Points of Emphasis: Louisville vs. Boston College
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After needing a goal line stand to clinch a victory against regional rival Indiana, the Louisville football program is returning home and resuming league play, hosting Boston College for their ACC home opener.
Here are some of the more notable storylines heading into Saturday's game:
Injury Report
This section is a lot more favorable for Louisville than it was this time last week.
Starting safety Josh Minkins, who has had to miss the last two games due to a hamstring issue, is likely to play this weekend against Boston College. Head coach Jeff Brohm said that Minkins was "probably close enough to play (vs. Indiana) if we needed him," but opted to give him rest.
"I expect him to be fully healthy (this weekend), or at least close to it," Brohm said.
The Cardinals also saw the season debuts of both wide receiver Jadon Thompson and safety D'Angelo Hutchinson this past weekend against the Hoosiers. While defensive end Mason Reiger didn't play, he was a full participant in pre-game warmups, and should return sooner rather than later.
Louisville Maintaining 'One-Game Season' Mentality Following 3-0 Start
While the competition to start the year hasn't exactly been chock-full of world beaters, and there have already been times where victory seemed far from assured, Louisville one of just 38 teams in FBS football - which consists of 133 members - who have yet to suffer a loss through the first three weeks of the 2023 college football season.
While head coach Jeff Brohm happy with the fact that Louisville is currently undefeated with wins over Georgia Tech, Murray State and Indiana, but he isn't dwelling on past success and is operating with a "one game season" mentality.
"Well, we're happy that we found a way to win," he said "That's every week. We try to narrow down to a one game season, and not worry about anything else. Whether you win or lose, you got to come back the next week and find a way to win. ... We have to be hungry this week, and understand that in order to win conference football games, we have to try to play our best football every week and make improvements."
Brohm partially attributes Louisville's early success to their grounded mindset: one where the Cardinals don't get too fixated on prior games whether it was a win or loss, and don't look past the opponent right in front of them to potentially bigger games.
"For us, especially in our group, it's always one game at a time," offensive tackle Eric Miller said. "We enjoy a win for 24 hours, and then we're on to Boston College, who took a really, really good Florida State team right down to the wire. That grabs everyone's attention real fast, especially in the locker room."
Brohm Wanting More Defensive Pressure From Louisville
Last season, the Louisville football program was mostly known for their incredibly disruptive defense. However, through the early goings of the 2023 season, they have not had nearly the success they last season in terms of getting in the backfield. In fact, the Cardinals have gone from one of the best in teams in the FBS at creating pressure to one of the worst.
While first year head coach Jeff Brohm isn't sounding the alarm just yet when it comes to Louisville's inability to put up sacks and tackles for loss, and is more so concerned with securing a win vs. the manner in how they secure it, he does want to see his defense make meaningful strides when is comes to creating pressure.
"Yes, we want to try to create more pressure and sacks, that's important to us. In the end, the bottom line is winning, and keeping points down and yards down. We had a couple chances in the backfield, it didn't land last game. So we need to figure out what exactly how we can help that do a better job."
Last season, the Cardinals were the No. 1 team in the FBS in sacks per game at 3.85 per game and No. 7 in tackles for loss at 7.5. So far through three games, Louisville has just two sacks and 13 tackles for loss. This equates to just 0.67 sacks and 4.3 tackles for loss per game, which is good for 126th and 111th nationally, respectively, out of 133 teams at the FBS level.
"Having that perfect combination of bringing heat and pressure, and also 'Alright, how can we maybe lock things up better and cover tighter in certain situations to allow some more time to get in there?'," he said. "That's the balance you have to have. But yes, we're going to look hard again at how we can create more pressure and sacks, and affect the quarterback. That'll always be something we look at every week."
Jack Plummer Takes Another Step Forward vs. Indiana
Over the first two games of the season, Louisville starting quarterback looked good but inconsistent. He struggled mightily with first game jitters in the season opener against Georgia Tech, then had a handful of throws against Murray State that appeared to lack conviction and decisiveness.
While he wasn't perfect against Indiana, Plummer looked much more like the leader he had been billed to be over the offseason.
"I think Jack really works hard. He wants to win. He's a good leader," Brohm said. In today's age of football, there are going to be some plays that maybe aren't going to be open, or a receiver is going to slip and fall, or maybe somebody's going to miss a block, and you have to be able to make some plays with your feet. You can't call the perfect play and get perfect execution every time, in order to do that you have to be smart with the football and learn when to tuck it and run and buy some time to allow some guys to get open. I thought he did a much better job of that."
While the final stat line of 13-for-23 for 238 yards, a touchdown and an interception doesn't suggest progress, a lot of this can be attributed to the inconsistent wide receiver and offensive line play Louisville has. His deep ball got better as the game went on, he made (mostly) good decisions with the football, and his legs played a factor in the final outcome as well. He finished with 42 rushing yards and eight attempts, including 33 on the final drive when Louisville needed to run out the clock.
Louisville Expecting Challenge from Thomas Castellanos
While the Eagles might be 1-2 to start the season, including an overtime home loss to Northern Illinois and a win over FCS foe Holy Cross by just a field goal, new starting quarterback Thomas Castellanos has given Eagles fans a reason to be optimistic.
After just two series in the opener against NIU, starter Emmett Morehead was benched in favor of Castellanos. While the game ended in a loss, the sophomore transfer from UCF showed promise, going 13-for-28 for 138 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also ran for 67 yards and a score. He built on this performance against Holy Cross, going 17-for-23 with 201 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 69 yards.
But the main reason that Castellanos and the Eagles are commanding respect from Louisville is because of their performance last week against Florida State. Facing the No. 3 team in the nation and one of the top defenses in football, Castellanos had his best performance to date, and it nearly put Boston College over the top. He went 20-for-33 with 305 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while also rushing for 95 yards and a score. BC eventually fell 31-29, and had they not committed 18 penalties, they could have outright won.
"Based on the last game, he looked like a more athletic Russell Wilson," Brohm said. "He can run around and make plays, he can throw the football, he can distribute it. He had a really good football game against a good defense. I think that if a quarterback is playing well and confident, it really can carry the team. We're have to find ways to disrupt him, count for him in the run game as well, challenge routes and figure out ways to get after the quarterback. It'll be a really good test for our defense."
Louisville's Offensive Line Off to Dominant Start
Having experience at quarterback and explosiveness at the skill positions has certainly helped Louisville get things going offensively early on in their first season under first year head coach Jeff Brohm. However, an incredibly dominant start to the season by the offensive line has played a key role to the Cardinals' success on that side of the line of scrimmage.
"It's been good to have a pretty decent start to the year," offensive tackle Eric Miller said. "(Offensive line) coach (Richard) Owens, (graduate assistant Noah) Fisher and (quality control) coach (Dale) Williams do a great job getting us prepared every week."
Through three games, Louisville's offensive line has allowed just three sacks and eight tackles for loss. The Cardinals are tied for 19th nationally for the fewest sacks given up, and are tied with Air Force for second in all of football for the fewest tackles for loss allowed. Michigan currently has the fewest at seven. Louisville has also paved open some massive holes for the running backs, allowing them to rush for 251.7 yards per game, which is 4th in the nation.
Louisville's starters on the line - consisting of transfers Miller and Tyler, plus returners Bryan Hudson, Michael Gonzalez and Renato Brown - have been particularly dominant. According to Pro Football Focus, out of this group's 874 combined total snaps played and 468 combined pass block snaps played, they have allowed only 24 quarterback pressures, one quarterback hit and zero sacks.
Battles in the Trenches for Boston College Going in Opposite Directions
Last season, Boston College had one of the worst offensive lines not only in the Power Five, but in college football as a whole. Out of 130 FBS teams in 2022, the Eagles ranked 128th nationally in sacks allowed, and 125th in tackles for loss allowed.
This year, with the help of new offensive line coach Matt Applebaum, this unit has taken a massive step forward. So far through three games, BC is 20th in sacks allowed per game at 1.00 and 38th in tackles for loss allowed per game at 4.33. The Eagles have also seen a modest amount of success running the football (mainly thanks to Castellanos) at 168.7 rushing yards per game, which is good for 58th nationally.
However, this same physicality on the defensive side of the line of scrimmage, and really in the front seven as whole, has been largely absent to start the season. Despite having veteran players like Vinny DePalma, Kam Arnold and Donovan Ezeiruaku, Boston College has been gashed up front defensively.
The Eagles are currently 126th nationally in sacks per game at 0.67, and 128th in tackles for loss per game at 3.3. Opposing teams have also had a tremendous amount of success running the football against BC, averaging 187.3 rushing yards per game, which is 115th nationally.
Penalties, Galore!
Heading into the matchup between Louisville and Boston College, one thing that both teams have in common is the early lack of discipline when it comes to committing penalties.
So far this season, Louisville has amassed 20 penalties, which ranks 80th in the FBS. While the Cardinals have been able to overcome these when it comes to the win/loss column, a lot of these have been incredibly untimely penalties that have completely derailed drives or swung momentum in the other direction.
However, Boston College is much, much worse in this department. The Eagles are, quite literally, the worst team in college football when it comes to penalties. They have committed an astounding 38 penalties in three games, which is four more than second-place Hawaii who has played four games. In their last game against Florida State, a game that BC nearly won, they committed a school-record 18 penalties.
(Photo of Jawhar Jordan: Bob DeChiara - USA TODAY Sports)
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