Final Thoughts and Observations on Louisville vs. Virginia

The Cardinals snapped a two-game losing streak with a comeback win against the Cavaliers.

Oct 12, 2024; Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; Virginia Cavaliers tight end Tyler Neville (16) catches a pass as Louisville Cardinals defensive back Tamarion McDonald (12) defends during the first half at Scott Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images / Amber Searls-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program is back on the right side of the win/loss column, snapping a two-game skid with a 24-20 comeback win at Virginia.

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

• First of all, you probably have mixed emotions from this game if you're a Louisville fan. On one hand, getting a victory is always something to cheer about, and you'd certainly take that over a loss. On the other hand... the Cardinals, once again, did not come out and play a consistent and clean brand of football. Above anything else, win or lose, I was looking for if this team had to capacity to play with much more decisiveness than they have in the last three games. Well, it's safe to say that the answer to that is a big, fat "no." Don't get me wrong, the players made plays went it counted most, and some aspects of the coaching staff were able to show an ability to adapt (both during the week of preparation and on game day). That being said, this game did not elicit warm and fuzzy feelings for me when it was all said and done. Things very well could be trending upwards, but there are still some very real concerns with this team.
• As far as the coaching goes, there was some to like, and there was some that left a little to be desired. Defensively, Ron English being on the sideline instead of up in the booth appears to have made a huge difference. Sure, Virginia and SMU don't exact run at the same tempo, but there weren't any play that Virginia too advantage off simplt because Louisville wasn't ready for the snap. Now, as far as the defensive play calling and execution? It was certainly a mixed bag. In my opinion, I think Louisville ultimately would find more defensive success if they up their blitz percentage a bit (but not to anything crazy). But at least from an organizational standpoint, Louisville's defense seems to be trending in the right direction. As far as the offensive coaching goes? I still don't think Louisville should be operating at a near 50/50 split when it comes to run vs. pass, but at least Isaac Brown got the overwhelming majority of the carries and snaps - unlike in weeks prior. When it comes to the play calling itself, there were a few good calls, but overall, I'm still waiting for the moment this season where one of my first reactions is "Wow, Brohm was in his bag that game." His play calling tendencies, even on passing plays, still don't seem to be nearly as diverse as we've seen in the past.
• Alright, now onto the play on the field. This week, I'm going to talk about the defense first - because contrary to popular belief, that side of the line of scrimmage actually played a good game. Yes, they gave up 449 yards. But that's mainly because time of possession favored Virginia by nearly 10 minutes. In fact, Louisville averaged more yards per play than Virginia did. While allowing the Cavaliers to go 8-of-19 on third down is not good in the slightest, they made up for it by excelling in the red zone. Of UVA's four red zone trips, only one of them ended in a touchdown. Of Virginia's 11 drives overall, only two ended in touchdowns. Plus, even after giving up three straight scoring drives in the second half, they made up for it by closing out the game with a three-and-out and turnover on downs. Again, I'm not saying the defense was perfect, but they performed a lot better than people want to admit.
• The primary factor behind the defense having a bounce back game, in my opinion, was getting some improved push from the defensive line. It took a couple drives for it to really kick in - and even still I wouldn't call it truly enforcing their will - but the down linemen in this game were certainly more disruptive and got home in the backfield more so than they have in the past few weeks. Obviously guys like Ashton Gillotte and Ramon Puryear performed well according to the box score, but this was the first game this season where guys like Jordan Guerad and Thor Griffith made a visible difference in making the quarterback uncomfortable. Although I do have one question - where were Rene Konga and Tramel Logan? Both have been key contributors this season, and neither played in this game. Some transparency from the staff would be nice, but I digress.
• Additionally, while it was a roller coaster of a game for the secondary as a whole, you can't deny that they made some serious plays down the stretch and in spurts as a whole. Quincy Riley, Corey Thornton and Tayon Holloway combined for an absurd seven pass breakups in this games. M.J. Griffin also had one of his better tackling performances at Louisville. Riley, Thornton and D'Angelo Hutchinson all made crucial plays on the final UVA drive. It definitely made up for the fact that Riley and Thornton combined for five missed tackles, and UVa wideout Malachi Fields had a monster day.
• Speaking of missed tackles... this was a ROUGH day for Louisville's defense in that department. By the end of the day, they had a whopping 12 missed tackles. And it wasn't just because of one player inflating the number. Multiple guys did some ankle biting and took poor angles. That is something that has got to get cleaned up.
• This was another game where Louisville struggled to contain a rushing quarterback, and common theme is starting to emerge why: T.J. Quinn is having a massive slump after excelling last season. While other players like Thornton and Stanquan Clark have struggled with their fundamentals at times when the quarterback runs, Quinn has consistently been one of the main reasons why opposing QBs have so much success with their legs. On top of that, he hasn't been much better in pass coverage, either. Sure, maybe English can do a better job schematically speaking and put guys in better position, but we have a big enough sample size to suggest that he is a weak link on the defense right now.
• What makes Louisville's inability to defend a rushing quarterback even more baffling is the fact that they continue to excel when defending actual running backs. You'd think they'd be more disciplined than they are right now.
• Now onto the offensive side of the ball. While there was a lot to like from the offensive, there were also some blemishes, and the biggest one were the penalties. Committing eight penalties is bad enough, but six coming from the offense is awful - plus three came from Chris Bell alone! Him coming along in his maturity was a big talking point over the offseason, but in the last three games, he has been anything but mature. Talk about a huge disappointment there.
• One of the biggest things holding back this offense has been their execution on third down and in the red zone - and both were terrible on Saturday. While they were in a lot of 3rd and longs, you won't beat many teams going 3-for-10 on third downs.
• We've become accustomed to Tyler Shough having efficient performances up to this point, but this wasn't his best game. He had a handful of good throws, but his overall touch on the ball was just okay. Sure, there were other factors that played a role here, but overall, it was a bit surprisingly that he didn't have a better day considering how bad Virginia's secondary was heading into this game.
• Speaking of which, while Ja'Corey Brooks had that great 61-yard catch and run, I was little shocked that he didn't have more than five catches on the day because of how much the UVA secondary struggled. He still had a good day overall, so no harm, no foul I suppose.
• Caullin Lacy might not have had the most prolific day, but he had three of the biggest plays of the day. The first one was having the awareness to fall on the line drive punt that smacked a player and made it a live ball. Then he had two massive runs after the catch for first downs on the final scoring drive. He was one of the biggest difference makers in this game.
• Jamari Johnson also made a great plays, and not just with his go-ahead touchdown catch. He made several great run blocks, including a crucial one that helping Isaac Brown score his second touchdown of the day. But while I'm thinking about it... I'm not sure why Brohm and Co. aren't using more 12 personnel with how well both him and Mark Redman are playing. Plus it might help out with some of the blocking issues that Louisville has right now.
• While I'm on that subject, Louisville has some serious issues at the tackle spots right now. Guards Michael Gonzalez and Austin Collins had good games, while center Pete Nygra was okay but certainly better than he was at Notre Dame. Right tackle Jonathan Mendoza has really struggled to hold his own over the last few weeks. Add in the injury to left tackle Monroe Mills which has had to elevate Trevonte Sylvester and Rasheed Miller up the depth chart, as well as a lingering injury with Renato Brown, there isn't a clear fix in sight here.
• Before we close out, I saved the best for last: Isaac Brown. With each passing week, this guy gets closer and closer to becoming a certified star. He continues to display next level speed and maneuverability, and he's just a true freshman! Not to mention that he's slowly getting better at running between the tackles as well. If Brohm is going to continue wanting to go with a 50/50 pass vs. run approach, he needs to continue giving Brown as many carries as possible. In fact, even when (if?) Maurice Turner returns, it might be in the team's best interest to get Brown at RB1.
• No, I'm not having the discussion about officials anymore. I'll just say the same thing I've said multiple times already. They're ACC refs. What did you expect?
• I'll close with this thought: Overall, Louisville does deserve some credit for making plays when they absolutely needed to be made, as well as showing the willingness to make some changes with their approach. However, at present moment, there are still far too many things that they need to clean up if we are to think this team can rebound in the second half of the season and make a run at getting back to the ACC Championship. Now if they go out against Miami and continue making progress when it comes to consistency and efficiency - even to the point where it puts them in position to pull off the upset - then we can revisit that conversation. But until then, this team doesn't seem like a legitimate threat to contend for an ACC title.

(Photo of Tyler Neville, Tamarion McDonald: Amber Searls - Imagn Images)

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