I was at a wedding on Saturday, and wanted to sit down and watch the game in full before weighing in with my thoughts on what transpired.
*** Louisville, on paper, should have won this game...
*** Speaking of fourth downs, I just continue to question the decision to go for it on Louisville's first drive coming out of halftime. You have a lead, you have the momentum, and you have to make an unproven QB show that he can put together drives to beat you. If you are going to go for it, get under center, and put your biggest running back into the game. Handed Pitt three points.
*** It's not an excuse for losing, but Jawhar Jordan being limited to two carries played a role. It just did. Not having your best player changes play calling. It changes how a defense schemes against you. Again, it's not an excuse, but it was a factor.
*** Plummer wasn't good enough. Pretty black and white. If he hits Jamari Thrash in stride, I think Louisville wins this game. The pass was overthrown, Thrash had to extend, and he lost his balance because of it. If he catches it standing up, he glides into the end zone. On that same drive, Plummer throws a pick six. Changed everything when Thrash wasn't able to catch the ball in stride.
*** On the pick six: I get there was contact, but there was nothing there, and I don't know what Plummer was looking at. It was covered, he should have looked elsewhere. Instead of going up 28-24, Louisville went down 31-21.
*** On the other interception: the ball should have been caught, but the interesting thing is that the official stat sheet isn't counting it as a drop by the receiver. The throw needed to be placed differently, but alas, it wasn't caught, and it was picked.
*** Defensively, Louisville's pass rush just didn't show up. They managed one QB pressure, and one sack. The sack came from Reiger, and the QB pressure came from Kam Wilson. Not being able to take an inexperienced QB out of rhythm is just inexcusable.
*** Overall, the defense held up alright. The 38 points is a bit mis-leading, IMO.
*** TJ Quinn continued his monster year with 12 total tackles. The next closest defender was Storm Duck with six total tackles.
*** Weird things happen in college football. Happens every week across the country. Notre Dame couldn't do anything against Louisville last week, and this week, they look like one of the best teams in the country. Outside of three or four teams, everybody has a clunker game. It's not easy to go on the road and execute. It's just not. And it's even harder to have 80 college kids on the same page for every week of the season.
*** I didn't think Louisville looked hungover. I didn't think Louisville acted high and mighty following a big win. I just thought weird things happened in a weird game. A starter got hurt in warmups. It was a weird game from the jump.
*** Louisville now has three straight games at home, with a chance to erase this loss. The bye week comes at a time in the season where Louisville really needs to get healthy. Jawhar Jordan needs to get healthy. Jamari Thrash needs to get healthy. Renato Brown needs to get healthy.
Protect your house, and win the next three, and this loss doesn't matter, to me at least. Sure, going undefeated was on the table, but any realistic fan shouldn't have expected it.
*** Louisville, on paper, should have won this game...
- 430 total yards to 288 total yards...
- 28 first downs to 12 first downs...
- Held Pitt to 3-of-14 on third downs...
- Won time of possession 33:11 to 26:49...
*** Speaking of fourth downs, I just continue to question the decision to go for it on Louisville's first drive coming out of halftime. You have a lead, you have the momentum, and you have to make an unproven QB show that he can put together drives to beat you. If you are going to go for it, get under center, and put your biggest running back into the game. Handed Pitt three points.
*** It's not an excuse for losing, but Jawhar Jordan being limited to two carries played a role. It just did. Not having your best player changes play calling. It changes how a defense schemes against you. Again, it's not an excuse, but it was a factor.
*** Plummer wasn't good enough. Pretty black and white. If he hits Jamari Thrash in stride, I think Louisville wins this game. The pass was overthrown, Thrash had to extend, and he lost his balance because of it. If he catches it standing up, he glides into the end zone. On that same drive, Plummer throws a pick six. Changed everything when Thrash wasn't able to catch the ball in stride.
*** On the pick six: I get there was contact, but there was nothing there, and I don't know what Plummer was looking at. It was covered, he should have looked elsewhere. Instead of going up 28-24, Louisville went down 31-21.
*** On the other interception: the ball should have been caught, but the interesting thing is that the official stat sheet isn't counting it as a drop by the receiver. The throw needed to be placed differently, but alas, it wasn't caught, and it was picked.
*** Defensively, Louisville's pass rush just didn't show up. They managed one QB pressure, and one sack. The sack came from Reiger, and the QB pressure came from Kam Wilson. Not being able to take an inexperienced QB out of rhythm is just inexcusable.
*** Overall, the defense held up alright. The 38 points is a bit mis-leading, IMO.
*** TJ Quinn continued his monster year with 12 total tackles. The next closest defender was Storm Duck with six total tackles.
*** Weird things happen in college football. Happens every week across the country. Notre Dame couldn't do anything against Louisville last week, and this week, they look like one of the best teams in the country. Outside of three or four teams, everybody has a clunker game. It's not easy to go on the road and execute. It's just not. And it's even harder to have 80 college kids on the same page for every week of the season.
*** I didn't think Louisville looked hungover. I didn't think Louisville acted high and mighty following a big win. I just thought weird things happened in a weird game. A starter got hurt in warmups. It was a weird game from the jump.
*** Louisville now has three straight games at home, with a chance to erase this loss. The bye week comes at a time in the season where Louisville really needs to get healthy. Jawhar Jordan needs to get healthy. Jamari Thrash needs to get healthy. Renato Brown needs to get healthy.
Protect your house, and win the next three, and this loss doesn't matter, to me at least. Sure, going undefeated was on the table, but any realistic fan shouldn't have expected it.
