The Louisville football team held serve with Ole Miss in the first quarter before falling behind in the second. Mistakes continued to plague the team, but a few big plays kept this game close. While the team had great energy on both sides of the ball, this was the segment of the game where they probably could have won the game if they played better football.
Let’s dive into some of the plays that stood out.
This was the play that calmed my concerns about Lincoln Kienholz. Brian Brohm definitely made
a note to review this on film on Monday because you can’t ask for more from your quarterback. Linc gets to the top of his drop and feels the rush getting up the field immediately. He does exactly what you want at that point by pushing off of his back foot to get up into the pocket to ensure he doesn’t take a sack. Then he shows some poise by taking the easy checkdown in front of him to get a first down to keep the chains moving.
The early jitters were a mix of play calls and Linc just not being able to settle down. But this play was all I needed to know that he would be fine.
The play above is why this play didn’t bother me in my overall view of Linc. There’s no denying that this was a huge miss, and it is the exact type of play that he has to make consistently. The opportunities to hit easy touchdown passes like this are few and far between. But this happens. Quarterbacks say that sometimes the wide-open guys are the hardest throws. We just all got to see it play out pretty obviously in real time with the poor mechanics.
I didn’t purposely start this film review with a play to heap praise on Linc, but that’s how the game just played out. The same poise that he showed on the checkdown to Isaac Brown was needed on this play as well. He is immediately pressured and makes the right decision to bail the pocket with his eyes up, looking for an option. He just flat-out doesn’t make the throw that’s needed. He tries to shotput this ball as if Lawayne McCoy is a few yards ahead of him instead of just lobbing it into the space ahead of the receiver.
I have watched this play a million times, and I can’t really figure Evan Wibberly snaps the ball and immediately spins to pick up the rusher on the left side of the play. But he gets into a pass set as opposed to getting depth and getting out in front of Linc. All of the routes are flooded to the left of the formation, which also leads me to believe that this play is a designed rollout to the left. So, this play may have just been a complete bust, and other players deserve some criticism if so.
This is an NFL-level play by Stanquan Clark. It’s the type of play that you expect from your veteran middle linebacker who has played a ton of snaps in your defense. It’s also a play that you expect your star player to make in a very big game. Stanquan has done it before, but it was so good to see him do it with a national spotlight.
This is a basic drop-8 cloud zone call by Mark Ivey on third down to get as many guys into passing lanes as possible. Trinidad Chambliss initially looks left, which draws Stanquan to the middle of the field. But he doesn’t fully commit because of his zone responsibility. He knows he has to pass off the receiver that runs through his field of vision. When Chambliss moves to his next read, Stanquan breaks on the ball and makes a really good diving interception.
I’ll be a broken record on this, but the staff deserves credit for going out and landing two safeties who are converted cornerbacks. TJ Banks had a great pass breakup in the first quarter, and here we see Kaleb Beasley put on a clinic on how to play the hands in coverage.
Ole Miss runs a slot fade, and Johntay Cook runs a good route to get separation towards the sideline. Chambliss throws the right ball with a back shoulder throw to the pylon. Beasley doesn’t panic, and he doesn’t look back for the ball. Instead, he plays Cook’s eyes, and when his arms go up, he gets his left arm in between Cook’s arms to knock the ball away. More teach tape.
This may have been the best blocked play of the entire game for Louisville. Wibberly turns his man completely out of the play. Eryx Daughtery locks up his guy at the point of attack and takes him out of the play. Johnnie Brown does enough to climb to the second level and get his hands on the linebacker. Then you have Lance Robinson burying Suntarine Perkins, who will be playing on Sundays next year.
I stressed this point to Mike last week on his radio show, but I’ll point it out again. The offensive line doesn’t have to be great. They just need to do enough to let the backs be great. Keyjuan Brown has to make a cut and run through an arm tackle on this play, and that’s perfectly fine. These guys just need a little space, and they’ll break the big runs we’re used to seeing.
