Final Thoughts and Observations on Louisville vs. Virginia

The Cardinals captured their 11th-straight home game to keep their hopes of making the ACC Championship game alive.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With a potential berth to the ACC Championship and a double-digit home winning streak on the line, the Louisville football program was able to mount a fourth quarter comeback and avoid a massive upset, rallying past Virginia for a 31-24 victory.

Before we close the book on the game and transition to the matchup vs. Virginia, I wanted to provide some closing thoughts and observations from the game against the Hokies:

• First of all, I'll fully admit that I did not see the game playing out the way that it did. I know that Virginia had been competitive at times and played in multiple one-score losses this season, and that it was on a short turnaround. But given how Georgia Tech had ran all over the Hoos the week before, and how Louisville had been excelling with running the ball as of late, I thought that the Cardinals would steamroll the Cavaliers. Especially considering that the game was at L&N Stadium, and that almost every other stat imaginable favored Louisville. While UofL certainly did not play their cleanest game, credit has to go to the entire team for performing when it mattered the most.
• From a coaching and game management standpoint, this certainly wasn't Jeff Brohm's best performance. Louisville had made their hay over the last two games playing a physical brand of football where they just line right up and attack, and he was getting way too cute with his play calling for the first few quarters. Granted, Virginia had a great defensive game plan where they stacked the box and dared quarterback Jack Plummer to throw the ball around, and it damn near worked. However, the Cavaliers had shown vulnerability on the edges early on, but when Brohm did dial up a run, it was almost always one straight up the middle and into a mass of Hoos. Then the quarterback keepers, for both Plummer and Evan Conley given the fronts they were facing, were just mind-boggling.
• Speaking of Plummer... well, where do I begin. This was reminiscent of some of his performances from earlier in the season. While he did finish with a good completion rate and made plays when they mattered most, he was very much Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in this game. He still does not have a consistent grasp of how to navigate inside the pocket when pressure is coming, which is something you certainly don't expect from a sixth-year senior, and that pick-six was by far the worst decision that Plummer has made all season. I mean, the linebacker was *right there*, and he didn't even see him. That all being said, he played his best football in the fourth quarter. He made much more sound decisions, and his game-tying long bomb to Ahmari Huggins-Bruce was almost completely in stride. Not that it needed to be anyways with how wide open he was, but still.
• The legend of Isaac Guerendo only continues to grow. Of course, Jawhar Jordan is still the unquestioned star in that running back room. But if you ask me, it seems like that hamstring issue is hampering him more than we realize, and has caused him to lose a step in his explosiveness. Enter Guerendo. He only got six carries, but his final one he got, he made the most out of with a long game-tying run. His late season renaissance has been one of the biggest developments of the year for the Cardinals.
• An underrated component to this game was that the wide receiver corps did do Plummer many favors. For a large portion of the night, this group did not run crisp route and struggled to get separation from defenders because of it. A handful of guys did make plays at times, such as Huggins-Bruce, Chris Bell, Jadon Thompson and Jimmy Calloway. But with Jamari Thrash still very much limited with that wrist injury, someone needs to step up and be a more consistent option.
• As for the offensive line, their run blocking wasn't great per se, but it's kind of hard to be when Virginia was stacking the box as often as they were and Brohm kept calling runs up the middle. I've been critical of their run blocking as of late, but I'll give them a pass here. Conversely, they were once again great in pass protection for a large portion of the game. Plummer just needs to get better at not taking sacks.
• I said it last week, I said it earlier in the season, and I'll say it again now: Joey Gatewood needs to be more involved in the offense. Blocking has been extremely hit-or-miss in the tight end room regardless of who is out there, and Gatewood has been the only one that has shown anything consistent as a pass catcher. Duane Martin at fullback, Gatewood at tight end. Pencil that in.
• Now onto the defensive side of the ball, but I'm going to talk about the coaching aspect first. For the most part, I think Ron English and Mark Hagen dialed up a solid game plan, utilizing the pressure that the front seven can generate to put Virginia behind the sticks. What I *didn't* like was that the defensive backs played soft coverage for a large majority of the night. I'm not saying that they should have pressed the entire time, but considering how effective Virginia is in the short area of the field with their passing attack, giving wide receivers extra unnecessary space wasn't a good call. Also, Louisville struggled immensely when Virginia went tempo, and both the coaching staff and players never seemed to get comfortable and adjust to it.
• That being said, this defense did make a lot of opportunistic plays. Devin Neal made a tough interception to start the second half that required a lot of concentration. Ashton Gillotte and Jared Dawson had a crucial combined sack early in the fourth quarter. Mason Reiger had pass break up at the line of scrimmage in a tie game. Antonio Watts - who has been playing excellent football in the last couple weeks - read a reverse play perfectly for a thunderous forced fumble. Their backs were certainly against the wall after giving up 21 points in the third quarter, and they still hung in there.
• The front seven did an excellent job when it came to stopping Virginia's running backs, as the Cavs got very little production on the ground from guys not named Anthony Colandrea. However, outside of Gillotte and Dawson, Louisville was able to generate a ton of pass rush. Not only did that play a large role in UVA's success in getting their aerial attack, it allowed Colandrea to break the pocket numerous times for big gains. I was a tad surprised to see that English and Hagen never put someone as a spy on Colandrea, especially in that third quarter where his tempo runs made him look like the second coming of Cam Newton.
• On one hand, the secondary didn't have their best showing and allowed for several wide open busted coverage in both man and zone coverage. That much is true. But on the other hand, UVA wideout Malik Washington can flat out play. There's a reason he was the ACC's leading receiver heading into this game, and he put that on full display. It's hard to fault this unit for having the dubious task of trying to guard one of the best wideouts in college football, but Neal and Storm Duck did get picked on a lot in this game.
• Hoo boy, special teams was certainly a roller coaster in this one. There was the bobbled snap on a field goal attempt and a fumble from Kevin Coleman on a botched punt, but then then there was the perfect punt from Brady Hodges to set up a blocked punt returned for a touchdown by Louisville. Brock Travelstead missed an easy 35-yard field goal early in the third quarter, but then made up for it in the fourth quarter by connecting on another 35-yard attempt. Special teams will certainly keep you on the edge of your seat, that's for sure.
• Before I wrap up, I want to give my thoughts and prayers to Virginia running back Perris Jones. That was a scary scene after his huge hit, and as someone who watched Damar Hamlin collapse in real time, I couldn't help but think back to that as Jones was on the ground motionless for roughly 10 minutes. Fortunately, he was able to regain some control of his extremities, and recently underwent successful spine surgery. Here's hoping to a speedy and full recovery.
• I'll close with this thought: every upper tier team in college football certainly has clunkers. Louisville already had one at Pitt, FSU had to survive a comeback at Boston College, Washington has looked vulnerable since beating Oregon, Georgia was on the ropes at Auburn, and so on and so forth. But no matter the circumstances, good teams find ways to win, and that is exactly what happened with Louisville against Virginia. Now, a berth in the ACC Championship is within arm's reach because of it.

(Photo of Isaac Guerendo: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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