Louisville has issues, but is still a TD favorite over Virginia

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Formerly nationally ranked Louisville comes to Charlottesville this weekend riding a two-game losing streak, and Coach Jeff Brohm hopes the answer is simplification.

Brohm’s Cardinals (3-2) are a 7-point favorite over Virginia (4-1) for the 3:30 p.m. Saturday kickoff at Scott Stadium.

Louisville lost at home, 34-27, to new ACC member SMU last Saturday and lost at Notre Dame, 31-24, the week before. As a result, the Cardinals are giving up 390 yards and 28 points per game in three contests against Power 4 opponents. Louisville has beaten Georgia Tech (31-19), Jacksonville State (49-14) and Austin Peay (62-0).

Brohm was clearly agitated after the SMU game, directing some of his angst toward his coaching staff and toward himself, noting that the defense needs simplification and the offense needs to get on the same page.

“So there’s things without question we’ve discussed and are making corrections on that to get a better plan, to make sure that happens on every play, that our guys know the call … everyone’s playing the same call and we can go play fast on offense,” Brohm said.

“I think the simplest way to define it is, when the ball snaps, we need to be lined up and all playing the same call so that if we at least get beat, we get beat because the other team beat us. That has not taken place.”

While Louisville is struggling in general on offense, the Cardinals have been exceptional in explosive plays. Brohm’s offense is No. 8 nationally in 20-plus/30-plus yard plays. They have struggled on third and fourth downs.

“There needs to be less checks, or in my opinion, zero checks, so that when we get a call made, we’re going to run it and everyone knows what the call is,” said Brohm, a former quarterback. “And then, yes, I think the calls need to get in much quicker and we need to have a plan to make sure that happens. So there’s just some small things with that we’re going to make sure to get fixed.”

Defensively, Louisville is giving up lots of yards, has had difficulty pressuring opposing quarterbacks and hasn’t done so well against running QBs, such as Virginia’s Anthony Colandrea, who has been productive not only scrambling but also on designed runs.

On top of those problems, safety Devin Neal left Louisville’s program prior to the SMU game, requesting a redshirt with a plan to transfer, a new revelation developing amongst college players in recent weeks. Coaches wanted Neal to continue playing.

Brohm will focus on fixing what’s not working this week leading up to Virginia.

“We all need to play better. We all need to coach better, so it just starts with me all the way down,” Brohm said. “The plan needs to be defined and we know exactly what we’re going to attempt to do, and then we need to be able to teach that plan and carry it out as efficiently as we can.”