1. This team is a reflection of Jeff Brohm; no wasted motion, businesslike, methodical.
2. The garden variety fan will often lament "he doesn't make adjustments" as a reflexive statement for schematic failures or a lack of execution they don't really understand. They see an end result of failure or shortcoming and have to pinpoint a reason. The entirety of this staff on both sides of the football--and the punting game--has tweaked, retrofit and pragmatically reassessed it's strengths and weaknesses from the Spring all the way to yesterday.
...preseason the question marks on the Defensive line were whether we could pressure the QB after losing Abdullah and Diaby to the NFL. I remember preseason last year Mark Ennis saying he was surprised the topic of the defensive line never came up with Bryan Brown's staff, and it was because while they lacked real high end personnel by reputation at DT, they liked their numbers with Puryear, Des Tell, Lole', Jared Dawson and at the time Caleb Banks among others. We struggled in that fateful 2nd quarter against Ga Tech and in spurts against both BC and IU with lost contain and bad run fits; Ga Tech in particular got big chunks on the ground. The staff after IU went to a Bear front 46 look without really changing personnel. Instead of having a Gillotte and 2 DTs in three point stances and Herron as a standup weakside DE, they covered all of the offensive linemen and late slide the Strongside LB onto the line of scrimmage. Instead of four on the defensive line you have a fifth. They have gotten a hidden gem Mason Reiger onto the football field despite the fact he clearly isn't playing at 100%, Lole' has gotten healthier than at any point in the last three years and Jared Dawson has comeback. I was hopeful Popeye Williams would emerge...but he can't break the three deep. Herron has quietly seemed to have reduced reps but he is still productive. The Bear front has given NC State, ND, Duke and Va Tech in succession fits. Really Pitt didn't run the football all that effectively but we didn't get home at Pitt. QBs aren't breaking contain. I almost laugh now at teams who run a base slide protection to protect their QB because even with just five being sent with slide protection for an O line scheme on passing downs it only takes one shot gap to blow the play up...invariably Louisville gets at least two. If you are going to do it I think you have to have a TE chip somebody AND have an RB support with a block on the edge...that would eat up 7 blockers. When that two includes Gillotte or Reiger with a scraping or stunting DT after a while you can see the QB take his eyes off his downfield reads and right into the face of the pass rush. An opposing offensive line coach has to go into Louisville week practices with the difficult task of convincing his coordinator you first have to gameplan help for me. And if you get the ball off you KNOW you aren't throwing the football in Riley's direction. Notre Dame dared try on their first series and the tone was established for their misery. Riley closes the field down even further.
As an Old Guard football purist, it is like watching Michelangelo in action in the Sistine Chapel.
...they came out of Spring where everyone under the sun thought we might be short at linebacker with the loss of Sonogo and the loss of Monty Montgomery and Dorian Jones and swaying Ben Perry to recant his Portal entry. For the most part they said "no we're good there" with Alderman and TJ Quinn. We need more Portal depth "no we've got Antonio Watts not even as a starter". Watts made a big play beating a TE for an 8 yard loss on the first defensive drive of the 2nd quarter deep in Va Tech territory in front of the Crunch Zone, and he didn't beat that block Stanquan Clark and Kelly were going to throw the play for a five yard loss. It was the 1st down play after Clark and Jackson Hamilton turned their kick returner's ribs into Bone meal. Sonogo, Montgomery and Dorian Jones have been turned into TJ Quinn, Alderman, Ben Perry and Watts at the Bandit type position, Frierson seemingly out of nowhere is the greatest 3rd down weapon this side of Roy Williams or Troy Palumalu and that doesn't even account for Stanquan Clark who has become a special teams eradicator in the spirit of predecessors Brian Gaines (without killing people on punt coverage and getting personal fouls) and Hammer McCune who I would just tell the person next to me at pre-expansion Cardinal stadium on kickoffs "Just watch him and nothing else." I predict in two years Stanquan will be that rare LB who leaves after three years. He is out of central casting for an MLB and I think is lined up to be the best MLB we've had since Tyrus McCloud was in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle...but Clark is going to play in the NFL for a period longer than we've had for an LB in nearly 25 years. I'm not laying a Tom Jackson, Doug Buffone or Otis Wilson expectation on him...but his career length can be that of Otis'.
...we think we're good with Quincy Riley and Brownlee returning at the corners and the staff goes out and loads up with even more talent in Storm Duck and a couple of kids in Killebrew-Grove and Williams that are afforded limited reps. We lose what really was the fulcrum of the defense in Griffin and his virtual replacement out of the Portal Kelly is pushing for all-ACC recognition. I said it back when I got to see an Open Practice in August--we have had some fantastic corners in the history of Louisville football--Minniefield, Dwayne Woodruff, Ray Buchanan, Sam Madison, William Gay, Jaire Alexander--we probably haven't had a tandem of corners as good as Riley and Brownlee with the quality reserve of Storm Duck. All of those great corners had pretty decent safeties over the top, but what I saw that Open Practice had me drooling at the possibilities we might see until Griffin went down. But Kelly has stepped right in and the 46 front change has taken the heat off of Minkins having to get isolated.
3. So all of that in the topic of adjustments and finding better fits and schemes for the personnel you have and I haven't said a thing about the offense. People might say that the turning point for this team might have been the BC game but I'd say it was NC State. That night we found we can win without a running game because of our defense; but you can't win without a running game AND turning the ball over. Pitt underscored that.
...but when we commit to running the football and effectively do it, Brohm has recognized it's a simple numbers game. Running the football shortens the game. We are rarely playing from behind or too far behind as fate would have it in the NC State game. Coming out of the first quarter up a touchdown and running the football effectively masks our biggest potential pitfall--Plummer making a big turnover. Offenses don't have sustained drives against our defense and when you are playing a team who can run the football and you are behind--at some point you start breaking your offense or give up on the run somewhat. Eric McLain made a very good point on the ACC Huddle last night when he said he thought Louisville was going to practically announce to UVa that we were going to just pound the ball down their throats. We have been doing it since NC State and even with a dinged Jawhar Jordan. The net result in some warped sense is we can kind of ration Jordan's workload until we get to the ACC Title game god willing. That might be the case with Thrash also.
4. If I have one remaining concern it is a gnawing because it's something that is in unchartered waters for us; say we beat UVa and UNC loses next weekend...we basically go into Miami having already accomplished what preseason might have been inconceivable to us and that is a Championship game slot. Win or lose to Miami and the Kentucky game is little more than a glorified exhibition with a magnificent caveat...if we have some teams in the Top 10 lose the next two weekends guess what, the BCS Playoff possibility lingers out there. Brohm doesn't strike me as the sort who would see the UK game as anything less than an opportunity to send a message, and not just to UK or statewide HS coaches or recruits. Hopefully we're in a position where he answers the question of whether he is going to rest people or hold something back for Florida State with the answer of we're throwing the whole playbook at Kentucky AND we're going to run it down their throats.
Either way, as a caller said postgame last night with Ennis the best thing about this season is we can Hope and Dream. We haven't had that around here since 2016.
2. The garden variety fan will often lament "he doesn't make adjustments" as a reflexive statement for schematic failures or a lack of execution they don't really understand. They see an end result of failure or shortcoming and have to pinpoint a reason. The entirety of this staff on both sides of the football--and the punting game--has tweaked, retrofit and pragmatically reassessed it's strengths and weaknesses from the Spring all the way to yesterday.
...preseason the question marks on the Defensive line were whether we could pressure the QB after losing Abdullah and Diaby to the NFL. I remember preseason last year Mark Ennis saying he was surprised the topic of the defensive line never came up with Bryan Brown's staff, and it was because while they lacked real high end personnel by reputation at DT, they liked their numbers with Puryear, Des Tell, Lole', Jared Dawson and at the time Caleb Banks among others. We struggled in that fateful 2nd quarter against Ga Tech and in spurts against both BC and IU with lost contain and bad run fits; Ga Tech in particular got big chunks on the ground. The staff after IU went to a Bear front 46 look without really changing personnel. Instead of having a Gillotte and 2 DTs in three point stances and Herron as a standup weakside DE, they covered all of the offensive linemen and late slide the Strongside LB onto the line of scrimmage. Instead of four on the defensive line you have a fifth. They have gotten a hidden gem Mason Reiger onto the football field despite the fact he clearly isn't playing at 100%, Lole' has gotten healthier than at any point in the last three years and Jared Dawson has comeback. I was hopeful Popeye Williams would emerge...but he can't break the three deep. Herron has quietly seemed to have reduced reps but he is still productive. The Bear front has given NC State, ND, Duke and Va Tech in succession fits. Really Pitt didn't run the football all that effectively but we didn't get home at Pitt. QBs aren't breaking contain. I almost laugh now at teams who run a base slide protection to protect their QB because even with just five being sent with slide protection for an O line scheme on passing downs it only takes one shot gap to blow the play up...invariably Louisville gets at least two. If you are going to do it I think you have to have a TE chip somebody AND have an RB support with a block on the edge...that would eat up 7 blockers. When that two includes Gillotte or Reiger with a scraping or stunting DT after a while you can see the QB take his eyes off his downfield reads and right into the face of the pass rush. An opposing offensive line coach has to go into Louisville week practices with the difficult task of convincing his coordinator you first have to gameplan help for me. And if you get the ball off you KNOW you aren't throwing the football in Riley's direction. Notre Dame dared try on their first series and the tone was established for their misery. Riley closes the field down even further.
As an Old Guard football purist, it is like watching Michelangelo in action in the Sistine Chapel.
...they came out of Spring where everyone under the sun thought we might be short at linebacker with the loss of Sonogo and the loss of Monty Montgomery and Dorian Jones and swaying Ben Perry to recant his Portal entry. For the most part they said "no we're good there" with Alderman and TJ Quinn. We need more Portal depth "no we've got Antonio Watts not even as a starter". Watts made a big play beating a TE for an 8 yard loss on the first defensive drive of the 2nd quarter deep in Va Tech territory in front of the Crunch Zone, and he didn't beat that block Stanquan Clark and Kelly were going to throw the play for a five yard loss. It was the 1st down play after Clark and Jackson Hamilton turned their kick returner's ribs into Bone meal. Sonogo, Montgomery and Dorian Jones have been turned into TJ Quinn, Alderman, Ben Perry and Watts at the Bandit type position, Frierson seemingly out of nowhere is the greatest 3rd down weapon this side of Roy Williams or Troy Palumalu and that doesn't even account for Stanquan Clark who has become a special teams eradicator in the spirit of predecessors Brian Gaines (without killing people on punt coverage and getting personal fouls) and Hammer McCune who I would just tell the person next to me at pre-expansion Cardinal stadium on kickoffs "Just watch him and nothing else." I predict in two years Stanquan will be that rare LB who leaves after three years. He is out of central casting for an MLB and I think is lined up to be the best MLB we've had since Tyrus McCloud was in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle...but Clark is going to play in the NFL for a period longer than we've had for an LB in nearly 25 years. I'm not laying a Tom Jackson, Doug Buffone or Otis Wilson expectation on him...but his career length can be that of Otis'.
...we think we're good with Quincy Riley and Brownlee returning at the corners and the staff goes out and loads up with even more talent in Storm Duck and a couple of kids in Killebrew-Grove and Williams that are afforded limited reps. We lose what really was the fulcrum of the defense in Griffin and his virtual replacement out of the Portal Kelly is pushing for all-ACC recognition. I said it back when I got to see an Open Practice in August--we have had some fantastic corners in the history of Louisville football--Minniefield, Dwayne Woodruff, Ray Buchanan, Sam Madison, William Gay, Jaire Alexander--we probably haven't had a tandem of corners as good as Riley and Brownlee with the quality reserve of Storm Duck. All of those great corners had pretty decent safeties over the top, but what I saw that Open Practice had me drooling at the possibilities we might see until Griffin went down. But Kelly has stepped right in and the 46 front change has taken the heat off of Minkins having to get isolated.
3. So all of that in the topic of adjustments and finding better fits and schemes for the personnel you have and I haven't said a thing about the offense. People might say that the turning point for this team might have been the BC game but I'd say it was NC State. That night we found we can win without a running game because of our defense; but you can't win without a running game AND turning the ball over. Pitt underscored that.
...but when we commit to running the football and effectively do it, Brohm has recognized it's a simple numbers game. Running the football shortens the game. We are rarely playing from behind or too far behind as fate would have it in the NC State game. Coming out of the first quarter up a touchdown and running the football effectively masks our biggest potential pitfall--Plummer making a big turnover. Offenses don't have sustained drives against our defense and when you are playing a team who can run the football and you are behind--at some point you start breaking your offense or give up on the run somewhat. Eric McLain made a very good point on the ACC Huddle last night when he said he thought Louisville was going to practically announce to UVa that we were going to just pound the ball down their throats. We have been doing it since NC State and even with a dinged Jawhar Jordan. The net result in some warped sense is we can kind of ration Jordan's workload until we get to the ACC Title game god willing. That might be the case with Thrash also.
4. If I have one remaining concern it is a gnawing because it's something that is in unchartered waters for us; say we beat UVa and UNC loses next weekend...we basically go into Miami having already accomplished what preseason might have been inconceivable to us and that is a Championship game slot. Win or lose to Miami and the Kentucky game is little more than a glorified exhibition with a magnificent caveat...if we have some teams in the Top 10 lose the next two weekends guess what, the BCS Playoff possibility lingers out there. Brohm doesn't strike me as the sort who would see the UK game as anything less than an opportunity to send a message, and not just to UK or statewide HS coaches or recruits. Hopefully we're in a position where he answers the question of whether he is going to rest people or hold something back for Florida State with the answer of we're throwing the whole playbook at Kentucky AND we're going to run it down their throats.
Either way, as a caller said postgame last night with Ennis the best thing about this season is we can Hope and Dream. We haven't had that around here since 2016.
