The second half for Louisville went much better than the first half, with big plays leading the Cards to a two-score win. The Cards will need to find a way to avoid needing these types of big plays to win, but they have to be happy that guys stepped up when they needed them most. There are plenty of issues to iron out, but there were moments in the second half where you could see some needed improvements. Let’s dive in.
Louisville’s overall pass coverage on Friday was very good, but there’s still
a lot to learn about the play of the secondary. Tayon Holloway gave up a few catches on the night, but this one is really just a great throw and catch by JMU. Holloway is in the slot and starts the play in trail position. What you hope to see here is Holloway being in position to undercut this throw and make an interception, and it looks like if this throw was on the receiver as opposed to being up the field, that he may have had a chance to make a play on the ball. We’ll learn more about the corners over the next two games, but this was a good showing on a tough cover.
Louisville defended the option well for nearly the entire game, but this was a play where we saw how easy it is for a play to not go well when one player doesn’t stick to their assignment. JMU runs an inside zone read play with a pulling tight end to the top of the screen. AJ Green is the read for Alonza Barnett, and Green makes it an easy decision.
Green is responsible for the quarterback on this play, but he crashes down on the running back, which allows Barnett to run straight through the hole he vacates. The pulling tight end takes on the second-level defender, and Barnett can get a nice gain. It’s good to have to struggle to find mistakes by the defense, and I’m hopeful it makes it easier to fix the errors.
This was one of the few plays in the game where the Cards’ defense got handled. No one beats a block to get to Matthew Sluka, and he gets a full head of steam and runs through a couple of shoulder tackles into the endzone. This was a pretty long drive by the Dukes, and it makes me wonder if the staff is rotating guys into the game effectively. That may be me looking too far into it, but it’s worth noting as guys start to get banged up through the season.
This is what you want to see from Miller Moss. He had spent the game bailing out of the pocket when his first read wasn’t open, but on this play, he stands in the pocket and waits for Chris Bell to clear into a second window on his slant and delivers a strike. I would argue that if Moss hung in the pocket like this on some of the plays earlier in the game, he would have found openings like this one.
It’s nice to see Bell get an opportunity to show off his speed. This is the type of play that will be on his highlights during draft coverage.
I started writing for this site like 50 years ago because I felt like fans always disrespected the opponents when UofL lost games. This was a prime example of the fact that other teams have good players, too. DJ Barksdale flashed a handful of times in this game, but this was an outstanding play by him. He sees the reverse developing, and he takes a perfect angle to get to Caullin Lacy before he can turn up the field.
“Assignment football” is a bit of a football cliche, but it’s exactly what Ron English needed from his defense this year, and his guys are doing what they need to do to start the season. Clev Lubin stands out to me on this play at the top of the screen. He drops into zone coverage with the responsibility of covering the flat, and even when Sluka starts to scramble, Lubin stays in his zone in case a receiver comes into that spot and gives Sluka an option to pass. He trusts that Antonio Watts will get home, but he also trusts himself to get Sluka down if he crosses the line of scrimmage. You can see the moment where he decides to commit, and up until that point, he just does his job.
Clev Lubin makes a great play here to beat the tackle inside to get to the quarterback, with AJ Green showing some power to walk his tackle back into the quarterback as well. These two guys being used as bookend pass rushers was something I was hoping to see this year, but I couldn’t have imagined that they would play this well early in the year. If they can generate this type of rush as the schedule gets tougher, the pass defense will be a strength this year.
Alonza Barnett was clearly not as effective as he had been in other games, and I think that was due to the rotation he was put in, with him being thrust into the game in passing situations. This was an awful throw that could have been a touchdown, which would have changed the game.
From the Cards’ standpoint, this was one of the small handful of times where a member of the secondary was beaten by a JMU receiver. Jojo Evans is in man coverage in the slot on this play, and he gets a little flat-footed once the receiver eats up the cushion. The pass rush is strong, but there’s just enough time to get this throw off. A better throw would have led to a big play. As we still look to get a true feel about the secondary, this play stands out.
This is another very nice throw from Miller Moss. His timing is perfect, and he delivers a good ball against tight coverage. JMU doesn’t have a deep safety on this play, so Moss makes the right call to take the shot down the field with a size mismatch. I’m really hopeful to see more of this from him as opposed to the indecisiveness we saw to start this game, as well as the rush to bail from the pocket.
This was also pass interference, though it was pretty “bang-bang”. Chris Bell likely comes down with this ball if Barksdale doesn’t pull down his right arm.
Isaac Brown gets the highlight on this play, but the blocking deserves just as much credit. The offensive line finally gets a play blocked up like they should, with every person doing their job on this play. Jacob Stewart gets a nice kickout block to create a lane for Brown as well. Lacy not only locks up his man, but he also does well to not hold when a lot of guys would here. Jaleel Skinner also gets a key block on the play to give Brown the room he needs.
This has to be the norm going forward. Trevonte Sylvester will be back from injury next week, so it will be interesting to see who the “best five” are for the offensive line going forward. Whatever it takes to get this type of blocking is what they need to do.
