Defensively I won't be surprised if we don't see a whole bunch of four safeties; Quinn out, Watts slid inside and Tamarion McDonald slid down to the Bandit with Griffin and Hutchinson at the safeties. Reason being the two principle dynamics at work Saturday are: 1. keeping Ward in the pocket while not sacrificing pressure, and 2. maximizing coverage on Restrepo. Basically Restrepo is a hyper version of Brohm's ideal slot that we all envisioned we had with Caullen Lacy though Lacy seems to be more of an all-purpose guy. Restrepo is to Miami what Edelman was to Tom Brady and Cooper Kupp was with Stafford and the Rams. He is used on short crossing and rub routes as much as any receiver in the ACC and it's high percentage given Ward's accuracy. On 3rd down he's virtually automatic.
...oddly enough, I think we're better situated to defend Miami than we have been with Ga Tech, SMU, Notre Dame and UVa. With the polite exception of Notre Dame where Riley Leonard was limited to 52 yards on 13 carries and Notre Dame only ran for 117 yards, the leading rushers in every game--including Jacksonville State--have been the QBs. Ward doesn't run in the framework of the Miami running game; he does it to buy time or to take advantage of man-to-man coverage. Louisville has done very well defending RBs. In that light our greatest chore is not having the breakdowns for big plays out of the safeties that dogged us in every one of those games. Those mistakes in abundance against Miami and we're going to be the Spotlight Dance in Heisman highlights at the Downtown Athletic Club for Ward.
...oddly enough, I think we're better situated to defend Miami than we have been with Ga Tech, SMU, Notre Dame and UVa. With the polite exception of Notre Dame where Riley Leonard was limited to 52 yards on 13 carries and Notre Dame only ran for 117 yards, the leading rushers in every game--including Jacksonville State--have been the QBs. Ward doesn't run in the framework of the Miami running game; he does it to buy time or to take advantage of man-to-man coverage. Louisville has done very well defending RBs. In that light our greatest chore is not having the breakdowns for big plays out of the safeties that dogged us in every one of those games. Those mistakes in abundance against Miami and we're going to be the Spotlight Dance in Heisman highlights at the Downtown Athletic Club for Ward.
