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In what seems to be a somewhat common occurrence for this team, we watch the offense come out with a haymaker early that goes for 50+ and the boys are breaking out the shovels and looking to bury a team early. A defensive three and out and the hole at the proverbial
gravesite gets a bit deeper on each snap, digging, digging….and then….we jump in the hole. Often, it’s a devastating turnover deep in our territory, at other times a big play where the defense falls asleep or gives up a big drive, but for the sixth time in eight games, the Cards found themselves in a hole of some sort, looking to dig out once again before the walls start to cave in. Now in some instances, the depth of said hole has been fairly shallow (three to seven point deficit), but more times than once, including this week, the Cards trailed by two scores or more, and the frustration from the fanbase was glaring as I scrolled back through the live feed on Saturday. But it’s a good thing fans like me don’t win or lose ballgames (outside of my lucky shirt, of course), because it seemed like a well-oiled machine of levelheaded players and coaches came out of the locker room, made some adjustments to the gameplan, and then dominated in nearly all three phases of the game, outscoring the Hokies 21-0 in the second half. While we’ve had our fair share of ‘Cardiac Cards’ football and basketball seasons, this one has to be up there with the greats as it relates to heart medication and chest pains in the fourth quarter. Take the win and run “off to never-never land”. 7-1 good guys.
OFFENSE In the words of the great theologian ‘Dory’ from ‘Finding Nemo’ fame, the offense has taken on the mindset of “just keep swimming”. Turnover? Just keep swimming. Three and out? Just keep swimming. Passing game in the tank? Just keep swimming. And eventually the guys catch a wave, find some underwater rhythm so to speak, and get things heading in the right direction. As agonizing as it might be for you or me sitting on the couch or sitting in the seats at L&N, it must be excruciating for one Jeffrey Scott Brohm to watch his finely tuned and expertly crafted offense sputter more often than not. While It’s tough to torch a team that keeps putting up 24 plus points week in and week out (longest streak in the country @ 22 games), it’s also unfair to ignore this offense is statistically a bottom feeder in the ocean of the ACC. The passing game rankings for Louisville should never be followed by “teenth” at the end, but two thirds of the way through we see total yards and yards per game 14th and 13th respectively in conference. While I don’t think anyone is pushing for the Davey O’Brien or Heisman for Miller Moss he is doing enough to put the offense in a position to score points and win games. While I’m happy with the “W” what really gets me excited is knowing that at some point in the next few weeks I really think it clicks, and we see the offense on full tilt. Can’t wait.
DEFENSE If you told me in August that by early November we would have officially run out of superlatives to describe this Ron English defense, I wouldn’t have been surprised, except those superlatives I was thinking about would have required a parental filter or a radio edit. Instead, this group continues to step up in big time moments and the “next man up” mindset is evident in nearly every game. While teams have done a good job at taking notice of the rushing attack, those extra blockers or the scheme to avoid the blitz often results in poorly timed or off target throws. What that means is the Cards are sitting on the number one passing defense, and the number one defense overall, in the ACC. As noted above, we still see some head scratchers here and there where the other team seems to pick apart that side of the ball, but it rarely happens twice and never happens three times. I’d guess if I go back and dig through the games this year and remove scores off turnovers or short field scores, this defense is one of the best in the country in points allowed, and maybe THE best in conference play in second half points, only allowing 41 total points in the second half in all five ACC games, or 8.2 points per game. That’s ridiculously good. At this point, every game is a major step towards reaching heights this program never has before. A big reason for that is this defensive unit.
SPECIAL TEAMS Welp, Virginia Tech went with the bold strategy of punting to Caullin Lacy, and I’d say him putting up over a hundo on return yardage was not what they envisioned. His speed and shiftiness were on full display in a couple prime spots and those helped flipped the field at key times. Now I go into my punter rant again. We have to do something. I’ve been screaming for weeks this thing is off the rails and we got hit this week with a clean release off the edge for a block that gave up 2 points and the ball. If they spend 10min on it in practice, please spend 15, if it’s 15 please spend 20. That block and momentum swing resulted in nine points in my opinion, and that will 100% lose games moving forward. Tighten it up fellas, we got big things to play for.
