Louisville football took a tough loss on Saturday in a matchup with a ranked Virginia team that came in on a high from a huge win over a top-10 Florida State team. The Cards had their chances to get the win but,
signs that they didn’t have the focus or complete offensive game plan to get an important win showed up early in the game.
The offense struggled to run the ball again, and explosive passing plays continued to escape them. However, the quarter ended with the Cards in striking distance.
I clipped a handful of plays that stood out to me in the first quarter below.
Louisville’s defense showed up ready to play from the jump, and the aggression in the game plan was evident early. Antonio Watts reads this play well, but it’s important to note how quickly he fires his gun to get downhill to make the play. He takes a few steps to get width once he sees it, and then it’s into the shoulder of the tight end to get to his spot to contain the play. At best, he gets this result, and at worst, he forces the runner inside. This is what good defenses do on plays designed to stretch them out.
We got flashes of good Miller Moss on Saturday, and I wanted to note this throw because it is a good throw on a good play call. Jeff Brohm has lacked some creativity this year, but finding a way to get a receiver in a position where they are running away from the defense down the field is a plus. I’d love to see this with Caullin Lacy on the route to get him more involved. Hopefully, we’ll see more of it going forward.
If there is one thing that comes from this game, I hope that it is that Jeff Brohm will realize that this type of play should be a key aspect of the running game. Not only is it working on a regular basis, but it is also a way to clear up some running lanes for the running backs.
To this point in the season, running the backs directly into the line just isn’t working. The offensive line can’t block the guys in front of them, and the balance of the offense has been thrown off. You can either keep banging your head against the wall, or you can get creative while also getting the ball into your most dynamic playmaker’s hands. In doing so, you’ll free up space for the other guy, who would be the argument for the most dynamic playmaker on the offense.
This is a bad play call compounded by poor execution from Isaac Brown. At this point, UofL had already converted a short yardage play with a quarterback sneak, but for some reason, Brohm upped the difficulty when it wasn’t needed. Everything about this play felt unnecessary. I can’t think of a better way to describe it.
At some point, these kinds of plays fall completely at the feet of the head coach and play caller. The offensive line is unreliable, which leads to this type of call in short-yardage. The execution from your star running back is nowhere near what it should be, as well. But it should be pointed out that this play wouldn’t have worked even with good execution. The defense is ready for it, which is happening too often this season.
I’ve been critical of Miller Moss this year, but he has made some nice throws this year when he has been able to time his throws like he does here. He hits the top of his dropback on this throw, and he is able to step and throw a rope to Chris Bell on a 20-yard in-breaking route. The throw is right in stride for Bell against tight coverage, where he can use his size to shield the ball from the defender.
This route and throw, along with about a dozen others on the day, are the passing offense right now, in my opinion. The running game isn’t what was expected, but there are opportunities to diversify the passing game to use it as an extension of the run game while also finding holes in the opposing defense, like we see here, where the short passing game influences the defense. The running back and tight end on this play draw the defense away from the best receiver on the team. They have to find a way to get things going with plays like this.
