Louisville took on Boston College last weekend at home with the goal of not having a letdown game like Jeff Brohm has had in the past. They beat Miami, in part, because they schemed up an aggressive game plan on both sides of the ball. Brohm used creative formations and play calls to put Miami on its heels, while Ron English made aggressive calls to bottle up Miami’s quick passing game.
We didn’t see the same type of plan against the Eagles, and they were able to take advantage early in the game.
Let’s dive into some plays that stood out.
Every week, we get a play from Rene Konga that won’t show up on a stat sheet, but he deserves full credit for. On this play, he beats the down block from the center with such ease that he ends up running into the tight end, who is pulling around to block the player who ends up making the tackle for a loss. Louisville needs Konga to keep making these types of plays as the season gets into the back end. The run defense has been the biggest aspect of the improvement this season.
Konga’s play on first down was great, but I saw more of this during the game than I would have liked to see. The interior of the line gets pushed back into the second level on a short-yardage play, and BC is able to get this first down with relative ease. BC blocks it up well with their pullers meeting the linebackers in the hole, but this first down is credited to the center and guards who get great push up front. The Cards need to be able to anchor here and blow up the blocking assignments.
Miami screened Louisville to death last weekend with very limited success, so I was surprised to see BC try to do the same with an offense that doesn’t have very explosive players. The Eagles also don’t do anything on this play to get a numbers advantage, even though the Cards are in straight man coverage. They’d be better off running this to the short side of the field.
UofL’s defense continues to play fast and get after the ball with great effort. It’s a real feature of the group and a major factor in their ability not to give up big plays in the run game. D’Angelo Hutchinson looks like he’s shot out of a cannon on this play, and he reacts to this ball before it leaves the quarterback’s hand, even though he pauses a beat to diagnose the play. The Cards can continue this winning streak with guys playing like this.
A fully healthy Isaac Brown is really something to behold. Brown sets up the closing safety on this play by pressing up the field, which forces the safety to slow down his feet. That’s all Brown needs to turn on his speed to beat him to the corner. He then runs through a solid attempt at a tackle, and he somehow gets back to full speed immediately to run past the entire defense before he gets caught by a cornerback with an angle on him.
This is also the first opportunity to give some credit to the improved offensive line. Trevonte Sylvester puts on some teaching tape here as the man responsible for clearing the edge for the run. He takes an outside step to invite the defensive end inside, then he gets on his outside shoulder and drives him inside. He follows that up by riding him down the field until the guy just gives up. I can promise you that Richard Owens featured this play in film study this week.
Kudos to TreyShun Hurry for the block down the sideline and Caullin Lacy’s effort to get down the field in pursuit of a block as well.
This was something that showed up more than once in this game, and I have to admit that I’m not totally certain what happens. It appears that Jabari Mack at the bottom of the screen is in zone coverage because you can see the receiver to his side crossing the field with Mack five or so yards away from him. Jojo Evans bails into a deep zone at the snap, which makes me think this is cover three, which means the corners are responsible for the outside thirds, while Evans has the middle of the field.
If this is the case, Tayon Halloway should identify the tight end as he turns his hips at the snap, and he should get width while passing off the outside receiver to Evans. That doesn’t happen, and the tight end is wide open for a chunk play. This is a nice design by BC, but every passing option should be covered on this play, based on what I’m seeing.
I don’t understand this defensive call on third and short. The Cards don’t have a linebacker anywhere near the line of scrimmage, and it’s also notable that the linebackers don’t get downhill at the snap. BC blows Wes Bailey off the line with a double team, and the play is pretty much over for the Cards at that point.
The alignment bothers me because the defensive line has to win on this play for the Cards to get a stop. BC lets the backside player run free in favor of the double team, and Jerry Lawson gets blocked down, which leaves a massive gap to run through. I also find it odd that the linebackers aren’t playing downhill to fill any gap that opens. But, I’m not sure it would matter with the double team getting so much push.
