Louisville Football: 3 Cardinals up and 3 Cardinals down after Virginia

Louisville Football: 3 Cardinals up and 3 Cardinals down after the Virginia game

Oct 29, 2016; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Louisville Cardinals wide receiver Reggie Bonnafon (7) celebrates with Cardinals wide receiver Jaylen Smith (9) and Cardinals wide receiver Jamari Staples (2) after catching a touchdown pass against the Virginia Cavaliers in the fourth quarter at Scott Stadium. The Cardinals won 32-25. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

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Oct 22, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Louisville Cardinals running back Jeremy Smith (34) runs the ball against the North Carolina State Wolfpack during the second half at Papa John /

DOWN: Jeremy Smith

Let me be the first to say, where the heck was Jeremy Smith on Saturday when Louisville needed to establish a run game? It probably wasn’t even his fault that he wasn’t on the field, but one would think that you would go with the bigger and more physical back in a close game.

Smith gives the Cardinals so many different options of how they can feature him in the offense. They can hand him the football and watch him run over or by defenders. Also, they can use him as a pass blocker and or dump the football off to him in the flat.

Virginia is one of the worst defenses in the ACC and the coaching staff decided to go with Radcliff over Smith. Radcliff managed to gain 54 yards in the Cards’ win, but he wasn’t effective. He wasn’t the Brandon Radcliff that we saw over the first six games of the season.

As much as Smith has excelled over the past few weeks, I am very surprised that we didn’t see more of him against Virginia.

Next: Reggie Bonnafon

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