of the football, turning it over just four times in four games, while their defense gives them extra possessions thanks to their ACC-leading 11 turnovers gained.

Not only that, but they have the personnel that can create matchup nightmares. Christian Beal-Smith is a shifty and patient running back, Jaquarii Roberson was a preseason All-ACC wide receiver, and Sam Hartman is one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the conference. Not to mention that RB Justice Ellison and WR A.T. Perry have had breakout-caliber starts to the season as well.

But what makes Wake Forest so difficult to scheme against, and what requires increased amounts of discipline, is their slow mesh RPO zone read. It's your standard read option you see at all levels of football, except the quarterback and running back hold the ball a lot longer, to the point where it almost looks like the two are walking to the line of scrimmage together.

This variant can force defenders to attack gaps they normally would not, allowing the offense to exploit holes in the line and in coverage with ease. Not only will the players have to play incredibly disciplined football, but Brown will have to balance between attacking the scheme, and being patient in order to keep Wake Forest honest.

"If you be slow, then it's going to be methodical the whole time. If you speed them up, then decisions have to be made quicker, and he's gonna throw the football at times," he said. "You got to mix it up a little bit, just to give them different looks. Hopefully we'll be able to show both, but just make sure we're very disciplined in what we're trying to get accomplished."

Kickoff at Wake Forest is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 2 at 12:30 p.m. EST.

(Photo of C.J. Avery, Jack Freudenthal: Jeremy Brevard - USA TODAY Sports)

You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter - @LouisvilleOnSI
Instagram - @louisville_report

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter