Louisville got things going in the second quarter with some big plays on offense and a few stops on defense. The Cards finished the half by extending the lead with the hopes of putting the game away early
in the second half.
This is a complete bust by the defense. Multiple players end up not defending anyone, and the entire secondary has bad eyes on the play. Jabari Mack allows his receiver to run past him, which might be fine since he has a safety behind him. However, D’Angelo Hutchinson gets caught staring into the backfield and never identifies the receiver running past him. Throw in Antonio Watts ending up in no-man’s land, and you have the recipe for an easy touchdown pass. This is what happens when you don’t stop the run well enough. Everyone buys the fake here.
The Rene Konga run defense show continues on. This is an outstanding effort by the big defensive tackle. He is heads up with the right guard on this play, and even though there is no indicator that this play is going to the right, he gets his face across the guard after initial contact and rips through to cut this play off before it gets started. It’s fair to say that Konga is making some of the most impressive plays we’ve seen from a Cardinals’ defensive tackle in a while.
Offensive line appreciation clip incoming. This is the exact type of blocking we did not see at all before the Miami game. The right side of the line engages their blocks and pushes their guys out of the hole. It seems overly simplistic, but these basic isolation runs didn’t work because they couldn’t push guys out of the way like this. Pete Nygra also does an outstanding job of climbing to the second level to get a pancake on the linebacker. He gives Brown the space to get another handful of yards on the play.
We saw a theme in this game of the interior line being blown off the ball, and this was another example of that. Denzel Lowry and Jerry Lawson (I think) both get pushed back into the linebackers, which opens up the pulling lanes for the guard and tackle to get a wham block on the edge and a kick out on the play side linebacker. They have to do a better job of eating up blocks to close these running lanes.
Jeff Brohm has made it known that he wants to see more out of UofL’s base defense while praising the pressure packages Ron English has deployed. While I agree with what Brohm is saying, I was really not a fan of how they did with their pressures on Saturday night. On this play, they bring five players with a late blitzer up the middle, who is essentially looping around the other linebacker to get a free run at the quarterback.
The issue with this play is that the offensive line picks up the initial rushers, and the left guard is waiting for the late blitzer. No one wins their rep here, and the quarterback has plenty of time to make a throw. I’m also not certain what the coverage is on this call, with no one underneath to take away a short pass like this. It may just be that BC’s routes pulled the defense down the field, however.
I’ve said it before, but sometimes doing these film reviews helps me look at plays differently. This looked like a really poor job of formation recognition by the defense, but I’m not so sure anymore. It looks more like the Cards got caught in a blitz at the wrong time. I still think they should identify the numbers issue here and adjust.
BC is lined up in trips to the wide side of the field, but the Cards don’t have enough guys to match the formation. Antonio Watts is on the number two, but there is no other defender anywhere near the hashes where the number three is lined up. Honestly, it’s possible this was a check by BC once they saw the advantage. Too easy for the Eagles.
This is the type of creativity we all love to see from Brohm. Third and short is a situation where you’re almost assuredly going to see man coverage, and Brohm spreads the field and uses motion as a coverage indicator. The corner follows the tight end, who is strategically used for his blocking on the play. Keyjuan Brown ends up wide open for a swing pass for a big gain. At the very least, on this play, you can get the first down, but a very good block by Nate Kurisky springs this for an explosive play.
Miller Moss didn’t have a great game, but I have been impressed with how he has improved with his decisiveness. I think earlier in the season, he would take a sack on this play or rush a throw into coverage. Instead, he escapes the pocket with his eyes up, and he immediately gets going towards the end zone once he gets his shoulders up. I worried that he would look to make a throw once he got into space, but he made the right call, and he got the lead back before the half.
Isaac Brown gets the highlight, but the blocking on this play was excellent. I don’t care how fast you are; no one gets to an edge like this without everyone else doing their job and doing it well. Rasheed Miller does a great job here of engaging his block and turning him inside so that he can wall him off from the play. Then you have Chris Bell blowing up the safety for a knockdown block on the only real threat to make this play.
Miller’s improvement at right tackle is something to be studied. His technique on this play is so good to watch. Watch his feet and hips after he engages in the block. He swings his hips around while driving his legs to close off this edge while Brown races by. Really cool to see him improve as the year goes on.
