Points of Emphasis: Louisville vs. Pitt

The Cardinals host the Panthers for their final home and ACC game of the 2024 season.

Oct 14, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Louisville Cardinals running back Isaac Guerendo (23) carries the ball against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the second quarter at Acrisure Stadium. / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After a little more than a month away from home, the Louisville football program is finally returning to L&N Stadium, and will be taking on Pitt as part of both their ACC and home finale.

Here are some of the more notable storylines heading into Saturday's game:

Injury Report:

After a string of good news on the injury front, the Louisville football program got a little banged up at Stanford.

Running back Isaac Brown suffered a shoulder injury in the first quarter, and did not play the rest of the game. Head coach Jeff Brohm said that he was "hopeful" that he could play this weekend, but could not say with certainty.

Defensive tackles Jared Dawson and Rene Konga also got hurt vs. Stanford, but Brohm did not provide an update on those two in his latest press conference. He had also previously expressed his hope that running back Maurice Turner could return vs. Stanford, but he did not play.

As for Pitt, they are also dealing with significant injuries.

QB Eli Holstein, who is mounting a case for ACC Rookie of the Year, did not play vs. Clemson after sustaining an injury in the previous game vs. Virginia. Head coach Pat Narduzzi said earlier this week that Holstein has yet to be cleared, which could mean another start for Nate Yarnell.

The Panthers also lost three players to season-ending injuries from the Clemson game alone. Wide receiver Censere Lee, running back Daniel Carter and linebacker Jordan Bass all got hurt vs. the Tigers.

Louisville Aiming to not Let a Bad Loss Beat Them Twice

During his time as head coach, Jeff Brohm has developed a reputation of having a let down after winning a big game. That was on display in full force this past weekend, with Louisville losing 38-35 at Stanford after taking down No. 11 Clemson in Death Valley. It marked their fifth-worst loss in program history by point spread, as the Cardinals closed as a 20.5-point favorite.

Even with Louisville having a massive let down fresh off of their big win at Clemson, Brohm believes that this wasn't because his team was still caught up on their performance vs. the Tigers while they prepared for Stanford. He simply chalks that up to not finishing the game.

"Shoot, I can't really say there was," Brohm said when asked if anything suggested in practice that the team hadn't moved on from the Clemson win. "We talked about it a lot, thought we prepared well, got a couple guys a little healthier. We just didn't finish the game. We had the game in our control, didn't finish it. Played bad down the stretch, a lot of things went wrong, and we couldn't we couldn't stop that bleeding. You got to find a way to stop it. We had multiple opportunities to do it, and we couldn't get it done."

That being said, the loss at Stanford is the kind of result that can really linger around a time if they're not careful. While Brohm wants them to feel the sting of that game and use it as motivation, he also wants them to not get overwhelmed by it and have that carry into their week of preparation vs. Pitt.

“We want to feel the pain of the loss and there is a lot of pain to feel," he said. "I think myself, coaches, and players feel the pain and you need to let it motivate you to want to not let it happen again. At the same time, you cannot let it get you down, you have got to respond and move forward. That’s the great thing about sports and football you are going to have some tough times and this was a game you would like to have back but it is over with and you have to move on."

Both Teams Commit Penalties Galore

While there were a lot of reasons why Louisville found themselves losing a Stanford, one of the biggest reasons was because of penalties. The Cardinals committed 13 on the afternoon, including 11 in defense, and two in the final five seconds to allow Stanford to kick the game winning field goal.

“Obviously we have to work on not jumping offsides on defense, those were costly," Brohm said. "We had numerous of those, so we got to practice the hard count against our defense way more than we have and make sure it doesn’t happen again. After you get a couple in a game, you have to pull back and correct it and we did not. It continued and it cost us. I think we had two interceptions on two offsides penalties and we had two sacks with illegal hands to the face, and a face mask. Unfortunate, but we had a lot of penalties that hurt us, and they were costly."

Unfortunately, this has been a season-long issue with Louisville. Through 10 games, the Cardinals rank 90th in the FBS in penalties at 67, and average 51.4 penalty yards per game.

But if you thought that was bad, Pitt is even worse in this department. The Panthers ranked 107th in the nation in penalties at 73, and are 115th nationally in penalty yards per game at 66.4. This past weekend against Clemson, a 24-20 loss, Pitt committed just as many as Louisville did at 13.

Panthers' Front Seven, Once Again, Excelling

Over the years, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi has long established himself as one of the better defensive coaches in the ACC and college football as a whole. While the Panthers don't have a "complete" defense per se, their front seven is without a doubt the best in the ACC.

Pitt ranks 2nd and 3rd in the FBS in tackles for loss and sacks per game, averaging 8.7 and 3.5 per game, respectively. Additionally, their 104.6 rushing yards allowed per game ranks 13th, while their 2.83 yards per rush allowed per game ranks fourth.

With numbers like these, Pitt has multiple impact playmakers in this area of the field. In fact, they sport four players with at least 10 tackles for loss - with Ole Miss being the only team with more at five.

Linebacker Kyle Louis is their defensive MVP so far, leading the ACC in TFLs with 15, while logging seven sacks, four interceptions (including a pick six) and a forced fumble.

“Well, they’re very aggressive, they don’t give you the easy completions, so they’re going to press you across the board," Brohm said of Pitt's defense. "They're going to blitz you quite a bit. They’re going to get after the quarterback, they’re going to rush up the field. The safeties are going to play low, they’re going to force you to throw the ball deep and complete it, but you don’t see a whole lot of [deep completions], because they’re on you tight. They don’t bust many things, they’re very sound at what they do."

(Photo of Isaac Guerendo: Charles LeClaire - Imagn Images)

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