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As a first time dad many years ago, I recall the nightly routine where my beautiful and loving daughter, less than a couple years old, found that when she knocked her sippy cup off the tray and onto the floor dear old dad would lean down, pick it up, and place
it right back where it had been previously. When she did it again maybe this time I’d meet her with a frowning face or shaking my head. Again. How about a “let’s not do that, sweety”..surely that would do the trick? Again. Frustrated I eventually just moved the cup out of arms reach and distracted her with something else. Every year, around October or November we as fans have bent over to pick up the sippy cup, placed it back where it was, and then watched this Louisville team knock it over again. In 2023 we watched a bounce back from the horrible Pitt loss, only to drop the final three games of the season. In 2024 we lost hope losing to ND, SMU, and Miami in four weeks time, only to place the cup back on the table and then watch them knock it off against Stanford. This season the team was ranked and had a path to a potential playoff, only to knock the cup off again at home verses Cal…and my “let’s not do that sweety” had no impact as I found myself once again staring at said cup…laying on the floor…while Dabo talked about heart and fight. The fear is that many fans will now move the cup out of reach and distract themselves with something else the last few weeks of the season. I hope the players and coaches don’t do the same. Another opportunity wasted. Birds, 7-3.
OFFENSE Anytime a question is brought up in the post-game press conference about offensive production I feel like Brohm immediately goes on the defensive and starts throwing out some stats or point totals that would make the casual fan think things are going just fine overall, that they just need to make a few more plays. In theory, yes, a few more plays may be the difference between three losses and zero losses, but from the eyes and ears of those watching the game this unit is not doing what it needs to do to compete weekly. But don’t take my biased opinion as fact, look at the actual numbers below. This offense is struggling to stay above water in the ACC, much less the national rankings. So avoiding the obvious topic of signal caller, what gives? Injuries? Absolutely. OL inconsistency? Sure. Lack of discipline? Yes. Lack of deep ball? Without question. So whats the common thread in all this. Coaching. You recruit to build depth to fight through injuries, you recruit to build depth to push through underperformance, you instill discipline and mental toughness to avoid devastating personal fouls, and you don’t bring in a QB who can’t execute the offense you’ve been running successfully for multiple seasons. I’m a Brohm fan, I think he can get Louisville to the next level, but I hope there is some reflection happening this season to avoid this nonsense in the future.
DEFENSE As we predicted, the defense was really going to be tested at the tail end of the season with some live arms and QBs who were not afraid to make big throws. While not shredded, the secondary has certainly felt some of the pain of that arm talent the last couple weeks and will continue to do so if they don’t adjust. With that said, the defense continues to hold teams at or under their season averages in points and typically yardage as well. The biggest cheers of the night for me came on the defensive side of the ball once again, standing up Clemson on the goal line over and over, forcing Klubnik to throw the ball 5 rows into the pink seats, and being absolutely dominant on third down all game long. If we’re looking for improvement the run game for a few teams has found holes, and our lack pressure translating to sacks is frustrating, coming away with just one on Friday night. While pride and win totals are still on the table for 2025, everything else is officially gone, so I’d like to see us maybe mix it up on SMU or showing some unique packages to young Cutter and the Cats in a few weeks. At this point, I’m starting to notice the small things on defense, but when I zoom out, it’s still one of the best in the country and THE best in the conference in my opinion. Sorry to see this unit wasted on another season falling short of our goals. Run it back next year, fellas.
SPECIAL TEAMS Last week I made Cooper the Player of The Week, going 4-4 and banging some bombs off the old right foot. This week, he might have moved down a peg on the list of all-time favorites, but hopefully he has three years to make it up. It wasn’t the fifty yarder he missed that made my skin crawl, it was the extra point. The extra point that ended up being the difference in the game. Maybe it was focus, maybe a slip, but you have to have those. Keller also missed one earlier this year, after the team went 60-60 in 2024. I would not have replaced Coop with Kellar late, and I think we now run the risk of breaking the confidence of Ranvier. Here’s hoping for a strong finish from this unit that translates to some blocked kicks, a missing aspect of this team which we had seen in seasons before.
