I thought there were a key plays/decisions that drastically changed the fortunes of Louisville in today's game:
4th & 11 at LOU 38 (0:57 - 2nd Q) - UVA 45 yd FG Missed - Louisville sends a player back to catch the FG if it is short. This happens and he runs it to the 20-yard line. Had they not caught the football UofL gets the ball at their own 38-yard line versus their 20-yard line. Louisville was still able to run 7-plays and get to the UVA 27-yard line before missing a 45 yd FG. The additional 18-yards could have proven to be very valuable in getting a closer FG or potentially scoring a TD. I just don't understand why they thought running it out of the endzone would prove to be beneficial.
1st & 10 at LOU 25 (12:32 - 4th) Malik Cunningham deep pass to Harrell incomplete - While pass was one of the best I've seen Malik deliver down field it was unnecessary. UofL was up 10-points, with the ball, and 12:32 left. On the three previous series Hassan Hall had rushed for 100 yards! Which those drives resulted in a FG, TD, and FG. UVA had no answer for Hall. Opening up the drive with 12:32 left with a bomb pass to me was high risk and high reward. Running the ball with Hall was low risk and high reward. The missed completion on 1st down put UofL in the 2 & 10 situation that the offense has struggled with all year. On 2nd down instead of running the hot hand, Hall, Satterfield went to Mitchell who has shown no ability to run more than 5-yards per carry. He did just that and the Cards faced a very important 3rd & 5. Satterfield dialed up a pass play and it went incomplete and then a 4th down punt. Next series was a UVA 8-play 3:44 touchdown and slicing the lead to 3-points. This reminded me of the same situation against WF when Satterfield and the Cards had the ball the lead. Were running all over the WF defense and elected on a 1st down to throw a long pass the end zone which was dropped. While it too was a great pass that should have been caught, it wasn't and put the Cards in the all too familiar 2&10 and resulted in a punt giving WF the opportunity to drive the field and score a TD. When you know your defense is a liability, then sometimes your offense needs to become your defense. Running the ball and grinding down the clock while not as exciting for the fans or the players does the job. It could have last week and could have again assisted this porous defense again this week.
3rd & 1 at LOU 34 (6:02 - 4th) Hassan Hall run for no gain at Louisville 34-yd line - While I appreciate that Satterfield was running the ball with Hall again, 9-yards on 1st down, no gain on 2&1, and no gain on 3&1, it was very frustrating seeing a QB that can't get under center and take a snap for a sneak. Running 2&1 and 3&1 plays from the pistol just defies logic to me. Also running stretch runs makes little sense to me. Surely this staff could have had something else in their playbook for these two plays.
4th & 5 at UVA 22 (2:22 - 4th) James Turner kicks a 40-yd FG to put Cards up 6-points - This series was mismanaged in my opinion. 1st&10 run gained 1-yard with Hall. On 2&9 Trevion Cooley runs for 1-yard loss. Why Cooley here? Why a run? Before this run, he had 5 runs for 7-yards in the game. Why go away from Hall or Mitchell? Why not pass/QB run for Malik? Instead the Cards are 3&10. The 3rd down QB run nets 5-yards and puts the Cards in a 4th and 5 at the UVA 22 up 3-points. To me this is a situation where you look at your defense and realize you have a better chance making this first down than holding the UVA offense from scoring a TD. When UofL made the field goal and went up 6, I believe just about everyone in the stadium knew what was going to happen and it did happen. A 3-man rush that would allow for UVA to drive the field, run the clock, and score the tying TD and go ahead PAT. This was that same situation the Baltimore Ravens were in several weeks ago versus the Chiefs when up by less than a TD, they opted to go for it on a 4th down and ice the game. It worked for the Ravens and I believe had it not, the fans and media would have lauded Harbaugh for making the right decision knowing Mahomes would have most likely burned them.
